Big Dinnerware Project!

I have been very busy putting together this set of dishes for 12.So much planning goes into a project like this: simply selecting the dish types with the client is very important and takes tremendous concentration and some application of logic.

This particular client was very helpful and clear on what she wanted, so the process went smoothly, but it still took a lot of focus!




Another exciting aspect to this was project was the debut of a new kiln I am now using. It's really big, much bigger than my old friend the Old Kiln (sic),and it took a bit of formal wiring and engineering to get it powered correctly, and more testing from me to make sure it was all OK, before submitting this important dish project to it. Of course, getting the dishes planned and painted has also taken a certain amount of fore thought and mental organisation....I had to pay a lot of attention to keep track of what I was doing, each step, to keep the consistency in the design for each group.The cat is always particularly helpful at this time. (?)All the pieces are specifically designed to match in sets...Lots of variation between sets, but also clear repetition of the design within the set.

Each dinner plate, side plate and mug has its own particular fruit or vegetable.

The bowls are more generic, so they can work with sweet or savoury foods.

The bowls also sit prettily on the plates, for a nice table setting.

The backs of the plates reflect the vine theme on the bowls.

I think these oval "luncheon" plates are very cool.

Still yet to paint are two very large serving platters, one with fruit and one with veggies. And two large serving bowls, one with fruits, one with veggies!

Stay tuned.

Table Delivered!

Here is the table in its home...and looking GREAT with the red chairs!

Table Finished

A couple of days ago I finished this great table...

I am very happy with the way it's turned out, and the birds just crack me up....!
You can click on some of these pictures to see them larger!

The Roseatte Spoonbill and the flowering ginger plant are the last two elements to complete the circle, or Rougue's Gallery.

It's quite hard to photograph because of the reflections in the semi gloss finish.

Painted Table Moves Along Nicely

This is the hard stage in a project, there is a lot to do yet, and I get conflicted about whether to work on the foliage and flowers, or to work on the pattern....I go back and forth, slowly developing the feel of the thing. As more paint develops the feeling of depth the painting starts to take on a life of its own. This is the fun part.

Lots more to do, but now that, for instance, the water area in the centre is resolved, I can have fun giving it a little more mystery and sense of atmosphere...compare this to the picture of it in the beginning of this post.

The flowers are blocked in with colour, also bringing more razzle dazzle to the scene...

Painted Table

Next Project is a small dining table. Here is the sketch on paper... Birds, water, tropical, stylised....all good fun.

I taped under the edges, and the centre area, especially. I don't want thick areas of paint gluing it together, or preventing me from getting the table closed later!

It was important to get the birds in the right places, and for them to be the right size, so I decided right away where to put them...maybe a little too soon...

I painted them out, to do more background work; go figure....however, since I still wanted to make sure they were positioned correctly, and that there was enough room for the clumps of flowers to come later, I then went ahead and painted in the birds just about the way I want them, but didn't finish them. They will get all messed up anyhow, as I do the leaves and flowers around and behind them. However, they'll be easy to fix andperfect later, last thing.

With this project, there are lots of layers. I have to decide what gets painted first. If I dont take the time to think ahead, I will end up repainting a lot of areas, as they get stepped on by the adjoining bits that should have been painted first....

Fabric Washed

After heat setting the fabric in the very hot dryer for half an hour or so, its time to wash it. Washing is not that crucial. I sometimes feel the fabric seems softer, but I think its more imagination. However in this case, since I used a lot of chalk to draw with, the washing will certainly get rid of any chalk residue in the fabric.It was very heavy all wet! And when the fabric is wet, it becomes delicate. The paint can soften after a while when wet, and its VERY IMPORTANT not to scrape, twist or otherwise disturb the paint on the surface of the fabric when its wet. When its dry its almost indestructible, and holds up to pretty rough use. Crazy. It was a cloudy stormy looking day. I was eager to get the fabric finished off and delivered the next day, the day before it had rained a lot....argh. What to do?? Nothing dries when its rainy in the summer here....and this piece was too big to try to dry indoors...I watched the weather radar on the computer for a couple of hours, and there was no rain anywhere...
I was a nervous wreck when the fabric was almost dry, and it still looked like the sky would rain a downpour....

I laid it on the picnic table when it was just damp,and the sun came out for a while and really toasted it nicely!

A minute later, I looked out the window and it was raining! With the sun out! Argh! I rushed out and got the fabric inside , before any of the rain had a chance to stick.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures in the future of this piece made up into the lightweight quilt that's planned for it.

More On The Fabric Bedcover

Here is a good view of what's been done, and whats left to do! The piece is oriented sideways on the table. The unpainted area corresponds to the "top" of the cover, ie: at the headboard. The seam is in the centre of the table now, from side to side. Not that it matters particularly...Here is the chalk drawing for this next section.
And here you can see that section more or less completed...

Its really an incredible amount of detail, even for me. I don't think I have ever concentrated so much tiny detail on such a large piece. It think its beautiful.

To unify the whole, and to give it an ''inky'' look, I am painting a transparent "glaze"- like wash over the whole area outside the centre , in a sort of indigo/purple colour. It cools off the flowers and leaves, making them look moist and shady, like the forest floor...I will do some more of that today; it often dries lighter, and allows me to create even more layering, by it needing more than it looks like when its wet In other words, the stages are slow. It's hard to overdo it in one glaze. That's a good thing, for me!

I will be sort of sad when this is done. Its been hard work, mentally, since there had to be a lot of consistency in the flowers and scale. I had to pay quite a bit of attention, and that's fine, but it's demanding, and physically tiring, having to huddle over a small space for a long time!!...But the main point is I am so happy with the way it looks, I will miss that satisfying feeling when a whole section comes together, and looks really good... but I suppose I feel like that all the time when something is getting done and looks good. ...

Soon I will be thinking this about the next project. Still a few things to do on this one though... stay tuned.