Strawberries As Art - Lis Simpson

Since Stouffville's annual Strawberry Festival is in full swing this is the perfect time to share some of the ways that the delicious strawberry can inspire art!

Below, jewellery maker and Studio Tour artist Lis Simpson explains how she was able to create a replica strawberry from glass!

Last summer I made a glass strawberry in class.... 

Take a fresh strawberry and put it stem down into clay:

Coat it with a release resin and build a plastic cylinder around it to create a mold:

Add plaster; when plaster is set, remove the plastic cylinder and fire the mold, burning out the strawberry.  Fill the mold with glass frit, and fire again.  

When cooled, break the mold away from the glass strawberry.  Voila!

Thanks Lis! 

Robin Rees

Studio Tour artist Robin Rees shares some photos of her new work. We are very pleased that Robin is back on the Tour after her sabbatical. 

Here are some photos of a piece I have just finished for a client. The first photo is the finished piece in copper wire, it is then treated with liver of sulphur to change it to a very ugly black.  The piece is then selectively polished to highlight the warm colour of the copper.

Potential future Tour member

Marie Messina shares some pictures of her teaching a new generation pottery. Looks like they were having fun ...... maybe a new Tour member in a few years?

Art Times 3

Studio Tour artists Grace MacPherson, Diana Bullock and Allison Bullock were the subject of a recent article in Good Life Magazine York Region Edition. For the complete magazine please visit here  and scroll down to the York Region edition at the bottom of the page.

Here is the article

All credits to Good Life Magazine

Picture of artists by Mary Cook 

Images of art (c) the artists

Siek Wassenaar

Thanks to Studio Tour artist Siek Wassenaar for sharing ..........

The making of a wooden bowl
The neighbour's tree at the cottage had to be cut down. I had my eye on this tree for some time because it had a number of small burls on it. A burl is a wart like growth on a tree. Some times they just grow on the side of the tree and some times they surround a tree, all different species can grow burls. It is not known why they form but they are highly priced by wood turners because of their colour and grain pattern. Often they contain bark twisted through out the wood.

I was given the section of the tree with the burls on it which then had to be cut down into manageable bowl blanks.

Four small burls were cut from the out side of the tree. The wood should be turned as soon as possible after it has been cut to prevent it from drying out too fast which leads to splitting. The pieces that can not be turned right away, must be painted with a water/oil emulsion and stored in a paper bag.





The bowl blank is mounted between centres and shaped.

A foot is turned on one end so that it can be held in a chuck to removed the inside.








The wall thickness is left at approximately 10 % of the bowl diameter. The rough bowl is now painted inside and out with the water/oil emulsion weighed and returned to the paper bag. The drying process takes about one year for each inch of thickness of the wood so for a bowl of 1 inch wall thickness it requires about 6 months before it can be finished. During the drying process the bowl and the foot distorts and they are no longer round. When the bowl no longer loses weight i.e. water, it is remounted between centres and the foot is turned round . With the foot round the bowl can now be put back in the chuck first the outside is turned to its final shape and then the inside.

The turning complete, the bowl is now sanded inside and out starting width 180 grit sand paper and finishing with 400 grit.
A shellac finish is applied and when dry it is rubbed down with very fine steel wool.






The bowl is reversed in the chuck to remove the foot, decorate, sign and finish the bottom.






The finished 7”x4” maple burl bowl.