Clay sculpture: Gossip

If you look up the blog entry of November 26, 2009, you'll find a group of talking females very similar to this one. When I sculpted the first set, I made three figures, but decided to use only two of them. One was left over and I modelled a companion for her. 

The body language of these two definitely says something about their conversation. Unlike the more philosophical topic of the older group, this scene is mundane. It is about gossiping.

Air drying clay, acrylic paint, beeswax, concrete. 2010.

Fabric design: Stamp swatch

When I started making linen tunics I needed to design pattern stamps to go with the simple lines of those garments (see entry 2009 08/18).
Here are two swatches showing the stamp People:

Linen fabric, Setacolor fabric paint. 

Handmade stamp, cut in Speedball Speedy Cut. 1999.

Size: 19 x 15 cm

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