repousse

I spent more time yesterday and today working on my swirls bowl. Keeping track of which swirl I was on was hard so I resorted to using marking pens to indicate which one I had just finished. Then I would clean the ink off when I had done all three and just before I started the next round.

I did complete the repousse from the inside and most of the outside planishing and undercutting.

My quandary is what to do with the inside surface.

The bowl is a wee little thing - about 2.5 to no more than 3″ in diameter and not even 2″ in height. When you look at it, you are looking in to the interior of the bowl, the outside surface is really an after thought when looking at it.

I decided to add texture to the outside surface that was NOT the swirls to make the them stand out. I am now pondering doing the same on the inside.  This will take a day or two to percolate through my brain..

Go over to Kernology to see more pictures, there are over 20 now posted, and tell me what you would do with the inside. [Please]

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Last weekend I started another repousse project using a bowl I made.

There was some emotion in doing this - I made the bowl but what if I screwed up the chasing and repousse?

We all must take the plunge sometime.

I started with a small sketch pad of paper and drew some swirls in a circle. This was while the bowl was in the pickle pot, because I had to anneal it. After cleaning up the bowl from the pickle, using a black marker I traced out the swirls from the center bottom. It took several tries but I got the shape I wanted.

Next I had to pack the bowl with pitch so I could trace the outside of the bowl. This was a bit messy and HOT but I had laid down paper and finally on/in the pitch bowl (see picture below). Now, a week later I have finished the lining; I have removed the pitch from the inside; cleaned it up; and sunk the bowl into the pitch for working from the inside; and completed 4 rounds of work on all three swirls.

NMC was correct - “Slow is FAST” - I have been working very slowly, some nights only working on one arm of the swirl. I don’t want to mess it up and the best way to do that is to think about what I am doing and GOING SLOW!!

Today (well right now) I have removed the bowl from the pitch, so I anneal the bowl again and by tonight I should have the swirls done and the bowl back on top of the pitch so I can finish the undercutting and planishing - tomorrow.

Here is the first picture, and if you go to Kernology, (opens in a new window) I currently have 14 pictures in a slide show, and you can see the progress so far. You can also click on the picture

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A few weeks ago I wrote a post about taking a break from the metal work and how I was going to sew a quilt like I usually do around the end of the year.  I did take down and put away my jewelry/smithing studio which really is my sewing area. I had to do this so I could work on a quilt that has been waiting for my attention for several months. I put all my tools and supplies in the tool boxes. I took all the layers of butcher paper off the sewing table and wiped everything down and then I set up the sewing machine.  I also cleared off my large rolling cutting table; laid out my cutting matt, rotary cutter, quilt pattern and my fabrics.

Then December 5th and 6th came around and I was in the Chasing & Repousse workshop with Nancy Megan Corwin.

The following weekend, December 12th & 13th; I spent about 3 hours on Saturday cutting my fabrics and then I spent another two hours sewing the initial fabric strips together. Sunday afternoon was taken up with cutting these strips into triangles which would be sewn into squares.

Monday rolled around and I found I did not want to sew and what I really wanted to do was play with my pitch pot and try to do some repousse.

I felt as if I had betrayed my sewing machine!

I have this problem - I believe that if you start something you should finish it; I honor my commitments. I think it has only been once that I did not finish a book, When reading - you finish the book, no matter how bad it is! Trust me there have been some really really bad books that I have read. I start a quilt, I finish it and if I don’t like it, I give it to someone who does.

Monday night, after work, I confessed to my husband -  I don’t want to sew. He said it was ok to put the quilt away and that these things happen, but I still felt guilty. After dinner I went up to my office, poured myself a nice glass of single malt and proceeded to stack everything up and I put the quilt pattern, uncut material and cut material into a tote and put it into the closet (where I did not have to look at it).

I closed the closet door.

Lightening did not strike the house or me.

The world did not end! (I am not a bad person)

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I have spent the day walking around half asleep as it was a cold windy and today it is pouring down rain.

Why am I sooooo tired? I was in a two day Chasing and Repousse with Nancy Megan Corwin which was held at the Jay Whaley Studio in San Diego. And let me tell you, being tired today was a very small price to pay for the experience.

Where do I begin to tell you what was covered - EVERYTHING

Where do I begin to tell you what I learned - A LOT

Where do I begin to tell you about the fellow students - SUCH A WONDERFUL GROUP OF PEOPLE

Nancy has such a reputation that 3 students flew in from out of town just for the class. They came from Reno Nevada, Chicago (Area) Illinois, and Oberlin, Oh-oh-Ohio.  Nany brought copies of her book and many of the items shown in the pictures. We all just wanted to run away with them.

So, lets get started…

Just a fraction of the tools Nancy brought.

In the pot and marked with the lining has been completed

In the pitch pot - backside up for doing repousse

Turned and ready for chasing

Nancy showing us how to undercut

My finished piece!

For additional pictures look at this flickr photo stream from fellow student Elizabeth (how cold is it in Ohio today?)

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