Bringing a well preserved antique fireplace back to perfection - part 2

In this follow-up post I was going to show you the carving process from start to finish. Unfortunately I had a devastating hard drive failure and my back-up was mostly corrupted, so I lost some of the layout photos. You can find the process in some past posts - like here -

Layout of image

I did make a short video of carving - it looks as though I'm in fast motion, but it was real time....I guess I was in a hurry to make it a short video!

The finished wax with original shard and enlarged print-outs of the image.

Setting up the frames around the wax for pouring the plaster mould.

Plaster poured and leveled.

Plaster released from the mould.

Touching up a few small bubbles in the plaster.

Wax original and plaster mould.

It was a great first pouring of the plaster. Unhappily, all the photos of pressing the tile, bisque tiles, and glazing are lost. But I am waiting for the completed installation shots from the customer and I'll post those when I am able.

Thanks so much for reading and please contact me directly at lestile@nycap.rr.com if you have any questions, or if you have a tile that you would like reproduced or custom carved.

Visit our webpage at L'esperance Tile Works or at my Etsy shop - have a wonderful day!! 

Making Holiday ornaments with images from the Dover Victorian Christmas collection.

It's been a while, but I'm happy to announce that I'm an official Dover Crafting Ambassador! Images from Dover books have been inspiring my tile designs for years, and now I'm happy to add a new collection of Christmas ornaments to my Etsy shop, just in time for the holidays.

Teddy bear with clown outfit from the Victorian Christmas collection.

These ornaments were created using images from the Dover Victorian Decorative Christmas Illustrations applied to my handmade ceramic tiles, and here's how I did it.

First I downloaded the collection and chose the images I wanted for my ornaments. Then I used photoshop to create a page of the images for small ornaments and 4x4" trivet tiles. The tiles were first glazed and fired and then a sheet of images was printed on decal paper with a HP laser printer.

The decal sheet is on the left, an array of tiles to be used are laid out on the right.

Cutting the image to be used for an ornament.

Here's the teddy bear.

Laying the cutout paper decal images onto the ornament tiles.

All cut out and ready to soak the decal paper.

After I've laid out all of the selected decals onto the tiles I want the images to be on, it's time to soak off the decals from their paper backing and apply to the tile surfaces.

I place the decal paper into water and soak it for about a minute, or until I can feel the paper backing releasing from the decal.

Releasing the decal from the paper backing.

It slides right off onto the glazed tile.

Here are all the tiles with decals ready to be fired on. They go into the kiln and get fired to 1950• F, fixing them permanently to the surface of the tile.

A selection of finished ornaments, some with raffia for hanging.

Thanks to Dover for inspiring my tile making for years, and for making me an Ambassador. I'll have more tutorials using images from their collections soon!!

For now you can find my decal ornaments, along with a collection of carved ornaments here, in my Etsy shop!

Thanks for listening!!

The Martha Stewart Etsy Show - April 23, 2012

I had my 15 seconds of fame when I was an audience member at The Martha Stewart Etsy Show a few weeks ago. I received an e-mail invitation a few weeks before the scheduled taping from an Etsy administrator, and of course I said yes, thinking, there's got to be some free advertising here. Well, I sat in the top row on the side where no cameras can reach....so not so much on the free TV time....but it was fun and I got to meet some wonderful Etsy sellers.

Every audience member had a photo taken after the taping of the show. Here's mine!

Click here for the link to the photo from The Martha Stewart website.

We were told to arrive at 12:30, and not to be late...but when I showed up at 12:30 there was already a line at least 50 people long, and they had already admitted some into the building. It was a chilly, overcast day, but I made friends with Mary and Mary who were my buddies on line.

Don drove me down and he was in charge of the camera for the day, as I decided I probably wouldn't be taking photos once inside. This is his view from down the block - West 27th street between 7th & 8th.

Hmmmm......guess he's showing how tiny this sign really is.

We never left the studio until 4pm! Don and I decided we need to walk over the the Flat Iron district to find the wonderful pastry shop we discovered last time we were here a few months ago. Well...we couldn't find it but ended up in an excellent macaroon shop.

The excellent macaroon shop is Madeleine Patisserie at 132 West 23rd Street.

Here's a treasury I made of some of the sellers who were at the show.

Part 3 of Reproducing a Victorian Tile.

Ok - I've got the original tile, or at least a photo of what needs to be carved. I've formatted the image to a larger size to compensate for the shrinkage of the clay body. Now I need the materials for creating a reproduction of the tile. There are many different materials that can be used to create the master tile that moulds will be made from. Some include clay, plasticine, plaster, beeswax, jeweler's wax.....I prefer "holy wax".

My Mom helps clean her church - St. Augustine's in Lansingburgh, NY - and has been saving the candle discards for me for 30 years now.

I have many, many, many boxes of candles of all shapes and sizes - but a LOT of these  partially used vigil tapers.

I use this great old electric pot to melt my wax in, and set it at about 200* F to melt the wax. There's always some "starter" wax in the bottom left over from the last pour.

I add more candles to fill the pot up about 1/2 way full. It's about a quart of wax altogether.

I use a wooden kabob stick to stir the wax - everything melts together in about 10 minutes.

At this point I usually add a red candle to color the diluted wax. It took me about a year to decide what color I liked to carve the best. A light "emberglow" seems to be the easiest and most soothing on my eyes. I used to carve a light tone of lavender, but the wax moved itself towards more honeysuckle tones all by itself, and I let it go where it wanted to. I did discover early on that blue and green didn't work for me at all. And - never, ever, ever, add scented candles to the mix - big mistake.

When the wax is just about all melted I add stearic acid - about 1/2 cup to 1 quart of wax - but try it out for yourself to find the mix you like. It makes for a harder, more durable wax (but it won't save the wax from melting in the mid-day sun...so if your head is made of it, watch out.....inside joke for my dear husband). Also - if you leave your wax carving on the dashboard of your car - it WILL melt.

Pulling out the wicks from the melted candles.

I pour my wax, and have been for 30 odd years - into this enameled pan. It has a very smooth surface and is easy to level when I pour the wax into it. I heat it up over the hot wax for 3-4 minutes, so that when I pour the wax into the pan it melts smoothly onto the surface rather than cooling immediately and leaving pouring marks. Learned that one the hard way.

I lay the pan onto paper or cardboard, which helps to insulate it from cooling too quickly.

I unplug the electric pot and slowly pour the wax into the pan.

The wax is transparent until it begins to cool. At this point I level the pan out with folded pieces of paper. The black line around the pan has always served as a great leveling line.

I usually let the wax sit overnight to cool. It becomes opaque as it cools, and pulls away from the pan slightly. If I want to carve the same day, I'll put the pan with the somewhat solidified wax into the refrigerator or freezer. Cooling the wax quickly creates a very interesting textured look and feel to the back surface, but I prefer a nice smooth back. I always carve from the front - or the surface that has been against the enameled pan.

The wax just pops right out of the pan.

Almost as good as a large slab of dark chocolate...this baby is ready to be carved upon!

So - there you have it. Now that you know how to prepare a slab of wax for carving..what are you waiting for? Send me photos of your wax slab and what you're working on, I'd love to see!

Next up - I might have to add a bit of somewhat related art history here...or maybe I'll just jump right into the thick of it with the tools I use and how I start the art.

Stay tuned!

Reproducing a fireplace tile - part 2 - formatting the image

As I walk you through the process of reproducing a Victorian tile, I'll try not to leave any of the steps out - which I'm finding is actually hard for me since I zip through the first steps without much thought!

Scanning the tiles.

After cleaning the tile to see the details, I scan the tile to Photoshop, where I need to  increase the size of the image by the amount that the clay will shrink after glaze firing. Our clay body shrinks 10%, so that's what I increase the image by. Then I print the image out to use as a starting guide for my wax carving.

Scanned image increased in size by 10%.

I've also cut and pasted the image at the bottom as a guide for making corners. Since the clients didn't have any corners in their original fireplace set, and I can't find an image of the original tiles anywhere, I'll be designing them myself. It always adds a nice detail to have the design wrap the edges.

At the carving table with image and original tiles.

At this point I get to head over to my carving area - my most creative and challenging spot in the whole building. As I look at the photo and the original tile, my brain begins to tell my hand how to carve it......no, not that way, this way....watch out, not too deep, make it a smoother line....

Wow, I'm glad that internal dialogue doesn't really exist!

The 10% shrinkage that I'm compensating for.

So now that the formatting is all done.....I need a nice clean piece of wax to carve the design into. Join me tomorrow when we visit with Madame Tussaud and get the secrets of making great wax!

November Treasury

 Thanks, tookies, for including me in your lovely treasury!!

Autumn in the Northeast

Out my studio window

 Fall in upstate New York is a wonderfully colorful time of the year. Nature is slowing it's productive phase and getting ready for it's winter nap, but the oncoming chill always creates an excitement and anticipation of winter in me. It's the change I love so much.

We planted this sugar maple to celebrate Harry's 10th birthday...he just turned 21!

The milk weed seeds are ready to fly!

One of the things that fall ushers in is the celebration of Halloween, which I always have enjoyed. The costumes, the parties, the candy, the candy, the candy! I've been making small skeleton ornaments for a while now, and although they sell all year around in my Etsy shop, I especially like them this time of year.

Mrs. Fancy Skeleton

Skeleton Pirate Magnet

Fancy Skeleton with Tophat who wants to PARTY!

Enjoy the brilliant colors before they disappear!!

Front Page on Etsy!!

Thank you, Marietta, for making this great treasury list! It's been a while since I've made it to the Front Page of Etsy, and even though it was at around 3 a.m., and didn't generate any sales, it's still my 5 minutes of Etsy fame!

September Treasury Favorite - "My Dreams in Teal"

Here's a lovely treasury made by SilverLinesJewelry

 

Handmade Top 10 Team Challenge

Handmadeology is currently running a contest on their Handmade top 10 site.  It is open to all Etsy Teams and the Etsy Mud Team has entered with currently 168 pieces and 35,610 votes as of right now!


This is the advertising that is up for grabs for the winning team.

1. The winning Etsy Team will get Handmadeology’s largest advertising package.

This will include:

* 3 month 250X250 ad space right on every page of the blog
* 1 spotlight feature article that will go out to our 150k+ readers per month
* 10 Twitter blasts across our entire network (50 total)
* 10 Facebook shares on our network of fan pages (30 total)
* Backlink Building Package (exclusive to top Handmadeology sponsors)

2. The winning Etsy Team will get special access to our top selling social media bundle in our Etsy shop. This bundle sells for $24 and every team member will be able to pick it up for only $5.

So please visit the Etsy Mud Team list and vote for your favorite pieces! And don't forget to share it around!

Etsy Treasury Favorites

Thanks, Karen, for creating this lovely treasury, and for your wonderful narrative about the inspiration for it....and for including my little bird tile ornament!!

'Mountains' by SongandBranch

What I remember of all the times in the mountains - a veil of mist, the swirl of waters far below a rocking bridge, a stone cottage above the trail, slumped a little with time and the weight of snow. A thermos of warm tawny tea thick with cream and scented with cinnamon, the warmth of a cup in my hand and the reflection of snow on my best friend's face, smiling.

Misty Mountain Thrown a... muddyfingers $28.00	Desert Sunrise Earthton... dbabcock $45.00
Blue Slate Lunch Plate ... pagepottery $18.00	Autumn Jar claynfiber $25.00
Angel Sculpture niswanderceram... $550.00	ON SALE! 40% OFF Soap o... Creativewithcl... $17.60
Pair of Milky White Pla... jennyblasenpot... $24.00	4 soup bowls JDWolfePottery $80.00
Porcelain and Stonware ... IndianCreekStu... $4.50	Bowl with incised lands... MorrisPottery $24.00
Full Moon and Tree Gate... jillatay $275.00	Bowl -- Yellow and Iron... glyntpottery $30.00
Set of Four Dipping Bow... KieferClaywork... $48.00	Serving Bowl Hodakapottery $44.00
Vase in Copper Lava gla... carolbroadleyp... $20.00	Bird of Peace - Handmad... lesperancetile $10.00

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