Components...

BUILDING THE FRAME
Preparing a piece for the Antler gallery show, The Ribbon, and the frame is almost done. Above is a photo of the part I just made. It is a copper wreath of sorts mounted on wood and then primed. It was a surprise when the contruction took on the shape of a heart. A great bonus from my subconscious.

After two days of many hours of braising the copper components, I then fitted the shape for a final time on the wood plate. To do this I drill precise holes in the disc for the tabs welded into the copper wreath. I then used a high quality archival spray to unify the two parts. Eventually I will add a matte black gesso to pull some aspects back visually.
While this 'frame' dries I gather supplies to continue the layout. Layout is a huge part of the process. Sometimes I see a piece fully formed, but other times -like this time- it is vague and hard to track.

Above is the dried frame with porcelain parts being put in for layout. I then add garden leaves of real plants to try out their size/color and spacing- I call it foliage blocking. It can take hours to make the copper leaves so it helps to carefully layout test parts and to do multiple sketches, coloring in if necessary.

​USING AI FOR LAYOUT
I also used some other tools this time around. I used AI Imaging to get rough ideas of what I wanted for layout. It mostly helped me determine what theoretically didn't work. I don't want to give away the final piece before delivery to the gallery so I will post those AI pics later in October.

COLOR MATCHING STARTING POINT
​​Another great new tool was using a photo of one of my favorite artists, Lucy Hunter, a flower arrangement genius. This gave me the color pallette I was aiming for. I could hold the photo up against the black frame for accuracy.

Lucy Hunter is THE FLOWER HUNTER. I adore her work and use it as inspiration. In this picture I found the color pallete I needed to start from in THE RIBBON piece. chartreuse, white, pinks, cream and yellow.

In the studio I am also making flower arrangements in porcelain but they are huge in 'time resource'. I have only finished one-see it below. I hope to have 5 pieces for Olympia Spring Artwalk APRIL/2026. 
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