Fabric design: T-shirts

The theme here is Rain, obviously. After all, I designed this series of T-shirts in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canadian province of rain forests. People with umbrellas are walking past the highrises of this beautiful city.

Cotton fabric, Procyon fabric dye, Setacolor fabric paint.

Stamps carved in Speedball Speedy Cut block. 1997.

Recycled furniture: Chest of Drawers

Great quality: beechwood! I swapped this chest of drawers years ago in Canada for some graphic design work. But you wouldn't recognise its original look: base and top plate with arched lines... My trusted cabinet maker Alex Marcuzzi in North Vancouver beautified the piece with a pedestal base and a straight top plate according to my specifications and was kind enough to drill about 130 small holes along the edge of the top. I had this idea that I wanted a piece of furniture with beads.
I bought copper wire and beads and started threading. This decor explains the name Wired.
Then I started thinking about knobs. I made a design drawing and showed it to a welder I knew, Dan Llewellyn in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, Canada. He made the knobs for me. He even thought it was fun work because he was allowed to be much less precise than usual.

Beechwood, acrylic wood stain. 

Steel knobs, copper wire. 2000.

Size: 81 x 43 x 125 cm

Printmaking: Intaglio print

The marks on the plate Ash Grove were made using a combination of hard ground and lift ground, the etching solution is based on copper sulphate. This non-toxic intaglio technique is explained further down (11 February 2010).

Aluminium plate, acrylic hard ground, lift ground, 

waterbased Caligo etching ink 

on Hahnemuehle etching paper. 2010. 
Size: 17 x 21 cm

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