rust & vine

After quite a long time under the rain, followed by a scraping, more rain and a final sanding, I still can't get the expected result from the plate I already told you about here.

It's not bad, it's just that I was waiting for something else.

I think it will go back to rust in the garden :-)

white ? vine

A pic of an ongoing work.

Still have to remove the varnish from more than a half of the pattern, with no guarantee at all on the result. It's part of the calligrapher's joys :-)

Black vine

Work in progress, a "white vine" on metal. I just drew the lines on the varnish, now have to remove the varnish (long & difficult task) before putting the plate in the acid.

And I ask to myself : isn't it better to leave it as it is ? I like it this way ...

Filigree power

I introduce a new design of decorated initials. Around the skeleton of the letter, I organize the decoration and then review the drawing of the letter for it to match the shape of the filigrees. It has something of stained glass pattern and above all a taste of decadent gothic, I like it :-)

Valentine's day

2 little works related to this feast

the love dice, to know whether (s)he still loves you (I've cheated a bit, there's a heart engraved on each side).

And an initial V

Happy Valentine's day to all lovers and all the others !!

Corpses of cities

At last, I'm done with the calligraphy of Giovanni Papini's short story, Corpses of cities.
I used most of my favourites techniques to do this job and I must say that I'm quite happy with the result.

Embossing on carbon paper

Zinc engraving and filigrees

To have a look to the whole work, click here.

Other close ups are available here and there.

Copper vine

After the zinc, I'm trying to engrave another kind of metal, copper.
For this first try, I chose a white vine pattern.
Here is a picture of the plate once varnished, waiting for the vinegar to react.

Initial

While waiting for inspiration for more ambitious works, I continue with filigrees. This time it is a V and in blue shades to change a bit from the usual B&W.

To see the whole thing, click here.

While I thought that I was learning how to live...

I had this small piece of paper and a few hours to spend lately, I took advantage of this situation to calligraphy this short sentence by Leonardo Da Vinci.
I chose to use only black & white, first because I love B&W (in case you didn't notice) but also because the contrast meets the contrast that exists between the two parts of Da Vinci's quotation.

To see the whole work, click here.

Walnut stained vine

No time nor inspiration these times to create any calligraphic work but nevertheless itching to use my nibs and a rest of walnut stain at the bottom of a glass...

So here is the result, a small illuminating based on white vine only colored with walnut stain and my loved filigrees to encase it.

For the whole work, have a look at the gallery.

Flowers

Being inspired by the filigree pattern used in my latest initial, I decided to reuse it to create a small illumination, this time with ferro-gallic ink and wallnut stain to remain close to the shade of the kraft paper.

To see the whole work, click here.

The Flies - final version

I've just finished with my version of the text from The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre.

You can see the whole work by clicking here.

As it is quite long, one cannot really see anything on this pic, that's why I took close-ups :

first one

second one

third one

fourth one

The Flies

A long time ago, I did a draft using bits of the text The Flies by Jean-Paul Sartre.
I eventually find the energy to get back to it, here are a few pics of the work in progress.

metal vine

Trying to improve my engraved white vine.

Better than the first try but still some work to do.

white, grey and blue vine

At last, I've finished the white vine pattern I was working on for several weeks now.

to have a look to the whole work, rendez-vous in the gallery.

black vine

Here is a pic of my latest work in progress, a white vine on grey paper.

Still have a lot of work to do, the surface area is quite important and the interlacing of the branches is a nightmare but I like working on it.

knotwork

I continue to try out engraving on zinc. After initials, NEULAND and white vine, here are knotwork.

I do like the result, I'll have to make another test with a more complicated pattern.

Merry Christmas !

Curves II - work in progress

A new try, a new failure : the varnish has vanished.

Anyway, just out of the acid bath it looks good.

curves

My latest work on zinc, don't know what to do with it but I like it anyway :-)

The only regret  I have is that the corrosion of the metal resulted in dull spots in some places. I'll prepare the surface more carefully next time.