What Have I Been Up To!
With the art show season close to an end I took some time off from my studio to enjoy the remainder of the fall season here in the Midwest. Then I was off for a 3 day trip to Chagrin Falls, Ohio where I learned a new technique to add to my jewelry designing skills.
Metal Clay artist and jewelry designer Holly Gage taught a two day workshop that was hosted by the Ohio Metal Clay Artist Association called, Repoussé Effect. Holly has pioneered some great techniques using metal clay over the last few years and I have been intrigued by her method of taking a photo or drawing and transforming them into highly detailed, low relief images that are similar in style to traditional Repoussé.
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| Poeke Castle - Aalter Belgium |
During our trip to Belgium a few years ago I had taken many photos of Poeke Castle. This huge pink castle sets majestically in the small town municipality of Aalter Belgium, the birthplace of my grandfather, Julius Van Laecke. My grandfather and his brothers hunted on this estate and were able to book passage to America with their earnings made from the sales of animal pelts. So, when Holly told us that choosing a photo to work with that had a story related to it or memories associated with it tends to move our inner spirit within allowing us to put our heart and soul into it, I knew this was the photo for me.
I needed to crop the castle photo down to a manageable size to work with for my first piece, especially since it had so darned many tiny windows in it and once that was done I was on my way. I decided to use the angle from the left side of the photo that had the huge towers.
Using tracing paper a pencil outline was made of the castle and transferred to a thick block of conditioned polymer clay using a burnisher. Then it was time to start carving into the wet clay. This was a new process for me and took me some time to get the hang of but with Holly's patience and teaching skills my frustration turned to excitement as my mold started to evolve and look similar to my photo.
Working in reverse we learned how to carve a polymer mold from our photo (not an easy task) and then manipulate the silver metal clay as we used assorted carving tools to create different hand-wrought textural effects. The results were just so amazing, the ladies in my workshop created some really unique and original, pieces that beautifully echoed the hand of each artist. It was a great learning process, frustration turned to fun once we were able to let go of our ever controlling minds. You know that right brain, left brain thing.
In the photo on the left you can see the original photo I started with, the pencil drawn cropped image, that I transferred to the yellow polymer clay. The photo on the right is my silver pendant fresh from the mold in the rough prior to carving in the details. Carving was relatively new to me and even though this is a very delicate and time consuming process I found it to be rewarding and quite enjoyable overall. It's a process that I can see myself doing again and in the end is well worth the results.
Here is my finished pendant!
Hours and hours of work went into creating this keepsake piece and I am reminded each time I wear it of the warm summer day that I spent with my husband as we roamed these castle grounds in the small village town of Aalter Belgium,
a place where my grandfather, his brothers and their father once walked upon..
I love my new castle necklace!
