screen printing – Ornamento

Ceramic Surface Design

By: ornamento.blog March 9, 2023March 9, 2023

Art, Ceramics, pottery, Pottery and Ceramics, screen printingArt, DIY ceramic decals, Pottery and Ceramics2 Comments

It’s time for another trip down the rabbit hole. I have been dabbling in ceramic surface design on and off for a number of years. You can see some examples here and here. I have been interested in screen printing on ceramic clay. (I got started with screen printing with polymer clay, and wrote a couple of articles on how to burn your own screens for Polymer Cafe Magazine, now out of print.)

I am still interested in screen printing on ceramic clay and have read a lot of articles on the subject. There is a lot more information available now than when I first started. A lot of the early articles threw around terminology without clear explanations. (One that especially galled me was referring to the screen printing medium used on pottery as “ink” without an explanation of the composition of this so-called ink. Not helpful by any stretch of the imagination.)

My current fascination is ceramic decals. As usual, I am more interested in making my own decals than in buying someone else’s designs. The technique basically involves putting a design on newsprint or rice paper with underglaze or another substance that will withstand firing, and transferring it to a pot. There are different types of decals and many ways of making them. I wanted something that was low tech, that could withstand a cone 04 firing, and that used readily available relatively inexpensive materials.

I discovered a video and a tutorial by potter and teacher Kate Missett. They were just what I am looking for! She gives clear, concise directions and doesn’t leave out information that might be useful (like what side of the rice paper to use.)

You can see my first efforts in the pictures below. First, I mixed up some red and black “ceramic ink” for which Missett actually gives the formula, and tried the technique out on newsprint.

Here’s a bare, leather hard pot, the decal (the colors will appear in reverse order on the pot) and the decal applied to the pot.

Here’s the pot after I removed the decal. I decided to put another design on the pot which didn’t transfer so well, but I was able to touch it up. As is usual for me, my first efforts turned out better than my later attempts. I have a long way to go, but I am already enjoying this technique very much!

More Adventures with Fiber

By: ornamento.blog July 25, 2019July 24, 2019

Art, art from recycled materials, Fiber Art, jewelry, recycled art, screen printing, Silk ScreeningArt, Fabric Surface Design, Fiber Jewelry, recyclingLeave a Comment

I have put away the metal clay for awhile and have resisted firing up the kiln until the hottest days of Summer are behind us. I also have a load of Cone 6 porcelain to do but I think that one is going to have to wait for the fall. In the meantime, I am taking a pottery glazing and surface design class (more on that later) and and continuing my work with cloth and fiber in the coolness of my basement workshop. I have been screen printing on fabric and here are some of the results

ScreenPrint1

ScreenPrint3

ScreenPrint5

The idea is to combine this fabric with other elements and make some wearable jewelry.

Here is some fabric I sewed around welting with the idea of making a multi-strand necklace.

necklace

Here’s the necklace I came up with. I wrapped the solid color ropes with some reclaimed silk yarn that I love. I don’t have enough of it to make anything but a few strands of it adds a lot of interest. I am not sure if I like the copper rings and the dangle. The colors are right but the shapes might not work.

dangle

I am looking for something other than welting to fill the cloth. I tried nylon-filled rope, but it’s tricky to shape. The necklace has to drape the right way and nylon fiber can be stiff and uncooperative.

necklace2

I am also looking at various closures. I am not that fond of lobster clasps for necklaces. They can be fiddly to open and close. I think a secure hook of some kind would make getting in and out of the necklace much easier. And it would be easy to make.

The necklace happens to be made from recycled materials. The fabric came from old clothes and remnant bins, the wire is stripped electrical wire, the yarn is reclaimed from a hat I bought in a thrift shop and the chain is from a trash-picked necklace. The only “new” part of it (aside from the Czech beads I have had for years) are the crimp ends holding the ropes.

Pottery Surface Design

By: ornamento.blog March 14, 2019March 16, 2019

Art, pottery, screen printing, tar paper techniqueArt, Pottery Surface Design, Pottery Tar Paper Technique, Screen Printing on Pottery2 Comments

I made two pieces this year that I actually like. Imagine that! pot

This one’s going into the fundraiser for Clayathon. It is hand built (using the tar paper technique ) and stands about 9 ” tall. The surface is screen printed, painted and carved.

This next one, also slated for the fundraiser, is hand built earthenware, screen printed and painted and is about 7″ wide at the base and 11″ tall to the top of the lid. It is perfect for a cookie jar.

The last piece is a failure. It went into the bisque fire looking like this:

and came out missing a side piece. I decided to glaze it anyway. I like the surface effect but this one goes into the reject pile. I kept the pattern, however, and am going to attempt this one again. It’s about 14″ tall.

Boris Discovers the Workshop

By: ornamento.blog August 25, 2016August 23, 2016

Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Cats, inspiration, Polymer Clay, screen printingCats, inspiration, Polymer Clay, screen printing, Silk Screening, workshopLeave a Comment

I have to admit that I was very sad when I wrote last week’s post. But Boris is is coming out of his shell and worming his way into my heart. There is nothing like a kitten to beat the blues.

Plumpton used to hang out in my workshop and Boris seems interested in doing the same. It will be nice to have company s long as Boris behaves himself. But what are the chances of that?

He was fascinated with the pieces of baked polymer that I am playing around with for a wall piece I am making for a fund raiser for the Fleisher Art Memorial. Just the thing for a kitten to bat around.

Playing with the colors, shapes and textures inspired me to try a new earring design.

So it looks like Boris might be inspiring me! That’s good. I could use some inspiration right about now.

Dear Fleisher 2012

By: ornamento.blog November 8, 2012November 8, 2012

Art, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, Polymer Clay, screen printingArt, earrings, Polymer Clay, Silk ScreeningLeave a Comment

Dear Fleisher, 4×6 Inches of Art is a biennial fundraising exhibition showcasing the work of hundreds of artists from Philadelphia and beyond. Artists submit original postcard size works in a wide range of media and styles, each of which is exhibited anonymously and sold on a first-come, first-served basis for $50.

Some well-known artists have contributed work So have some not so well-known artists like me. Since polymer clay is not well represented in the exhibition, I try to use polymer in my contribution. This year I made an earring holder you can hang on the wall using screen printing over a stripe pattern. I included a pair of matching earrings made from the same screen printed polymer clay, mixed metals and seed beads.

I like this style earring because it spins around when it’s worn.

When I cut out the earrings, the scraps looked just as interesting so I used them too along with gold-toned screw eyes to suspend the earrings.

New Work from Arlene Groch

By: ornamento.blog September 27, 2012September 18, 2012

Arlene Groch, Art, Bonnie Bishoff, Melanie West, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, screen printingArt, Color, creativity, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, Polymer Clay2 Comments

Earlier this summer I got to spend some time in Arlene Groch’s spanking new studio which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s what she’s been up to.

Arlene really took to screen printing on polymer clay, but she didn’t restrict her work to pieces with an Asian flavor. She tried screen printing on practically everything except her Grandchildren, often with stunning results.

And no one ever accused Arlene of being afraid of color. Her pieces are big, bold and colorful.

Recently, Arlene has gotten into caning. Well, I suppose a workshop with Bonnie Bishoff and Melanie West and hanging around fellow PAPCG member and caner extraordinaire Emily Squires Levine is bound to rub off. It will be interesting to see where Arlene goes from here.

This just in!

Catch Arlene at the Wheaton Fine Arts Festival

The Fabric Workshop: A Philadelphia Treasure

I recently had the opportunity to see an exhibit at the new home of the Fabric Workshop and Museum . It’s a roomy, comfortable space that takes up several buildings on Arch Street in Philadelphia. You no longer have to climb flights of stairs to get to the exhibits and it’s conveniently located on across the street from the Philadelphia Convention Center.

The current exhibit, New American Voices II showcases the work of four invitational artists-in-residence: Bill Smith, Jiha Moon, Robert Pruitt and Jim Drain. New American Voices II was definitely not the visual version of a string quartet; it was the work of four soloists, each of whom chose different media and themes to express a unique point of view. The FMW tries to showcase artists from across the United States with varied backgrounds and perspectives and encourages them to work with materials they might not have used before. From what I saw the FMW accomplished its mission and it looks like the artists enjoyed the process. The exhibition had so much to offer that I can only hit the highlights in this post. To get the full flavor, you must see it for yourself.

South Korean-born Jiha Moon’s mixed media wall pieces combine collage, sewing, painting, and screen printing with an Asian color aesthetic. She makes plentiful use of Asian and American popular culture symbols and much of her work reminds me of traditional Asian embroidery, not because of any needlework she might usem, but because the designs are expansive and flowing. Much of her work consists of fanciful pieces that incorporate images from folklore and advertising , but she showed her serious side in a work that appeared to explore the tensions between North and South Korea. The piece below, which is a little different from the others, features pin cushions, ribbons and beads.

Jiha Moon

Jim Drain’s huge (and I mean XXXXXL) colorful machine-knitted dolmen sleeve sweaters remind me of the big suit David Byrne wears in Stop Making Sense, and fantastic Noh costumes. I suppose they could be worn, but they were displayed on stands that let the viewer examine every nuance of the designs. A two-dimensional picture cannot convey the surprises that jump out as you circle the sweaters. The colors shift and there are lots of subtle details and embellishments. At first, the color choices appear to be mostly random but on further examination, you realize that every skein and thread works with everything else in the sweater. Nothing is there that doesn’t belong.

Jim Drain

What fascinated me most about Robert Pruitt’s work was his use of period cameras to photograph members of a fictional African-American family to depict ancestors from years past like you’d see in a family album. Now that’s attention to detail and real dedication. For me the most powerful photograph was one of a young woman wearing a grass skirt and what appears to be a European colonial officer’s dress uniform jacket. The golden shoulder cord is replaced by rope that appeared to be a noose. Pruitt also uses traditional African symbols and imagery pulled from contemporary urban America. I found his work disturbing and compelling.

Robert Pruitt

Bill Smith’s mechanical sculptures meld engineering and art in a way that any fan of Jules Verne or Nicola Tesla would admire, but his inclusion of organic objects like Emu eggs and feathers along with organic looking plastic forms that resemble jellyfish or brain synapses takes his work out of the realm of Steampunk into another world that seems really strange (or is it strangely real?) Along with Emu eggs, he takes water, magnets, quirky copper wire, electronics and computers to fashion several interactive contraptions that manage to look organic, old-fashioned and futuristic all at once. When walked up to one sculpture, the Emu egg started to spin, the wires started to sway and the room filled with a low humming sound. Then projectors started flashing images onto the white walls of the gallery. Amazing. Here’s a video of a similar device he designed and built.

New American Voices II runs until the Spring. Admission is only $3.00 but you can donate more if you like. Treat yourself to this exhibit and the ones planned for the future. We are so lucky to have a venue like the FMW in Philadelphia. Let’s support it.

For more pictures of the artists’ work, press here, here, here, and here.

My Pivot Beads

Here are my pivot beads from the exercise in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. The top pictures show the pivot color variations mixed according to the directions in the book. You apply thin sheets of the colors over thin sheets of the stripes. One of the purposes of the exercise is to show what effect stripes of black, white and gray have on the layers of color applied over them. Even though I took a Watercolor Technique class with Maggie Maggio some time ago, what I learned there is starting to make more sense. On to color collages!

To see some of my interpretations of the Watercolor Technique, press here, here, or here.

This just in! I was thrilled to see that Seth Savarick has an article in the latest issue of Art Jewelry Magazine on how to make his distinctive, lightweight bangle. I have taken two classes with Seth and he has taught me so much about craftsmanship-an area where I can aways improve. He also inspired me to learn how to burn my own screens for printing on polymer clay. I wrote two articles explaining the process that appear in the Fall 2007 and Winter 2007-2008 issues of Polymer Cafe. You can order the back issues to find out how to do it with a Speedball kit and some inexpensive equipment. And if you have the chance to take a class with Seth, don’t pass it up!

More Metal Etching Experiments

Last week I said that I would post some pictures of my etching experiments. Here they are.

This is a piece of brass etched with the Edinburgh etch solution. I copied the image onto a transparency and ironed it on to the metal before etching.

This is copper etched with ferric chloride. I drew the design with a Sharpie marker.

These are pieces of a brass charger plate I cut up. I stamped the image on the left with a rubber stamp and Stayz on Ink

This is a black and white image I reproduced onto a sheet of label backing with a laser printer then ironed on to copper. I used Edinburgh etch solution.

Here, I inked a rubber stamp with a black Sharpie pen and etched the copper with ferric chloride.

I made this resist pattern with a silk screen and thick acrylic paint. It worked well, but I found it difficult to get a paint that would not bead up on the metal.

Try making findings, components and texture sheets for polymer clay.

Earrings Earrings Earrings!

Here are some polymer clay earrings I’ve made over the years. The techniques include screen printing, stamping, geometric caning, mica shift and the use of inclusions and washi paper. The lantern earrings with the copper dangles are hollow, light and comfortable to wear.

I’ve started to make my own ear wires and I recommend that you try it. You’ll save money and will be able to fashion a custom wire that compliments your design.

McFarland Designs offers an excellent tutorial on how to make round ear wires. To learn how to make fish hook ear wires, check out this video from My Daily Bead on YouTube.