Recycled furniture: Bedside table

I found the night table Memories of Grandma in the Deep Cove area, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was in pretty bad shape, because the owner's wife had tried to strip it and given up when she hit the coat of rock solid white alkyd paint under two layers of black and blue latex. The "white phase" of the piece had been enhanced with golden lines around the door and the bottom brace.

I was able to dig through the alkyd layer and found oak veneer that had been scorched with a torch to darken the surface in an irregular pattern. While preparing the bedside table for painting, I suddenly remembered that my grandmother's bedroom and living room furniture had had the same dark look to it. That's why I gave the piece this name.

The knobs were handmade by local blacksmith  
Colin Southwell of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, to match my design.

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. Steel hardware. 1999.

Size: 41 x 38 x 69 cm

This is what the bedside table looked like before I gave it a makeover.

Printmaking: Intaglio print

I did another print using acrylic hard ground (compare the entry from February 11). The motif for this one is Church Scaffolding.

Aluminium plate, acrylic hard ground,

waterbased Caligo etching ink on Somerset etching paper. 2010.

Size: 17 x 23.5 cm

Fabric design: Chair cushion

Apart from clothing and table linen I also designed fabric for cushions in my studio for functional art in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada. These designs were custom orders for a craftsperson in the neighbourhood who made bent willow furniture.

Here is a sample, hand dyed in burnt orange, displayed on a magnificent willow chair.
Below I've added a photo of a geometric design in pink.

Cotton fabric, procyon fabric dye, 

Setacolor fabric paint. Handmade stamps. 1999.

Printmaking: Intaglio print

On this plate I tried some more non-toxic etching techniques: hard ground and lift ground. An acrylic ground is poured onto the metal plate and let dry. Then one draws into this ground using a steel needle which scores the metal surface lightly. These scores will later be widened and deepened through immersion in an etching solution. 

There is another way to expose the metal surface: drawing with different greasy materials, like lipstick, shortening, Vaseline etc. Grease prevents the acrylic ground sticking to the metal plate; it can be washed off, thus exposing the plate to the etching solution.

The winding street in My whole World was drawn with lipstick, the trees and other dark features with shortening.

Aluminium plate, acrylic hard ground,

waterbased Caligo etching ink on cartridge paper. 2010.

Size: 17 x 20 cm

Fabric design: Stamp swatch

I needed quite a few stamps for printing garments by hand. Foam lining for ski boots proved to be an interesting material because of its softness which makes incised lines appear a bit blurred.

Here is Woman, one of my favourite stamps, overprinted with other stamp patterns.

Linen fabric, Setacolor fabric paint. 

Handmade and bought stamps. 1997.

Size: 15 x 20 cm

Printmaking: Intaglio print

I have started experimenting with etching, using  non-toxic materials, mainly acrylic and waterbased.

The print Procession is an example for soft ground etching: lines are drawn into a soft resist that forms a barrier between the metal plate and the etch bath. Only where the drawn lines break through this resist and expose the metal surface will the etching solution start biting the metal. Thus depressions are created which will later hold etching ink during the printing process.

Aluminium plate, acrylic soft ground, waterbased Caligo etching ink 
on Hahnemühle etching paper. 2010.

Furniture design: Bedside table

This piece is called China Cabinet because my design incorporates elements that remind me of a stage prop of the Thirties trying to create a Far Eastern ambience. I found the little bedside or end table at a garage sale in the Deep Cove area of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The owner told me it was once bought by her mother-in-law and used in their household until it became too outdated. The table is in very good condition, it obviously was a respected piece of furniture.

The new knobs are special. They are handmade and they complement my design perfectly. I got them at this fantastic hardware store, Cantu hardware, back then in downtown Vancouver. 

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, brass. 1998.

Size: 43 x 38 x 69 cm.

Fabric design: Shirt

Presented on one of my mannequins is a hand dyed cotton shirt with an early design: lines splattered across the fabric. The effect is nice because each shirt has a unique pattern. Though less time consuming than working with stamps, the process requires patience - the lining around sleeves and neckline needs to be masked off as it needs to remain splatter free.

Cotton fabric, Procyon fabric dye, Setacolor fabric paint. 1997.

Length: 55 cm

Here is an example of working with stamps on a hand dyed cotton T-shirt.

Printmaking: Intaglio print

This is my first intaglio print, done in the drypoint technique. The title Charlie and the Moonbird has to do with Charlie, the old, old donkey who used to graze in the field adjacent to my house in County Mayo, Ireland.

One morning I looked out and there he lay on his side, dead. It made me very sad - this animal always had displayed so much stubborn quirkiness. I felt compelled to somehow make the donkey live on in one of my works.

On this first print the personification of Death, 
a Moonbird, talks to Charlie. 
The second print shows donkey and bird on their way to the Beyond.

Aluminium plates, drypoint, carborundum. 

Charbonnel etching ink on Fabriano Rosaspina paper. 2005.

Size: 15 x 13 cm.