This little copper piece is waiting for a home.

It’s about 2.5 inches square. The background and figure window are copper. The tube rivets and spacers are brass.

3D pierced bird

The background pattern was printed onto the copper using a commercial pattern sheet with the rolling mill. The bird figure is a simplified outline taken from a Dutch tile that I found in a book.

The pierced piece floats over the background.

about 1/4 inch between the layers

There is about 1/4 inch between the plates.

tube rivets with spacers

From the back you can see the hollow rivets.

showing the rivets from the back

I suspect that this piece will end up as part of something larger. Perhaps a box.

Meanwhile it’s living on the design wall.

bird window waiting for further inspiration

After a long time sitting on the table in 5 or 6 pieces the Guadalupe/Sirena shrine has finally come together.

I never did find a place for the rose petals.

Shrine I — Guadalupe, Sirena, and the Chicken Boy

A couple of details.

My hand colored and glittered Virginsita.

detail — guadalupe

The oddly appealing Chicken Boy.

detail — chicken riding boy

A 3-D piece that I started in a workshop. It sits on the edge of a shelf.

I don’t like the photo, but I wanted this out before I had to leave town.

Keys to a Broken Lock

I’ll properly catalog this when I get back.

The ring I was working on for JM1 at Pratt is finally done.

single tree ring

The shiny grey-black on the top of the ring is liver of sulfur patina heavily worked with a brass brush. I got as little of the LoS onto the ring band as possible and it only took a few minutes with sand paper to knock it back to a nice brushed silver.

The front has been slightly recessed by pushing it down over a large dapping punch. I wanted to prevent the fine strips between the branches from getting caught on clothing etc.

slightly dished front surface

I am particularly pleased with how the texturing on the dome has survived the construction process.

textured dome and brushed band

I’m pleased with it. It’s awkward to wear for everyday because the top dome sits so far above my finger. I’d like to make another one with the dome set down into the ring band. Maybe next quarter.

The final version of my photo essay on our chickens is up.

Click on this running chicken for more pictures!

More on the screen for Jim’s office.

Once the stencil had had chance to dry I took the fabric panels off the screen (yeay velcro.) I didn’t do any prep work on the fabric  -  poly(?) canvas. The paint will stick well enough and I don’t expect to try to wash the panels. By the time they’re dirty I’ll be bored with them and want to do something else.

To hold the fabric steady I clipped it to the thick foam core boards that I use to stretch watercolor paper. I measured for a rough placement for the image and then eyeballed the fine alignment.

I used brown paint (oil bar) and a large stencil brush. Because the stencil was paper coated with linseed oil I couldn’t use the repositionable adhesive that I use on plastic stencils. I used a little tape in each corner and then worked carefully holding the little tabs and bits down with my fingers as I painted. It’s messy and a little slow but worked quite well.

Here’s one of the panels finished and propped up for drying.

single panel

I had planned to use two images on each screen. One facing each direction. So I started with the two crows facing left. Two panels have the crows in the top half and one has the crow in the bottom half. Then I would clean the stencil and flip it for the rest.

Oil paint takes a while to dry and I needed the flat spaceback in my studio so I hung the panels back on the screen. Figuring that I’d take them down later this week and do the rest of the stenciling.

panels drying

Oh never mind — FINISHED!

And here’s my celebratory drink.

cheers

Lillet over ice and orange slices. The ice cubes are shaped like stars!

I made a box for my friend Elise. She wanted something to keep her needlework supplies in — Something that she could leave on the living room coffee table.

This spine box is 9 x7 x 2 1/2. The box is made of Davey board and covered in an Italian paper. The spine and inner lid liner are book cloth and the bottom of the box is lined with cork paper.

All told it takes me about 6 hours to make a box like this if haven’t made one in that particular size before. If I’ve already worked out the cut dimensions (and remembered to write them down) I can build one of these in about 4 hours. That doesn’t count the drying times. Because I cut my PVA with methyl cellulose the drying time is about double that of straight PVA. I find it worth while to get a longer “open” time. It does slow down construction though as I have to wait at least an hour — better two for pieces to be dry enough to be handled.

Work on the balloon seller picture is complete. You can see a full-size digital version here.

(no small version today — can’t get it to resize correctly — maybe tomorrow)

The image in the gallery is a digital version that I made for Jim to use on his desktop. It mimics the effect of being printed on Arches 140 CP watercolor paper by using a colored background and an applied texture. It’s much closer to the actual printed version that I can get with a camera.

Another of the Oaxaca pictures that I’ve been working with is not so complete.

I started with this picture of the old power house in Vista Hermosa that is now the Taller de Arte Papel Oaxaca. (Art paper workshop — makers of very cool handmade papers.)

The blocking for the piece isn’t great on screen:

It prints as an even murkier mess. I think the problem is losing the detail in the shadows in the foliage. I’m going to leave well enough alone for a while and work on some other images. I like this one too much to just abandon it but I’m not making any progress for the moment.

The final images for the House of Mythical Creatures are up in the collage gallery.

The rooms of the House of Mythical Creatures are all connected up. I finished just as it was getting too dark to work.

Detailed pictures in a day or two.

edited 25.june.2008 to correct image links