Lysistrata,the Lady disappears then shows her charms

As the gold leaf is removed the lady begins to come through. The dynamic pose, the gesture. I really like this look, the gold looks worn, similar to an ancient mural. Covered in the dust of time only to be found by an archaeologist.

LYSISTRATA, Gold Leaf...

Not the perfect day for laying down the gold leaf but I want to crack on with the job. Finding all the gold leaf cushions in the studio and cutting the gold so that I can work with a momentum. For the last few weeks Julie (Work experience from Paris) has been helping. Today Julie will be keeping the gold leaf cushions charged and who knows Julie may be helping to lay the gold leaf down, it is work experience after all.

LYSISTRATA, final touching up of the dyes.

Once the blue dye had dried out I was able to continue with the other areas.



Quick brush strokes to give movement and energy.



Next will be the gold work, I have to have a day with no students to be able to lay out the gold leaf...... we shall see.

LYSISTRATA, the first colour is on.....

With all the blind tooling done and Black Line work finished the first of the dyes are applied to the cover. In this case a touch of red and a lot of vibrant blue.



I am aiming for a very dynamic look, almost like the posters for WW 1. This along with the painterly quality of the dye gives movement. I hope to be able to capture a little of the pop Art style.



As I was taking the images my camera went into automatic portrait mode !

Early Morning outside the studio.

Simple hand made tools.

With Lysistrata I am making my own tools. They are simple and not so expensive so i am not worried about altering them to create new shapes.
I start with drilling a hole into one end of a handy length of dowel to fit a length of brass rod. The brass rod should be snug and fixed with evo stick or a similar strong adhesive. The blank is then held in a bench vice to keep it secure and save my hands from damage.


Using a model makers hand held drill with an abrasive fitting I start to create the tool face. Once the main shape has been prepared I then use needle files to get to the final shape.


Emery Paper is then used to get rid of any burrs and refine the face.


Then I Emery Paper the face to get any marks from the saw or files out. This can take a few minutes but is worth the effort.


The last stage is to polish off with a strop with jewelers rouge to make sure that every thing is clean and top.

I am careful to clean up and always wear safety glasses.

LYSISTRATA, the design.

Now that the fair goat is on the book the application of the design begins.

I have transferred the out line of the design to the book and am blind tooling where I want the gold to go. All of this sounds easy but it requires a lot of concentration.

I have made 7 new tools and will have to modify them as the tooling continues. The tools are simple brass rods that are shaped by grinding them with a model makers drill, working them smooth with emery paper and finally polishing them with jewelers rouge on a strop.