SEP en scène

After about twenty hours of work on the final version and almost half for the preparatory work, I finished the fragment of the play "SEP en scène" (Multiple Sclerosis on Stage) by Isabelle Janier.
The piece chosen is the end of the play, a message of hope for all those affected by this disease, which is still incurable today.

Above all, the culmination of a life is to live.

I would like to thank Ms. Janier for entrusting me with the script of her play and I hope that she will enjoy what I have done with it.

Merry Xmas

more lettering

Inspired by my current work, I decline the lettering on other supports and to begin with, shale pebbles.

As usual on this support, my faithful butter knife was used for the engraving.

The pebbles are about 5cm long.

Above all...

I've started the final (hope so) version of the excerpt from a theater play.
You already saw the draft, it's more or less the same except that I use a different color per character.

Last commission before Xmas

If you want me to draw an initial or to write a text for this Xmas, it's too late. I just finished the last commission & will not be able to do anything else before Xmas (you can still buy some of my older works ;-) ).

Here are some pics of the different steps of the work.
The instructions were a blue R and something about the sea. I looked at some old medieval maps and let my nib ramble on the paper.

gilding & painting of the letter.

Drawing of the structure of the filigrees and first pattern

End of the cobalt blue filigree

End of the end of the final thing

I used prussian blue & colbalt blue (watercolor), gilding is done with gold leaf over acrylic gesso as usual, the whole thing has been made on Arches watercolor paper.

End of draft

Or almost the end. I'm not totally satisfied by some words or letters but I feel I'm gonna start the final version without a 4th draft.

M etc

Very few time this weekend to work on my ongoing projects, not to mention the cold & the rain.

So I drew an initial...

with filigrees...

those of you who follow this blog would have noticed that the filigree pattern is almost identical to the one used here.

And if you didn't notice, who cares ? ;-)

Xmas is coming

Time to write xmas banners to celebrate.

Draft, new version

The first version was too large, I restarted from the beginning.

Far from being finished and still done with a pencil, I'm far from starting the final version.

Back to text

2nd draft (and not the last one) of a bit from a theater's play.

I still don't know what materials or technic I'm gonna use for this work. If everything goes well, you'll get an update this week & you'll know everything about it before the end of the year.

Stained glass window's growth

Rare pics of a stained glass window growing out of its box.

This is how rose windows grow. They generate branches out of their initial box, branches that, little by little, create new spaces.

Mutant rose window

It's a bit too cold to continue working on my engraving so I scribble on the same topic.
This time, the rose window mutates and spreads...

Preparatory work

In readiness of my course about the decoration & capitals from the Lindisfarne Gospels on March 2018 in Welkenraedt, I'm collecting capitals from the manuscript.

Today, the A.

slowly

Progressing slowly...

it's long ...

meeting

2 hours of meeting, a notebook and a pen...

Alphabet

Electro-etching on steel, the plate is 15x20cm.
The colors are due to oxydization which happened when I heated the plate after the etching.

slow progress

First step almost done

only 80% of the engraving left...

Ongoing engraving

Some news of my latest work (still in progress).
After the preliminary drawing, I started with the engraving on the selected slate plate.

It's long, very long... one hour and a half later I'm not really further...

My usual chisel (made out of a butter knife) is not sufficient as I have quite a lot of matter to remove so I made a new tool with a steel shaft.
I flattened one end with a hammer before sharpening it with a grindstone.
For the other end, I drilled a cork and stuck it on the shaft.
And here I am, with a brand new chisel perfectly ergonomic.

Draft

My little engraving on slate inspired me. Here is a first draft on paper.

Ready for the workshop

As usual, I draw on the workshop's table before the arrival of the participants.

And here is a small video of the ongoing work

Vine - the end

At last, I'm done with my project about white vine on steel. I can now take some rest.
And to rest, what could be better than a chair ?
Good thing, I've got a new one ;-)

What will we conclude from all our obscurities?

To add a little something to my rose window pattern on slate, I engraved a short sentence by Blaise Pascal.

I wrote the text with my little chisel, using it as a nib. The engraving is not very deep but it is visible enough.

Brittany forever

This is what I did this weekend. Capitals & decoration inspired by the Lindisfarne Gospels.

More vine

Slate engraving is fun but it doesn't help with my project of white vine on metal.
Time for a new round with a new pattern.

First step, the draft on paper

Second step, copy on the metal plate before clearing the spaces for the etching

Slate

A bit tired of working on white vine for two weeks now, I rest a little with this engraving of a slate plate with a stained glass pattern.

I built the pattern by mixing elements from the gothic period, which doesn't mean that it does not exists somewhere in the real world. If you know about it, please let me know, I'll be happy to see it.

And I just don't have a clue about what I'm going to do with it once finished, maybe a table mat ?

Etched vine

At last, I've finished the vine pattern on my steel plate !

I could then etch it, one hour and 60W in salted water.
A short blowtorch passage to burn the paint and reveal the etching and here we are :

Still have to sand the plate a little bit to remove the paint remnants but I already find it quite nice. I hope I'll be able to keep the blue shade of the etched parts.

Steel vine

I transferred the white vine pattern on a plate of steel (which was a closet shelf in a previous life).
And now I'm scratching the paint to reveal the metal underneath.

As you can see, I use a hightech tool to do that, a sharpened nail with a wood handle.

It's quite long to do, already 8 hours of work...