Tea caddy

This piece was inspired by the Japanese Tea caddy. Instead of lacquering I have used car sprays to achieve the main colour of the body with the detail being hand painted in acrylic gold paint.

The next one is almost ready the the detail and will be posted in a short while.

Re-Visiting old work with new technology

Lately I have been re-visiting old forms to see where I can develop these further.

This piece is based on my chilli form but has been left natural. The finials I am now producing with the aid of a computer software that enables me to draw the desired finial by hand but to then manipulate this after it has been converted to bezier curves. I can achieve the exact profile I am looking for with manipulation which can be altered many times with ease. The new finial is then added to a picture of a form so that the relationship between the two can be seen without having to make a physical prototype.

This is saving me time in designing/trial and error and has opened up a new avenue. The finials are then created by hand as before but with the knowledge that it is correct. From a commercial point of view this is a big advantage.

Bread and butter

It has been a busy week. Mainly trying to get work made for the outlets I sell in. Most of my bread and butter work is simple bowls, boxes, platters and lidded forms.

Most of the week has been taken up with roughing out boxes and and other bits and pieces so not much to show as these will have to season before being finished.

A few boxes have been finished and are shown above.

Slowly does it

Busy times at the moment with article writing, gallery supplying and bottle washing. However in between this I have managed to get some quiet relaxation by adding to the base/colours of this piece.

Around eight colours have been used together with copper foils, a few processes to get to this next stage. Hopefully you will only see a subtle difference but if you look at the previous picture and the piece as it is now, the colours I hope are more subdued and hold a different feeling of age.

Now I can progress the piece forward by adding an insert and lid together with other natural materials, , more highlights where needed and new natural materials that I have not used before. I am quite excited about trying out as it means a foraging in the local woodland which I always enjoy.

I am very undecided at the moment how I want the lid and insert to look so again it will have to wait until something pops into my mind.