Greetings to all you who have subscribed to my website! Thanks as always for your interest in what I do.
I’m sending out this note today to let you all know I’ve just finished up another batch of vessels. This time they are all the more elaborate chased pieces. I’ve been preparing for a sculpture show/sale happening August 9-11 in Loveland, CO. I’ve never done a show quite like this, so it should be interesting at least. If you are in the region and want to stop by, check it out, and say hello that would be wonderful. It is the Sculpture in the Park show.
Though I did make most of these new pieces with the intention of bringing them to the show I still want to let all of you who regularly follow me know about them first because I appreciate your support that has let me do what I do. So if you want to see all the new pieces you can find them on the website either in the e-commerce section or the vessels available section. The new work starts with #1943 and goes through #1951.
This time I’ve made a few vessels from fine silver rather than just my normal copper. I keep having people ask me about silver vessels and I say that yes, I do make them on occasion, but not too often since I don’t feel like they sell as well, being more expensive. However, the stupid thing is that I never have any because they are always sold! (Yes, I can be a bit silly in my thinking often enough.) So this time I did 3 out of silver. I wanted to do more, but ran out of time to get them done before this show. However, I’ve got the metal ready to create a couple more, which I do plan to do. Fine silver is SO nice to work with. It’s very malleable.
I should probably also let everyone know that I have decided to raise my prices. Looking back it has been 9 years since I’ve had a price increase. While the cost of the metal I use hasn’t changed that much in all this time thanks to price manipulation games in the metal market everything else in my life has certainly gone up in price! Over the course of a few weeks I had a gallery, colleagues, and even clients suggest it’s high time I raise my rates some, confirming the thoughts I’d been having. So you will see the new pieces at the new rates. I will likely raise the prices on all the work I end up bringing to the Loveland show just so things are consistent there. However, here’s a tip for you all. I plan to leave all the other work currently out there at the old rates, whether this is on my website or at the various galleries that represent me. I feel like this approach makes less paperwork for my galleries, encourages the sale of older pieces, and just makes for a softer transition period.
My exploration of the new potentials of zinc nitrate as a patina continue. In this group I’ll point out a new finish I tried on Luminous Relic #1945. I like how this turned out and look forward to playing with it more in the future. Chased pieces with fine detailed textures are more limited in what patinas I use since most finishes will fill in and obscure the fine details. With this piece I tried doing a white patina over the whole surface. Then I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed it to remove it from all the high points and more or less just keep it in the grooves. A dark layer of my traditional liver of sulfur patina went over this. I think the results worked quite well.
Anyway, I’ve gone on longer than I normally like to in these newsletters. I hope you enjoy the new work!
best regards,
David
