Last weekend I started another repousse project using a bowl I made.
There was some emotion in doing this – I made the bowl but what if I screwed up the chasing and repousse?
We all must take the plunge sometime.
I started with a small sketch pad of paper and drew some swirls in a circle. This was while the bowl was in the pickle pot, because I had to anneal it. After cleaning up the bowl from the pickle, using a black marker I traced out the swirls from the center bottom. It took several tries but I got the shape I wanted.
Next I had to pack the bowl with pitch so I could trace the outside of the bowl. This was a bit messy and HOT but I had laid down paper and finally on/in the pitch bowl (see picture below). Now, a week later I have finished the lining; I have removed the pitch from the inside; cleaned it up; and sunk the bowl into the pitch for working from the inside; and completed 4 rounds of work on all three swirls.
NMC was correct – “Slow is FAST” – I have been working very slowly, some nights only working on one arm of the swirl. I don’t want to mess it up and the best way to do that is to think about what I am doing and GOING SLOW!!
Today (well right now) I have removed the bowl from the pitch, so I anneal the bowl again and by tonight I should have the swirls done and the bowl back on top of the pitch so I can finish the undercutting and planishing – tomorrow.
Here is the first picture, and if you go to Kernology, (opens in a new window) I currently have 14 pictures in a slide show, and you can see the progress so far. You can also click on the picture
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Kerry, and where can we see pictures of YOUR chasing/repousse eh??
Laurie you are such an inspiration. As a beginner myself who loves chasing and repousse, I totally empathised with your fears and don’t know if I would have had the courage to make that first hammer strike. I am still working on small scale items, but my goal for 2010 is to do a copper platter in the Northern Italian style. This will mean buying a lot more pitch. Please keep posting your adventures in repousse. It is a pleasure to feel I am not alone in my quest to learn this amazing technique.
Happy Hammering!
Kerry
Beth,
I do have to remove the bowl, re-anneal the bowl and heat the pitch.
Over night it got too cold in the house and my pitch cracked with my first hammer strike – so heat the pitch, sink the bowl and then wait for cooling again.
Gosh, I wish there was a way to avoid this!!!
So you don’t remove and reheat the pitch, and anneal the bowl as you go? I find that mine gets hard (pitch and metal), and must be redone much more often than that…. It would be great not to have to do that! How are you managing it?
Thanks for posting – I love repousse’!
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