Filed under: animation, favorites, music, painting, process, time lapse by ramune

Octave Violin from Ramune on Vimeo.

I was recently asked to paint a violin for the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra‘s silent auction, which followed a performance featuring cellist, Julie Albers. They asked a number of local women artists and I was more than happy to take a lonely violin and make a project out of it. When I arrived at their offices to pick up my violin, I had a choice between one without strings and a crack in it and one that was in decent shape and had two strings. I chose the latter, although looking back on it I probably could have made good use of that crack.

The first thing I thought before I had the violin in my hands was that I would strip it, stain it (either green or red) and then paint something in black acrylic. I am definitely much more comfortable using a pen than I am using paints (I love the control and clean lines when I draw with a pen), but I was looking forward to the challenge and the chance to bring out my paints again. I don’t know where they came from, but I think my acrylics multiplied since the last time I opened that bag (there are at least four large tubes of white paint in there).

Initially when I was thinking about designs, I imagined something using my bubbley tentacles, and then since octopi have been on my mind lately it seemed to be the natural progression. The title “octave” came after I was done painting and needed something more than just “Untitled”. I thought of naming it the obvious “octopus” or “octopod” and then “octave” hit me like some cheesy pun and I had to do it.

Below are more photos from the process I went through to paint the violin. It definitely took longer than I thought since there was so much waiting time between stripping, drying, sanding, conditioning, staining, painting and then varnishing. Along with the photos of the process I also set up my camera and created a time lapse video of me painting the octopus on the violin. You can even follow the link to the vimeo page and watch it in HD (larger than life for your massive screen). Enjoy!

Whether or not these violins are meant to be played, I am not sure, but I went ahead and bought new violin strings so that it can be played . . . although I will mention that the sound post popped out of the violin when I was sanding it. I haven’t played violin since I was a wee one, but I imagine that is somewhat important.

Side Note: Unfortunately I am out of town this weekend, so I wasn’t able to make it to the performance and auction last night, but I am looking forward to seeing photos from the event and all the other violins.

Oops, no photos from the staining phase . . .

Filed under: commission, enamel, favorites, jewelry, process by ramune

Big Lazy – Just Plain Scared

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After spending seven straight hours in the studio last Tuesday night, I was able to finish the art nouveau inspired cloisonné pendant! I am pretty excited that 1. nothing horrible went wrong in those seven hours (trying to stay calm and not rushing helped) and 2. I am really happy with the piece . . . so much so that I don’t really want to sell it.

To see the previous posts showing the original sketches and the first steps, check these links:
105 . . . Two Years and a Commission
107 . . . Cloisonné Commission II

Below I have compiled some photos of the process. I didn’t take photos of every single step because that would be incredibly boring (since it involves building up thin layer after thin layer after thin layer . . .), but I tried to show a variety of steps.

1. Put the thinner inside wires in place. These were a challenge and took up a good bit of time.
2. First layers of yellow and green (post firing)
3. Adding some gray to the edges (pre firing)

4. In the kiln.
(Side note: The previous week I had aluminum on the trivet in the kiln and managed to push it so it touched those red hot 1500 degree coils and I got a serious zap through my entire body. Lesson learned.)
5. I love the way enamels look right when they come out of the kiln, too bad they don’t stay that way. (post firing)
6. I made little paper patterns to protect my yellow areas from the gray enamel (pre firing)

7. After removing the paper patterns (pre firing)
8. Added in the pink/yellow for the flower. At this point I liked my colors as they were. (post firing)
9. Once I got the coloring I wanted (8), I filled in the empty spaces with N4, a clear enamel (pre firing)
10. After putting on enough N4 to build up the enamel to the top of the wires, I stoned the hell out of this piece. Here it is ready to go in for it’s last firing (pre firing)

My messy space

Filed under: commission, enamel, jewelry, process by ramune

Deastro – Biophelia

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Hello from yet another gorgeous almost summer-like day in November. First off, this week’s song comes to you from Deastro, one of my absolute favorite musicians of 2009. I was hooked ever since I heard this song. This past Thursday I had the pleasure of seeing him open for Max Tundra (he is a character, well worth seeing live) at a rather small show at DC9. He and his band mate have only been playing together for three weeks in their current setup (which he amusingly would remind us whenever there were technical issues), while he puts together a larger band. Check it out.

As promised, here are some photos of my progress on the commissioned piece I am working on at the moment. Things have been moving a little slower than expected but I am learning a lot in the process. For example, don’t polish up your fine silver with a brass wheel. The brass can transfer to the silver and then completely mess up the enamel when you fire it (gets cloudy and splotchy). I’m glad I learned this after “ruining” two pieces of silver and nearly ruining a third. Oy. I am not as far as I would like to be considering this Tuesday is my last class for the season (I need a kiln and studio of my own already), but I am hopeful that I can finish in time (showing up to class 3.5 hours early should help). This past week I managed to get my main wires on, so at least that part is done. Hopefully everything else will fit into place nicely. Here are some photos of the process so far.

The Flux 2020 firing was finally successful! No cloudiness or splotchiness!

You always have to enamel the back of any piece, otherwise it is more likely to crack.

Bending my wires to mimic the shapes in my design was a finicky process. It was trickier than I had expected and I had to adjust the shapes a wee bit to fit the domed silver disc and make room for thin wires that will be inside the piece on the right.

Filed under: design, doodle, enamel, jewelry, process by ramune

The Shins – Sea Legs

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Well friendlings, it’s been two years and I’m still here . . . plugging away at a project a week, or something like that. Thank you to those who have dropped by and commented or silently perused through my projects. Thanks also to those who were patient and collaborated with me, I would like to do more projects with friends in year three. This might be a good time to mention that on the right side of the page you can send me suggestions for new projects, since I like a challenge and also run out of ideas. Back to this week’s project . . .

A while ago, a friend of mine (who shall remain nameless for the time being) asked me if he could commission a cloisonné pendant for his significant other. He wanted something that was Art Nouveau inspired and that included vines and floral elements. These are the four sketches I came up with that were both Art Nouveau inspired and true to my style. In other words, not only will he and the recipient hopefully like them, but I will too and it’s always nice to like what you’re making (please don’t ask me to enamel a portrait of you and your cat . . . I won’t do it). The sketches are a bit light, but the colors on the actual piece will be much more vibrant and all the black lines will actually be silver.

During the coming weeks I plan to post my progress on the design he chose. I was hoping to get a decent amount done this week, but because my materials were not what they were advertised to be, I ended up wasting 3.5 hours trying to figure out what was wrong and eventually had to admit defeat. Now I have ordered new silver (from a different and more trusted vendor) and hope that things go smoothly from here on out . . .

Filed under: doodle, enamel, favorites, jewelry, process by ramune

Song of the Week: Benoît Pioulard – Loupe

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I just realized that my two year anniversary is coming up in two weeks and well, that means I should be at around project 103 by now. Oops. Where did those missing 13 go? Spooky. Since I have two weeks to catch up, I am going to post a project every day until October 31st. I am not promising any Michelangelo here, and my commentary might be lacking, but I will do it . . . dammit.

In the meantime, here is something I am very excited about . . . PNP paper! I have been taking the same enamels class for two years now and (for the most part) do my own thing. Occasionally I ask my teacher for help/advice, but there hasn’t been much new in the way of techniques learned. A few weeks ago however, she taught the new students how to use PNP transfer paper. With PNP you can photocopy any black/white design to the paper and then transfer that to copper as a resist. We did not have great luck with PNP when we tried it two years ago, but after experimenting with some different techniques, my teacher figured out a way to successfully get the paper to adhere to the copper. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the details transferred and how well the PNP held up in the etch.

Below are some photos of the PNP paper after I had successfully transferred my designs. In some areas the PNP didn’t transfer, but it was pretty easy to touch up using asphaltum. It isn’t a huge deal, but I forgot to reverse the images before printing, so all of my designs are flipped. It bothers me slightly that everything is facing the wrong way. At least I didn’t have any words anywhere.

I was hoping to post some nice photos of my shiny new etched pieces, but I am having a hard time getting the PNP paper off of the copper. I thought I could use mineral spirits, since that’s what I use to take off asphaltum, but I think I need to use paint thinner. Instead of buying a large container for a few uses, I will just wait for class this week.

You may recognize this fish and this guy.

Luckily the touch-ups I had to do with the asphaltum were pretty minor. Here are the copper discs ready to be etched. The piece on the top right is my halftone test. It was also the first one I placed on the PNP, so the pattern is off a bit. My next mission is to find some photos I’ve taken that might work well on copper and transfer those.

Here are my original designs.

Filed under: artomatic, favorites, painting, process by ramune

Last year my friend David exhibited a bunch of his photos at Artomatic and after walking through only three of the nine floors, I decided I had to sign up this year (and make sure to see all of the art on all nine floors).

I knew it would be a lot of work, but the reality of it hit hard the other weekend. The fact that the location is right next to the National’s stadium, and they have home games almost every day until the Artomatic opening makes it particularly frustrating to drive there and find parking ($25 on game days!). Taking the metro with a ladder and a bag full of painting supplies is also less than fun, but I did what I had to do and drove to the nearest metro (where I could find free parking) and then metroed the rest of the way.

Day 1: Put primer on walls
I thought I had everything I needed with me, but did not take into account the massive pits in the walls that would require filling. I could probably have left them alone and no one would have noticed, but I am a bit of a perfectionist and want my wall to be defect-free. I called my mother to look up the nearest hardware store (I’m sure if I had an iPhone there would be an app for that) and tried to catch a cab but only had $3 cash (damn that $2 melted Reeses I bought from a street vendor). After standing on a corner not knowing what to do, I went to the CVS, bought a bag of chips and got cash back and tried to find another cab. Unfortunately there were no cabs to be found, so I gave up and took the metro back to my car and drove to the hardware store. Wood filler was purchased, I made my way back to my exhibit space, had a therapeutic session filling holes in the panels and then got to priming.

I thought all was going well, but silly me believed the man at Home Depot who told me that a quart of paint was enough for two coats of primer on a 12′x8′ wall. It wasn’t even enough for one full coat . . . as you can see in the photo below. I painted what I could, packed up and left. This was a silly mistake for me to make because I should know better. My work study job for three years of college was working at the Pratt galleries and I spent a lot of time filling holes and painting walls. I just didn’t think to question the guy when he said it would be enough.

Day 2: Finished priming the wall!

Day 3: Choose paint color and paint two coats
I toiled and troubled over what color to paint my wall (I created several Illustrator mock-ups with a variety of color options and layouts), and eventually decided on a Valspar granite textured paint from Lowes. It glitters . . . hopefully not obnoxiously so, but I think it adds a little something. I have never painted any kind of textured paint, so that was an interesting learning process. I had to buy a fluffier roller, roll the first coat and then hand-brush Xs for the second coat. Side Note: There is no way to paint that kind of stuff cleanly. It sprayed all over my arms, face and into my eyes (hopefully I won’t go blind before Artomatic). I am not sure how I did it, but somehow I took a gallon of paint meant to cover 120 square feet and made it cover over 192 square feet. I haven’t seen it completely dry yet, but I sure hope it looks good. This is how it looked when I left it this past Saturday.

Now that painting is all done, I have to get my photos printed, finish two enamels, buy mat boards, frame the photos, frame the enamels, install all of that, install lights and a table with guestbook (that my awesomely talented sister is making for me) and postcards (that are being printed now) and maybe other treats . . . then I am done! Whew . . . lots left to do, but most of the manual labor is done.

That, my friends, it what has been keeping me busy and away from updating this here blog. I will try to be better about it, but most of my “creativeness” has been spent on this exhibit.

Filed under: clothing, process by ramune

In the sweatshop . . .

I have been in desperate need of some new skirts and finally got around to sewing one for the spring. Over the years I have sewn at least ten (variations) of these for myself and even more for my sister and to sell (when my sister and I had our business Pilkasiulas).

This past autumn when my friend Kathy came to visit from San Jose, CA, she gave me a gift certificate to Purl (a fantastic fabric and yarn store in NYC). I was super excited and bought a bundle of fabric to whip into skirts. I plan to sew the black one next and then I am not sure what I will do with the pink one. I only bought a yard of that, so it won’t be enough for a skirt.

As if I don’t have enough fabric, new fabric at least motivates me to get sewing.

I love the sound/feeling of cutting fabric.

Abstract view of the marsupial skirt . . . I love hidden pockets in skirts.

At a stoplight in my new skirt . . .

Filed under: design, jewelry, process by ramune

It hit me this morning that I only have three more enamels classes left for the Winter session. No worries though . . . our class was postponed so many times that the Spring session starts only two weeks after my last class . . . phew! How I long for a large studio in a barn in the middle of nowhere with a teleporter to a nice city loft. I can dream, can’t I?

I will work on those plans (and you work on developing that teleporter for me), but in the meantime here I am preparing some copper discs to be etched. I need to get better at focusing when I can’t actually look at the viewfinder.

Filed under: jewelry, process by ramune

Last Monday I was all excited to start my enamels class and wanted to make sure I didn’t waste a minute of potential kiln time, so I did some prep work. I got out my dwindling supply of ferric chloride and put in a few copper pieces to etch. I used asphaltum (black) on some and DecoColor paint marker (red) on others so I could try both methods and see the results on the same design. The asphaltum holds up better in the acid, but needs to be painted on and does not lend itself to detailed design (or maybe I just need to find better brushes). The DecoColor paint marker is far easier to draw with, but breaks down a lot faster. I think this was the last run for the ferric chloride (or close to it) as it took me six hours to etch this deep when it usually only takes around three.

Unfortunately I did all that prep work and then my class was canceled (for the third week in a row) due to the fact that the DC area can’t handle an inch of snow. The coffee shop I went to on Tuesday closed at 4:30 “due to weather” as well. DC needs to learn how to deal with snow, it’s not like we’ve never had it before. At least today I finally have my first class.

Filed under: jewelry, process by ramune

I am pretty excited about this week’s creative project. I recently started taking another Enameling on Metal class at the Torpedo Factory and I had all these grand plans for my projects this semester. I wanted to make the most of it and hopefully come out with enough pieces to sell on Etsy. If the pieces sold well, then I would really push working more with metals and trying to make a real business out of it. Unfortunately I was counting on certain techniques (mainly etching) being used in class and when I asked my teacher about it she said we would not be doing any etching in class this semester. I decided to do the etching step at home and then bring my pieces into class to enamel (since I can’t afford a kiln at the moment).

Unfortunately the search for ferric chloride (the etchant we used in class and that is commonly used to create circuit boards) was futile. According to my teacher and loads of websites, Radioshack was the only place you could buy ferric chloride, however they have stopped selling it and I needed to look for another solution, or order it online. When searching for ferric chloride I came upon the Stop using Ferric Chloride etchant! (A better etching solution.) tutorial on instructables.com that suggests using hydrogen peroxide and muriatic acid (pool acid) instead. Supposedly you can keep using the same solution over and over again which makes it more environmentally friendly.

I tried out this technique and am pretty happy with the results. I need to work on a better resist since the acid ate through some parts where it was too thin. The only downside is I had to buy two gallons of muriatic acid and only used around 1/2 cup. Luckily it was only $10.

Below are some photos of the process. To see more details you can check out the rest of the photos from this project and other creative projects here.

Step 1: After putting designs on the copper with a resist (DecoColor marker in this case), attach the copper pieces to a piece of foam with double-sided carpet tape.

Step 2: The chemicals! Mix 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide and 1 part Muriatic Acid.

Step 3: Put the foam with the copper pieces in the solution and watch it turn green . . .

Step 4: Once the copper has been etched as deep as desired, remove from solution and put into water.
Step 5: Brush with baking soda to neutralize.

Step 6: Pour the solution into a glass bottle for next time. This is one bottle of Chimay you won’t want to drink!

Step 7: Use mineral spirits to remove the resist (DecoColor in this case) and any remaining double-stick tape on the back of the copper pieces. Rinse off and brush with more baking soda.

Unfortunately the resist was not on thick enough (or I should have reapplied in the middle of the process), so it’s not quite as clean as I would have liked, but I am still happy with the results. I can’t wait to enamel them!