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To my loyal band of followers:

I have changed my website, www.gilding.net and it is completely new.

Now I can get in and make changes as the work progresses and can keep all the pages up to date with no trouble. Well, not too much.

And NEW is the online shop, with items such as hand drawn greetings cards, and eglomise jewellery to come.

So there is no need for a blog anymore.

Thank you so much for visiting and signing up; do please keep a regular eye on the new site, keep in touch AND please tell your friends about this brand new venture.

Greetings for Christmas and the New Year,

Frances

September, new developments

Recent events have been encouraging. The acceptance in to the Biennale was a boost, and further selection of Big Bird for Essence, the extension show at London Glassblowing will give the work more exposure.

Maybe I am beginning to get somewhere at last, who knows. The medium is new to so many people; I have to give people time to become accustomed to seeing it. I just hope if I keep sticking it under their noses and continue to produce new stuff they will get it, and start to collect.

Looking at the Humpen and then at Big Bird, the connections between the two are evident. although I do not have a pic of an old glass with an eagle on, maybe you get the idea. The eagle was represented very often as it was the symbol of the dominant Hapsburg Empire. Reverse painting and gilding on glass in Germany and Bohemia was widespread at the time drinking glasses, known as Humpen, were being produced. The larger, more ornate ones were used as commemorative, presentation glasses. Decoration, in the form of enamel painting, was applied to the outer surface and fired, to bond the paint to the glass.

The techniques I most often used are cold, so the decoration has to be protected by its application to the underside of the glass. But how to gain access to the underside of a blown glass?

I have resolved this problem in a variety of ways; in the case of the Humpen, I made a series of horizontal cuts in the glass and after decoration, reassembled it.

The common use of the Hapsburg eagle led to my use in this work of a big bird.

I am venturing into new waters: jewellery. This is very exciting and I believe has colossal potential. I have decorated a series of optical testing glasses that I was given by a kind friend. For a long time they sat on the shelf, then the penny dropped. They are thick and curved and perfect for imagery.

Here are 4 of them, ready for the jeweller Paul Simmonds to set the mount. He will make silver and gold plated bands to fit around them. I am in the process of assembling beads and chains and all the necessary to make a fine piece of jewellery. It is quite a business, and I have to learn silver working and bead threading. The possibilities are very exciting, as through history cuff links, buttons, brooches, pendants and rings have all been made with églomisé.

The first collection will be shown at Handmade in Britain (end Oct., Chelsea Town Hall) where I will be most interested in the reaction of the public.... and hopefully sales will follow, at last!

August

Below is set out course info as well as information on upcoming events in which I am taking part.

CLASSES AND EVENTS, 2010

ONE-DAY CLASSES IN PAINTING AND GILDING ON GLASS, VERRE ÉGLOMISÉ.

Classes are held on Fridays on the following days:

September 10, 17 / Oct. 1/ Nov. 12, 19

Taught by: Frances Federer

francesbin@earthlink.net, www.gilding.net and blog, http://francesfederer.blogspot.com

Where: 20 Valonia Gardens, London SW18 1PY. Mobile tel. 07952 720 386

How Much: £200.00; a deposit of £100.00 is required to book a space.

Materials fee: £25.00

Class size: 2

Hours: 10am -5pm

How to Book? Please send your deposit to above address.

(Kindly make cheques out to Frances Federer).

The balance of the fee, together with materials fee (£125.00) is payable at the class.

Dates: To be arranged individually

Lunch, tea and coffee. All included, simple but filling.

Equipment for all classes and all back up materials are given out.

These classes are suitable for students both with and without experience in painting and/or gilding on glass. New techniques are being developed all the time and there is always something to learn. We will decorate glass with precious metal leaf and with a variety of backing up methods, always taking the opportunity to push the medium further. All work is carried out on the back of the glass, with the final work being viewed from the front, through the sheet of glass.

EXHIBITIONS AND TRADE FAIRS

I am taking part in the following:

27 August to 11 September 2010 British Glass Biennale at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge; 
Open daily 10am - 5pm, www.biennale.org.uk

22 October First Glass Galerie, Munich, Germany, Group Show.
www.first-glas-galerie.de

27th – 30th October

Handmade in Britain, Chelsea Old Town Hall, London (Private view evening 27th Oct 5.00 – 9.00 pm). www.handmadeinbritain.co.uk

June

Yesterday, 23rd June, I passed the final hurdle and have now qualified as a Master of Philosophy from The Royal College of Art, London. This was a 2-year research degree and the subject was, Glass, Gold and the Image. It will be possible to gain access to my thesis in due course, from the college. YEH.

Having some distance from the work I did at that time, I can now see more clearly the most important achievements of this research. I will briefly set them out here, as it is worth noting.

I was for many years concerned with gilding on flat glass but moved into working on blown glass about 6 years ago. The research allowed me to examine the following: how to protect cold gilding on glass; how layering of glass and imagery would work and how best to combine form with decoration, bearing in mind the need for protection.

The ground I covered in this research was new: I have not found any other person working with these particular issues, and the field was wide open.

I found out how to decorate both surfaces of the glass with engraved gilding and how to use the space between to create depth. I learned about the reflective surface and how to work with that to create whatever kind of world interested me. There is a lot more of course but these are the main points.

The steep learning curve is leading to new work that I could not have hoped to make without the support of the RCA and my time there.

Off to Poland for a few weeks in a couple of days, and back on the scene end of July.

I would love to hear back from anyone who might read this.... comments?

Have a wonderful summer! f

May

Greetings for May.

It is getting busier and busier. Have got into the swing of regular fairs (Cambridge Glass Fair) but more are coming along. I will be showing at Handmade in Britain, first time, later in the year and there is the Glass Biennale coming up in the late summer.

One big preoccupation is now the Book, which has been cooking for many years. Now the research is over and I am making work, I have to get on with it once and for all. I am getting responses from other artists who have been working with reverse glass gilding (verre eglomise) so I can show their work as examples. Work will continue through the summer (crouching in my caravan in the depths of Poland).

I will of course announce it once it is nearing completion, and in the meantime will be keeping my eyes open for tips on how to publicize a self published book. Is Amazon a good idea? What does anyone think?

Picture: this is going in the Biennale: size H36 x D33 x W42cm. Big Bird.

April 2010

Classes:
Simply, classes run when there are enough students. I am happy to teach anyone who wants to learn, but I need a minimum of 2 students. For possible dates please email me direct as I can then arrange a class, in my studio in London, to suit all parties.

Fairs and Galleries
Please continue to visit the blog for information on exhibiting and various up coming Fairs. I have just started down the long road of Fairs and galleries. The first Fair was Cambridge, and now, in May there will be Birmingham! I will be continuing to show throughout the year with most Fairs near or in London. It will be fun to meet readers of the blog who can come to see (and start to collect) some of my work.

Zest Gallery in London is starting to show the work, www.zestgallery.com.
Also, I have been taken on by an excellent glass gallery in Munich (the only one),First Glas Galerie, www.first-glas-galerie.de. They will include me in their Autumn show.

This tumbler is one of several. Fired painting is applied to the outside surface, which is a change as I am usually working on the reverse, or inside. The tumblers are blown by Liam Reeves who does all my blowing. In the kiln the glass was slumped as it fired the painting, making the whole object out of whack, unlikely.

More soon. Keep in touch.