I was asked if I could make a larger version of the Rennie Rose tea light as a bowl. Never one to turn down a challenge I said of course.
This time I used tracing paper to create the initial design. This allowed me to work from a larger scale printout of the original rose design and then provided room to add some additional content in the form of a stem and a bud. The plan was for the Rose and stem to lie on the left side of the bowl, with the bud pointing towards the centre.
Using tracing paper allows me to rub a soft pencil on the back of the outline, then lay the tracing paper over the piece once the front has been turned and sanded. Then with care you can re-trace the outline of the design on top of the tracing paper, which leaves an imprint of the soft pencil in the same style that carbon paper would (but with a lot less mess and more control.)
Once the design was on the wood, a large piece of frisket was placed over the top and the design cut out.
Then the fun bit of adding some colour. First the Naphthol Red Light in the centre of the rose and the bud, followed by subsequent additions of Carbon Black to darken the red before it reaches full black at the outer edge of the rose. Then black on the stems and outer edges of the petals and bud.
The magic really happens when you first remove the frisket. It never ceases to amaze me how the image changes.
With the mask removed, it’s time to take the centre of the bowl out and prepare the piece for a few coats of lacquer.
The finished piece.
Paul.