The Vessel

Lol, a steady hand…not sure I remember those days!

I love the mix of ideas shown in this piece Michael! While I defer to our resident Calabash expert on the minutia, the combination of the form, pewa and the nighttime sky (Webb telescope) speaks volumes about what’s rattling around inside your dome! Do me a favor and keep that flow active….the show continues to be outstanding (perhaps rivaling Webb itself)!!

Beautiful work Michael!

Tom Gall said:

I use that technique a lot. I use a small Ø brass rod (any metal will do) that is slightly rounded over on the tip which is mounted in a dowel (like a pencil). Dip the tip in the paint and touch to the surface - it will self level. Different sizes for different sized dots.

Click to expand...

Michael Anderson said:

I used a spotter brush with synthetic bristles. It’s very small, maybe 1mm diameter for the group of bristles

Click to expand...

Great idea for this bowl Michael! Thanks to you and Tom for the paint tips! Just to clarify Michael, you are using this tiny brush to land the paint dot at the bottom of the craters created by the ball bit? Tom, I really like your "Rounded rod" technique but wondering if it would work better on a flat surface? I am totally new to this painting stuff, any comments would be appreciated.

Thank you Russ, Dimitris, and Will!! Much appreciated.

@Will Armstrong, exactly right. I held the paint brush perpendicular to the bowl’s surface and aimed for specific craters. I controlled the amount of paint added by either loading the brush with more/less, or pressing harder/lighter. Some craters I did a little sweep to give a blurred effect. There are many more dots than what appears in the photo. Some are just overpowered by my light.

@Will Armstrong - It will work for all surface types. I mostly use it on smallish cup bur hemispherical surfaces. Just put a 'dot' of paint on the top and it will sort of spread a little all by itself. If you want a little more coverage just twirl it around in a little circle (or use a larger diam. rod or tube) ... same for a concave surface. I usually use this technique with metallic paints which are a little thicker, but It will work with most paints - except maybe airbrush paints which have a very low viscosity.

Recent examples are in my recent ornament posts. 2022 ornaments have both concave and cup bur surfaces on the flats, and the 2nd from the left has gold dots in the round bur texture. The 2023 versions are basically all flat surfaces.
A good example of my metallic colored cup bur surfaces can be found in the Gallery under "Holiday Exchange - 2021" (12/8/21)

Superb form Michael! This is something I am still working out in my endeavors (read: pea brain) the grain is really eye catching...

Thanks Tom for your openness and thorough explanation and pointing me to some really great examples!