The Travellers - Antique Kitchen Strainers

The Travellers
Photography by Christina Arsenault 

At the beginning of the year I found some delightful antique kitchen strainers and I immediately fell in love with their shape and form. I wanted to incorporate them into my artwork and create something beautiful with them.

Incorporating metal wire (copper, brass and silver plated that has been patina'ed) each antique strainer contains or carries a machine embroidered heart, that is incased in a resin house shape.

They certainly have character and have developed a life of their own. They became the inspiration for some stop motion animation, ending up in my 3 and a half minute animation, The Drive.

Finally I have finished a family of three 'Travellers'. Here they are

The Travellers
Photography by Christina Arsenault 

The Travellers
Photography by Christina Arsenault 

The Travellers
Photography by Christina Arsenault 

Resin and Machine Embroidery

Heart houses 2.5 x 4 x 2.3 cm

I have been experimenting with machine embroidery, hand embroidery using reflective thread and embedding it into clear resin.

landscape embroidery embedded into a shape created from an antique hand saw

To create my own resin moulds I have been using a two part moulding paste (Pebeo silicon moulding paste) where you mix equal quantities of the blue and white paste for a minute until a uniform colour appears. It is quick to use and sets in about 5 minutes and is a little like working with oily Fimo (or polymer clay).

two part moulding paste house moulds

And I have worked with 2 different brands of resin: Pebeo Gedeo Crystal Resin and Castin' Craft Clear Polyester Casting Resin. Interestingly there was quite a bit of difference between the two. 

Pebeo Gedeo Crystal Resin took 24 hours to cure, was frosty where it came into contact with the mould and relatively smell free. I quite liked the 'softness' in the quality of the frostiness of the Pedeo Gedeo Crystal Resin, it is reminiscent of the sea washed glass you find on the beach. 

Castin' Craft Clear Polyester Casting Resin cured to the touch in less than 24 hours, was crystal clear even when it came into contact with the mould and was incredibly smelly. This one definitely needed to be used in a well ventilated space!  

House embroidery
embedded into the shape created from an antique hand saw

Whilst working with resin I discovered that you can:

• sand it with sand paper (this gives you a frosty look) and also helps even out any unwanted lumps and bumps
• paint it clear varnish (I used nail polish) which turns the sanded areas clear again 
• speed up the curing time by placing it in a warm oven (preheated to 80 degrees C for 15 minutes) this process also encourages any bubbles to come to the surface and disappear

The following sites were useful references

www.furnityurmolds.blogspot.ca

casting embedments in clear resin 

casting resin using a 2 part mould

Hollowware: Learning to fabricate

Our second project in Hollowware was to learn to solder joints, and make a 5 sided cube.

5 sided brass cube being held together with wire before soldering

 Although it looks relatively straight forward, the project is incredibly tricky, trying to get all angles at 90 degrees is more difficult than it looks!

And then there are the hours (literally) of sanding and polishing and elbow grease to get it to look like this....

Phew!

After learning how to make cubes we were given a project to design something that would hold an egg.

Starting with the basic concept of a cone, I explored many variations before coming up with this one.

Copper finished with green patina, and highly polished tentacles

The green patina then turned the most amazing purple from a couple of hours soaking in ammonia fumes.

Fun stuff and the purple was the most wonderful iridescent colour... and not even a colour our teacher had seen before either!

Blue and White Ceramics in their new homes

Ive just received some more images of my porcelain wares in their new homes.

Below are images from Vicki who just happens to be the editor for a prominent Australian magazine dedicated to ceramics. 

Image by Vicki

My 'CrabApple Tree in Blossom' vessel is on display in her office (middle vessel). Behind it sits the accompanying card made from an off-cut of lino print from my time in Hill End.

Image by Vicki

How very exciting that my ceramics have ended up in such a wonderful place!

More blue and white ceramics for Pozible

December has been spent making, delivering and sending out pozible gifts (lino prints, tea towels and ceramics) for my supporters. 

Left over bits of my lino prints for the gift tags.  

Notice my handy assistant, Kochira the cat, keeping an ever watchful eye on me (and the fish) in the background! 

I wanted to get the ceramic gifts out before Christmas, and consequently forgot to take nice pictures of them. I only have one of them lined up in my studio.

Thankfully I have received pictures from some of the recipients - and its lovely to see the ceramic vessels in their new homes.

Image: Bel and Shane

Image: Josie

Image: Liz 

Image: Murray

Im still collecting images of the gifts in their new homes. If you were one of my supporters Id love to see how your gift looks in its new home.

Lino Cuts inspired by Haefliger Cottage

The lino cuts (below) that were exhibited in the Landscapes, Ladies and Literature exhibition at the Barometer Gallery in Sydney were inspired by my stay in the Haefliger Cottage as part of my residency in Hill End.

Obedience! Yes that is a virtue in women...

The difficulty of finding tolerable servants... 

Recollections of bush life in Australia... 

Her domestic duties are so engrossing...

The management of household affairs... 

The titles of the works were inspired by a letter I found written by an English lady who had emigrated to Australia in the early 1800s. She was writing home describing the domestic duties in the Australian bush, and detailing how they contrasted with her old life in England.

All prints are signed and printed in a limited edition of 5. If you would like to add one to your collection visit my online store.

The Exhibition: Landscapes Ladies & Literature

Here are some images from my solo exhibition Landscapes Ladies & Literature at the Barometer Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.

It was a fabulous gallery space, with lots of natural light through two huge windows that faced onto the streets and high ceilings. The gallery was on the corner of two streets and had great street presence. 

Many people dropped in after driving past and seeing the artwork on the walls!

'Adrift in a Foreign Land' - created in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The exhibition displayed the work created on the two residencies I undertook this year: the old gold mining town of Hill End in June, and Halifax Nova Scotia in July and August 2013. All the work created was inspired by pioneering ladies in both countries.

Images inspired by Hill End onto cast porcelain bottles

If you would like to see some more images of the works created in both residencies visit my website, www.kateward.com.au 

Barometer Gallery was just around the corner from Five Ways, a well known area where five roads meet. This place has such a lovely village vibe, and reminded me a little of London. 

Great food, pubs and restaurants lined the streets. And the Jacaranda trees were in bloom. Quite delightful, creating lilac vistas and carpeting streets with purple blossoms!

And I was most taken by the Thomas Dux Grocer, a store that had a delightful assortment of delectable gourmet delights, and turns out to be an upmarket Woolworths supermarket (and much more enjoyable to shop in!)

I shopped daily at Sonoma bakery, which had a delicious assortment of sourdough breads. 

And I found the most wonderful cafe ever called Tiger Mottle. It made the best coffee and had such a great vibe.... if you are in the area I recommend checking all these places out.

Its such fun! 

Traversing Frontiers Exhibition at Mary E Black Gallery 6 - 22 September 20013

 Wow! Its hard to believe that ten weeks have passed and that I have finished my residency in Halifax.

This past week has been a blur as I have been putting the finishing touches to my artwork. I installed my pieces on Tuesday and the opening night (reception) was on Thursday 5 September 2013. We had a great crowd and it was fascinating to see all 10 participating artist's final work in the gallery.

Pictures from opening night can be viewed here.

For those who have been following the progress of my residency you will know that I have been exploring and researching landscapes, ladies and literature in Nova Scotia. The spoon has become a metaphor for the experiences and strength of pioneering women, symbolising nurturing and referring to the hardships and lack of food the pioneers experienced during the early years of Canada's history.

Below are some images of my final pieces in the show.

Top row: Adrift in a New Land

Canadian red clay, majolica, cobalt

Bottom row: Lost in the Backwoods / Deep stillness of the woods

Canadian red clay, majolica, cobalt, decal, leather, copper pins, found forest wood

Genteel Poverty

Cut and etched antique silver spoons, antique linen  

Nature Vs Nurture

Antique silver spoons, copper wire

Dimensions variable

2013

Gallery installation view

Gallery installation view

For more images of my work and artwork in the exhibition by the ten participating artists click here.

I would also like to extend my thanks to all those who supported my Pozible project who helped to make this opportunity a reality. I have had the most amazing time. Nova Scotia has such gorgeous countryside, rich history and I have met so many fabulous people. 

It really has been a life changing experience!

x

Studio Magic

With about a week to go before the installation of the exhibition Traversing Frontiers things are hotting up in the studio.

working from my sketchbook

Set up to take images for the catalogue

working through presentation ideas for my spoons

Detail of etched serving spoon

Experimenting with decals on vintage plates

Making the most of the sunshine!
Embroidery in the park

Nature v's Nurture
Experiments with silver and copper

Majolica paintings ready for the kiln 

Watch this space. By this time next week everything should be finished. Fingers crossed the majolica firing will be successful. 

x

In the studio - more test pieces

This week in the studio I experimented with a majolica glaze.

Hard at work in the studio

I had decided to try this glaze because of the similarities of creating blue on white imagery with low fire earthenware compared with the high fire porcelain that I work with in Australia. I just love blue and white ceramics.

some spoons with majolica before the glaze firing

 So I very carefully painted a number of scenes I had sketched from the Quaker House in Dartmouth.

And the results were a little unexpected - as you can see in the before and after images below.

kitchen chair before glaze firing

kitchen chair after glaze firing 

kitchen cupboard pre-fire

kitchen cupboard after glaze firing 

Kitchen fireplace pre-fire

Kitchen fireplace after glaze firing 

Kitchen scene pre-fire

Kitchen scene after glaze firing 

So I think what caused the cracking of the ceramics was the thickness of the glaze - next time I will try it a little thinner. This may also have been the cause for why the images ran. 

Although the results were not what I was hoping for, I really like the watery quality of the images and I will continue to experiment with positioning the spoons at different angles in the kiln to accentuate this. However I would also like to achieve some blue on white scenes which do not have the marbled/watery effect. I have been told that there is another majolica glaze that I should also try - I will also test that one out too.

I have had a little more success etching silver spoons.

Silver spoon before etching 

Silver spoon after etching 

I am really excited by the concept of etching silver cutlery and I will continue to explore creating imagery in this way. There is an excellent tutorial online that demonstrates the steps of how to do this.

Creating wood block 

I have also started working with carving imagery onto woodblocks and printing the imagery using the Japanese technique of using water colours or gauche to print the image. This is really exciting as I learnt this method whilst I was living in London, and haven't had the time since to explore this method of printing.

This week all 10 artists got together to present their progress to date. It is really interesting to see how everyone is working and the beautiful things that are being created. We are starting to count down to the exhibition.... theres only 24 days to go!