Copper & Enamel Riverboat

Last week I started playing around with making boats again. I think I have a love of boats that is here to stay. Yet each time I revisit my ship making, I always like to experiment with new proportions just to keep things interesting. This time around I found some images of old tin toy riverboats that called out to me. Then began the process of figuring out how I might assemble such a structure. Here in shorthand is my thinking.

First the hull structure (the long narrow piece) and the top deck. I like to use a card stock for figuring out the pattern because it can be taped together with scotch tape first to see how it works out.

The challenge with that long hull piece was making the curve just right for the stern and then torch-firing it. A pretty awkward piece to handle. Then I brazed it to the deck. Wheels are attached with a threaded rod through holes drilled in the hull.

Next were the wheel covers (the half circle with brazed sides). The graphics on the wheel covers are created in Photoshop and then output onto an inkjet decal paper. Tiny screws attach the wheel covers to the hull.

The white enameled top cabin came next. I cut all those windows out with a jeweler's saw (lord!). The cabin isn't attached yet, nor are any of the chimneys. I need to create 2 more smaller cabins. I just have paper place holders in for them in this picture, but the pieces for them are laying on the desk.

The brass caster wheel will be used in the stern underneath. I have a support in there now just as a stand in. I'm thinking the caster connection will get hidden under the small back cabin I have yet to make.

More to come... 

Ceramic Heads

I spent four days this week creating heads for future pieces in low fire white clay. Making heads for me is always a big challenge. What expression will they have? How big? Because the clay still feels so new to me and I seem to get fearful that nothing will come out right (I do find this part of myself annoying), I tend to just Dive In. I don't have any idea what I'm after except creating a face that I am curious about and feel a kinship with emotionally.

I also try not to get too attached to any one just yet,  as they could still blow up in the kiln or the glazing will turn them into something (someone) I don't want to work with. Crazy, I know.

So as I get these off to be bisque fired I wish them all the best of luck! Come back in one piece everyone!

Photographing Artwork

First off, let me just say that I am not a photographer. I have come to the place of photographing my own work out of frustration that those photographers that I have used and loved in the past have all retired! Well, that's not all of it. Actually, there is the cost issue and the immediacy issue too (as in having to have a photo of a piece right now). Also, I do think with digital cameras these days and Photoshop, it's easier than it used to be to shoot one's own work.

So I thought I would show my very humble method and set up.

I bought a graduated backdrop last year from B&H Photo, which I go back and forth between really liking and then not so much. I'm liking it again right now, especially since I have white ceramic heads on most pieces and dark copper bodies. The gradient holds both.

I also bought a digital camera last year that I love. A Fuji X10. I got it on Ebay used and it's worked great! My lighting system is daylight and only daylight as you can see from the studio photo above. I have a white translucent window shade (Ikea) that I pull down and a tripod. In the case of some of my wall hung pieces, like this one, I hang it off of two wires mounted to the ceiling. Then, if needed because the piece doesn't hang perfectly, I attach a string to the base of the art and pull it forward until it looks the way I want and attach the string to a weight on the floor to hold it.

Overcast days work best for lighting. Easy to find that here in the Pacific Northwest.

I shoot the photos in RAW format using the 'Automatic' camera setting and bring it into Photoshop CS6 on my iMac OSX. My shots done like this are almost always pretty awful looking when I first bring them into the computer. An example of awful below:

YUCK!

See, very blown out. But after I open it in Camera RAW on the computer, I start adjusting. First I adjust Exposure, then Contrast, then Saturation, then Vibrance, and then Clarity. I have to say that the magic adjustments for me are typically Exposure and Clarity. They save my behind.

"This Light of Mine"
Copper, ceramic, enamel, brass, mixed media.
30x21x3"

Then I save the RAW image as a tiff and open it again in Photoshop to crop as needed, also erase my hanging wires and pull-string using the clone tool. Then I consider it done! 

I'm still wanting to buy a softbox for a light on a tripod and play with that, but haven't quite gotten there yet. Perhaps this year. It would also be nice to control my lighting on those little copper letters just a bit more too. So the journey is definitely ongoing...

Water Jet Metal Cutting

Way back in 2008 I started adding letters cut out of copper sheet to my pieces. I've kept a journal for most of my life, and many of the thoughts therein wanted to come out onto my artwork, so it seemed like a pretty natural way to go. Since I've always been very hands-on, I cut all of these letters out by hand with a jeweler's saw. Super labor intensive. This piece below is an example, the words follow the branches (a bit hard to see, but you can enlarge the image by clicking on it):

No one said it would be easy

but no one said it'd be this hard

but look we've come this far

"No One Said It Would Be Easy"
Copper, enamel, brass, mixed media
46x53"

The good news is this year I found a wonderful man, Bob Powell (sales@meadowcreature.com), who lives close by to cut all those letters out for me with his water jet cutting equipment! I created a file in Illustrator and then he translated it into a DXF file for his use. Here's a picture of the first sample that he ran.

These letters are just under a half inch tall, so the detail is amazing. My wrists and cutting arm are so thankful!

Mixed Media Sculpture Finished

This last Friday I finally finished the mixed media piece I've been working on. These things always take way longer than one would think!

My first step from last week was to fit the ceramic hands into copper arms. Getting the fit and expression is always a challenge for me. I fitted the arms first so that they would screw onto the torso, then I enameled the torso via torch-firing. Curved surfaces are a bit of a challenge to torch-fire. I find that it works best for me to do it in about 3 stages, working my way around. I used a "foundation white" enamel, which I find lovely because of its pinkish hue.

Then onward to the legs. At first I thought I would use 2 more ceramic hands for the feet because I liked the oddness of that, but taking a second look I changed my mind (now it seemed too weird). I used a pair of porcelain doll legs instead. Fabricated the rest of the legs out of copper and mounted them to a disk of copper at the top. That disk will then be screwed into the brass (found) small plate that I chose for the bottom of the torso (visible in the previous photo).

Next step, I set everything in place so I can see the figure as a whole. Originally the figure was going to have a circular outside treatment, but I'm finding as I look at it that it's not working (sigh). So I try other things and eventually decide on a horizontal structure. Above is the rough layout.

Then I sit with the piece figuring out how the whole thing will attach to the wall. The figure is relatively heavy, and I know I want it to be slightly raised off the wall surface.

Here's what I end up doing. It's so simple, but it took me forever to get my head around it. The two rods are so big because the entire framework that has the branches and words on it will also connect here and only here.

Next I finish assembling and brazing the word and branch structure and then attach it to the figure. Do a couple xerox transfers onto the torso and at last, it's done!

This is a close up of the 'knowing place' in the torso. It has an image of the 'tree of life' engraved into a nickel disk. Outside the hole is a xerox transfer of  a compass.

Beginning a New Piece

This new piece is going to have quite a bit of detail. I thought I'd take pictures as I go through my process of assembling. I'm pretty loose about it as you'll see. Lately I haven't been sketching first, but sort of feel my way through the look of the piece by creating a very rough layout of it.

Pretty rough no? I'm starting with the ceramic head that I made a couple months ago. I work with thin white board and tape to figure out body and neck connections and proportions. I just want a loose idea at this point to see if it'll even work. The expression on the face is what I use to guide me as far as the concept/message of the piece. Yet I also don't really worry about what the concept will be when I start, I just let it come to me as I try out different ways it might go together. 

This concept appeared pretty quickly that it would be about trusting my gut. The words came to me: 

This is my place of knowing.

Oh, it calls to me.

I doubt.

It insists.

I love it for that.

 So I know I'll put those words on the piece, in this case around an outer frame that will surround the figure. I also want a visual of the 'gut', so I'm using an etched circle of the tree of knowledge that I made previously. 

Then I think about how the piece will actually hold together. Starting with the ceramic head, I know I will have to connect it with a copper surround. The main torso I want to be enameled copper so I can do some xerox transfers onto it. I want to create a "window" in the torso where the 'gut' piece will show through, so that needs to be a cutout. I'll connect the arms probably with screws over the enamel...I tend to get overwhelmed about this time, so it helps me to do a little sketch like this so I can remember all my intentions. Oh, and also there will be 2 sets of threaded rod; one that holds the head to the neck piece and one that holds the head and neck to the torso.

Then I start at the top and start refining. So far this week I got the hat/head/neck parts connected.

Then I got the torso size figured so it will fit into the neck lip (the lip has red enamel stripes on it). I drilled very small holes into that neck lip so that I can use small screws to attach the neck to the torso piece. I don't want the torso to shift, and sometimes even with a threaded rod holding it together it could. The torso piece has been cut to fit the medallion 'gut' piece.

Next I need to figure out my drill holes for the arms, so I need to assemble the arms first. After that I can enamel the torso. I'm thinking seed pods will come up from the base of the torso too (like I need more stuff on this piece), so the figure looks like it's parting the pods to show the 'knowing place'. Of course that could look awful, so I'l have to play it by ear. Onward!

Finished Branch Figure

Several days ago I finished this branched piece that I had started as of last blog. I ended up putting the title on it in the form of hand-cut copper letters: "I Keep Learning As I Grow". I realize that the piece is reflective of the place I'm in this month of wanting to try some new techniques. I like the idea of having that growth be visible in what I do, hence the appeal for me of the arms becoming branches.

"I Keep Learning As I Grow"
Wall mounted - 31x22x3"

Some of the leaves are cut out of brass sheet that I had previously etched so that partial phrases "she will", "she knew", "reality", "believe" and "long way around" appear on them. A milagro of a praying figure hangs on the right branch, a cut out nickel hand on the branch next to it, all referring to my process of learning and being a beginner at some new techniques. At the bottom is a medallion I etched that has a symbol of a pyramid on it representing steps taken (hopefully) upward to a better place.

I used a woven copper mesh for the skirt. I like the way it gets old looking quickly with only minor over-firing with the torch. Yes! for instant patina. Some of the leaves have been torch-fired with a light yellow enamel and then a decal transfer applied over top. The decals have defused imagery with alchemy symbols and rich golden/black tones that I created in Photoshop.

This last Friday I figured out another piece that I'll start putting together soon. More of the marionette-type legs and a little bit bigger ceramic head!