Sunday, February 21, 2016
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Making a Celtic Cross Frame
Barrie designing the Celtic cross frame for The Magician's Daughter. |
After cutting the top piece of the cross... |
Cleaning up the curved edge... |
Finishing the curved edge... |
Checking for a good fit... |
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Gilded Megaphone on Display
I received notice that the megaphone I gilded recently (see the detailed blog entry of 21Oct14 a few posts below this one) and that was presented as a trophy, is now on permanent public display in the Marion H. Rochelle Gateway Center located on the University of Wyoming campus at Laramie, Wyoming. Along with a photograph of the megaphone on display, I received this note of thanks:
Barrie
The Megaphone was presented the night of the Grand Opening and was a wonderful addition to one of the most special nights UW has ever experienced! We appreciate so much all of your efforts. A local wood worker created a stunning base and glass enclosure and then the plaque was attached to that base in recognition of Mr. Blalock. It is now proudly displayed in the facility! Thank you so much for creating this one of a kind and unique gift!
Barrie
The Megaphone was presented the night of the Grand Opening and was a wonderful addition to one of the most special nights UW has ever experienced! We appreciate so much all of your efforts. A local wood worker created a stunning base and glass enclosure and then the plaque was attached to that base in recognition of Mr. Blalock. It is now proudly displayed in the facility! Thank you so much for creating this one of a kind and unique gift!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Art Show News - Halifax WOOHOOs!
Sunrise from the patio directly behind our hotel on Daytona Beach taken two days before the Halifax show. |
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Gilding A Trophy...MEGAPHONE!
The finished project in my hotel room. |
Two days before leaving on the fall tour, I received a telephone call asking me if I could gild a battery powered megaphone using karat gold leaf that would then be presented to someone as a trophy during a dedication ceremony for a big project. I agreed to do the job and mentioned to the caller that I was about to go out on tour for six weeks, but that I could do it between art shows in my hotel room. We agreed and the caller ordered the megaphone and had it sent to the hotel to arrive the day we would.
When we arrived the hotel in Orlando, Florida that next Wednesday, the megaphone was sitting behind the front desk just as we had planned it. Upon opening and inspecting it in the room, I ordered the gold leaf (Manetti 22K Deep Gold) for arrival Monday, which would be the day after our first weekend art show on our tour. I would be set to begin gilding on Tuesday.
Everything worked out well with the job despite the higher pressure of doing it away from my studio in Wyoming. It presented a bit of a stressful situation for me, but I got the job done and back into the hands of the presenters on Saturday, October 18. And thanks to the US Postal Service Priority EXPRESS MAIL service, the 19x13x12 inch package weighing 7 lbs. only cost $48 to ship to them overnight and It arrived to my customer in less than 24 hours. Other courier services wouldn't have delivered it on Saturday without charging extra fees, plus the initial cost would have been much higher; close to $150.
I first disassembled the handle and trigger mechanism from the body of the megaphone and gilded them separately. Then I gilded the inside of the horn which turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated. While doing so I realized that I really needed to disassemble the entire unit, something I resisted doing in the beginning since I didn't know about the construction of it or about the electronics inside. Would i be able to reassemble the unit without a hitch? But hard to reach areas deep down inside the horn as well as ridges molded into the plastic made the gilding impossible to accomplish without taking it apart. And then it became evident that I would need to re-gild (double gild) the inside as well, which meant I had misjudged the amount of gold needed to complete the entire project. So I ordered another book of gold from two different sources, both of which arrived the next Tuesday. I finished the gilding by Wednesday and sealed the outside only with shellac on Friday morning and detailed minor blemishes that arose during the finishing.
The post office at Lake Mary, Florida (north Orlando) would accept the package until 4:45 p.m. and still get it to its destination by 3:00 the next day, Saturday, October 18. And it did. Thanks a million, USPS. WOOHOO!
Here are some photos showing details and the various stages of gilding.
The reassembled horn. The rubber gasket can be seen between the blue and the gold. The gold dial at left is the volume control. |
This view shows the voice piece screen at right which is also part of the battery housing cover. |
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Frame Inspired by Atlanta, GA Architect
I varied the height of each tower, just like those in the actual buildings of Four Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, CA. I curved the top leg of the frame between the two vertical tower legs. |
Friday, July 11, 2014
Turning TONDOS!
Monday, June 30, 2014
NEW Big Reproductions!
Here's a nice look at the interior of our studio gallery at Kirby, Wyoming. We welcome visitors by appointment. Call us at (307) 864-2697. |
New Beginnings is one of our all-time favorite works. The image size for it is 16x16.5 inches and is printed on 20x19 inch paper. Price for this beauty is $125 (a bargain!) |
Monday, March 31, 2014
Best of Show at Gulf Breeze!
Our third Best of Show at this venue. |
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Award Winner at Winter Park
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