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I have been applying a graphic to both ceramics and wood that I first saw used in textiles.  It was derived from Ukrainian embroidery, and it was used by Nina Bych in a silk-painted kimono, derived from  ’…Early Trepilian ceramics, with their precise black and brown geometric designs…’ (Tuckman and Janas, The Best of Silk Painting,  1997, p. 79.

Somehow, in my memory, the design elements recall  ’the Roumanian Blouse,’ after the painting by Matisse, which has a red background, but not a strong bicolor graphic.    It is very much like Matisse, however, to look for decorating schemes that challenge both line and perspective.

I used the graphic scheme first on a pottery vase, with a resist line around the flower segments.  

Then I tried it on a platter, using two tones of brown oil colors to lift the flower petals slightly above the surface of the stripes.  It is important to keep a strong color in the outline of the petals.  The carved lines between the stripes and around the petals creates a channel to carry the color.  This seems to be a key step in making the design work.

For the vase and the platter, just one color is added to a background that functions as the second color.

turned wooden platter

The study piece for the goblet goes back to the red and black version of the graphic.   There are multiple combinations for the interior, cup, step, and base.  I will need to turn quite a few of these to find the best choice.

study for goblet

Flask within a flask

In September 2009, I watched Craig Timmerman from Austin, Texas, create a large torus (doughnut-shaped form) shape with a glass test-tube for a flower vase.  Craig sells these commercially, so I wanted to adapt the idea to a shape that I have made before.  There is certainly nothing wrong with the torus form, but I was hoping to contribute something to the development of the vase.

My flask shape begins on the lathe in the lengthwise direction, from which it gets the outer curve of the form.   It takes a few turner’s tricks to turn away the center passage.  This one is about 4″ tall overall, and holds a tiny test tube.  It would be just about the right size for the first little yellow crocus of the spring.

This ornament combines a sphere of  spalted Missouri hackberry  with a top and finial turned from baltic birch.  It has been fun to learn some spindle turning this year.  I have my own names for the elements of the finial:  apple core, umbrella, golf tee, and O-ring–all present in this example.   To see a more refined version of this finial layout, visit dennisliggettwoodturner.com.

We have a lot of things waiting for attention in the shop and in the sewing room.  The Claus household must feel a little like the Liggett’s this time of year!

'Pine Floor' Kay Liggett, 2008

I have been fascinated by the grain lines in wood ever since I began woodturning.  There is a sense in which grainlines on a board resemble a drawing.  It is the story of the tree’s life, in just the way that wrinkles tell the story of a human face.  I also enjoy using ‘natural process’ image transfers.  For example, in ceramics, I sometimes press leaves or bicycle tires into the damp slab to record the textures.  With fabric, I have borrowed a rubbing technique to transfer grainlines from weathered wood by rubbing an oil pastel crayon over the fabric placed directly on it.  This was the beginning of the Four on the Floor series of quilts.  The grainlines become a very direct way to quilt through the fabric layers, transforming a hard-edged reality into a soft image of it.

‘Pine Floor ‘was the first quilt I made with this technique.  I chose light colors and color washes.

In contrast to the loft and color of ‘Pine Floor,’ I chose a thinner batting and silk to make ‘Laminated Floor.’  This quilt has a more uniform surface quality, in the way that the laminated floors keep the grain,  but lose the texture of wood.   This silk was dyed with hickory bark.

'Laminated Floor' Kay Liggett, 2009

The quilting on the silk fabric makes a very subtle grainline, compared to the effect of the oil pastels and stitching on the first quilt.

After working with the very smooth surface of the silk, I began to look for a rougher texture in the fabric.   I have also been interested in discharge-dying of fabrics.  I chose black raw silk to start the pattern of grainlines on the next quilt in the series.  the rubbing was done with black oil pastel.  Then I applied discharge dye to remove the color where it was not protected by the oil pastel.  The discharge process created lighter areas where the color was removed.

'Back Porch' Kay Liggett, 2009

Although the texture of ‘Back Porch’ is rougher, I wanted a contrast between the visual roughness of the fabric and the hand of the quilt.  I chose a rayon backing fabric, and bamboo batting to give this quilt the softest and most plyable hand in the series.   Hand-dyed cotton and patches of rayon add to the multi-layer sense of this quilt, which is light and pliable  (photo -below)

As I was working on ‘Back Porch,’ I began to think that the grainlines could be strong enough to construct a whole-cloth quilt from just the pattern of the wood.  I looked up one afternoon at the subfloor visible from my basement, and I recognized the big clue in almost all subfloors–they are laid on the diagonal across the floor joists.  This change in the orientation of the ‘boards’ gave the design enough motion to use just one fabric choice.  The fabric is natural raw silk, dyed with cherry bark and highlighted with SetaColor silk paints.

All of these quilts are approximately 50″ x 24.”

'Sub Floor' Kay LIggett, 2009

The four quilts in this series will be in the “Sublime Surfaces” show November 13- 27th, at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, Colorado.

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woodturnings

Opening July 10th at the Manitou Springs Business of Art Center, ‘3 Ladies from Aspen’ will join dozens of other woodturnings by the members of the Pikes Peak Woodturners.

Figurative work is relatively rare in the woodturning world, with the exception of the nested and painted Russian dolls known as matroshki.  My interest in turning figures evolved from a snowman Christmas ornament–three turned spheres with an offset top hat.  I elongated the form, feminized it, and rotated the holding point in the base off-center to create a sense of movement.  The vertical figure in the Colorado aspen shows to good advantage in the lengthwise dimension, giving another meaning to the concept of ‘figure.’  

The hats are turned from contrasting scraps of cedar, burl, and canary wood, and glued on at an angle.  The tallest figure is 10.5 inches.

In 1971, I spent the summer in the USSR, improving my Russian language skills.  Since that time, the Cold War has ended, but the cupolas of the Russian churches are still standing, and folks still like to grind pepper at the table.  I made this 7″ tall pepper mill after watching Nick Cook turn one at the Desert Woodturning Roundup in February 2009.  The architectural drawing is derived from the way Russian icon painters depicted space without perspective.   My drawing teachers told me that I lack good depth perception, so this is my kind of ornament.