Victoria mentioned the name of her teacher, and that tells me she
was trained in Georgia (Russia). That is how they do it. Pitch is
used very infrequently and as the last resort. I do not know if
she demonstrate this technique in her DVD.
Yes, Leonid, I did. I actually learned on a steel plate, plasticine,
and lead of all things. It works great, but I can’t recommend lead
because of the extreme toxicity involved. Getting it off the back of
a piece that wasn’t well oiled is something of a nightmare as well
and makes pitch look like a picnic.
I use a bench block to lay out the lines (hitting very lightly so as
not to thin the metal too much) then work on plasticine to work from
the back. It’s highly flexible and readily available. I recommend Van
Aiken brand ‘plastalina’ because it is less greasy than the kind that
sculpters use.
I like pitch for chasing from the front because it gives me the
resistance I need for my style of work. I can control how soft or
hard I need it to be by how hot it is when I hammer over it. I never
work on black pitch. It’s horrid stuff and can cause bad burns. I
like red pitch, available from Rio Grand, and have found Northwest
Pitchwork’s green pitch to be equally good. Spraying the back of the
piece with cooking spray will prevent the pitch from sticking.
Cooking spray is designed to be heated to a high temp, so it won’t
produce a bad smell or lots of smoke when the piece is removed from
the pitch and annealed. Any flavor will work.
The segment with my teacher and his father (Leonid, you guessed
right that they are Georgian) shows them working exclusively on a
bench block and plasticine. It’s certainly possible to avoid pitch
altogether. I can see how your suggestion of rubber would work for a
variety of design styles. Mark Ramsour uses a depression in a tree
stump in what he calls “stump repousse,” and I believe David Huang
uses wax. I some have wax to try out but haven’t had time between
projects to experiment with it.
I see the punches as tools to manipulate the metal and model it,
whether from the back or the front.
Pleased be advised that the following is a very brief overall
written description of highly visual and tactile technique with an
aim at clarity for those less familiar with repousse in general. It’s
not intended to be in any way ultimately definitive or cause yet more
angst.
There is a stylistic as well as a slight technical difference that I
believe is being discussed here. In one method, the area to be pushed
out is delineated from the front, using line tools and from the back
using oval shaped tools. At the other end of the repousse spectrum,
if you will, is the method for bumping out an area from the back with
anything rounded and then using various shapes of line and curve
tools to refine the shape from the front. The first method takes far
fewer tools (as discussed at length already on this thread), and the
second can take far more tools since the lines/curves around the
relief are often used much more like stamps than chasing tools. (The
difference in stamping and chasing is that stamps are struck once or
twice in the same spot to create a single impression without moving
the tool, whereas in chasing, a tool is moved along a path while
being repeated struck to create a continuous line.)
The style of the majority of artists doing repousse on this side of
the pond seems to lay somewhere between those two descriptions often
involving a bit of both of them. The style of repousse I work in is
on the first end of that extreme (me… extreme… well, not much of
a surprise there), and so I would agree with Leonid. It is only with
rare exception that would ever use the push tools on the front or
the planishing tools on the back, and when I do, I work exceptionally
carefully and gently, because it’s easy to blow right through with
the “wrong” tool.
In a sense, Aiden, I would agree that all the tools are moving metal
around. Technically, that’s true, but in teaching how to achieve
relief, I differentiate between tools that are stretching the metal
up or compressing it down and those that are simply creating texture.
I do have lots of texture tools, but they’re really not part of the
relief process. The best example I can give would be my usual
repousse tools that make this fish puffed out and the single stamp I
made to create the fish’s scales.
Thanks so much for your well wishes regarding my latest DVD.
Brian, the repousse pieces on your site are fabulous! No surprise
there. Our approaches are just different, but I’m afraid if I said
that I could do something of a comparable design with 8 tools I
would sound like I was trying to play “Name that Tune.” (I can name
that tune in 8 notes!)
It sounds like you're coming from a more continental viewpoint,
where repousse tends to mean "the process of creating large(ish)
volumetric forms from the back of the metal, usually using rounded
punches", while chasing tends to mean "the process of making sharp
incised lines on the front of the metal". You can chase to refine
repoussed forms, as well, but you can't "chase" to create large
forms. Does that sound more like what you think of by chasing and
repousse?
That sounds about right. The roots of russian technique are in
creating icon cladding. Because it was done in precious metals and
Russian churches were not especially rich, very thin foils were used,
and not to break them required highly polished tools without sharp
edges.
Leonid, I would love to see pictures of your work and that
technique. Any chance of posting some?
Repousse for me as a long way back. The work I did in Russia, because
of government building were involved, no pictures can be taken across
the border. I know it is stupid, but it was considered a security
breach.
I am a litte busy now, but maybe I do a blog on this particular
technique, how it can be done without pitch.
I make and sell chasing and repousse tools, sorry no fancy web sight
most of my orders come from word of mouth. and to set the record
straight there is a difference from chasing work and repousse work
while they can be done one with out the other they can be done
together. I have read post after post and am surprised that so few
people know this fact. I started out making and selling chasing and
repousse tools to buy tools to start making jewelery which i am still
doing but i seam to make more money making tools then jewelery.
I have studied chasing and repousse with Valentin Yotkov for 10
years now, and it has become a specialty of mine. Not having a
web-site yet, I don’t know how to show you pictures of my work, but
it involves deep repousse as well as chasing and, at the end,
finishing touches through planishing and decorative work on the top
surface of the work. I often use flowers as my subjects, and making
the variety of petals so that the flower appears to have great depth
involves discriminating use of repousse tools.
Having used the range of graduated chasing and repousse tools that
Valentin recommends, I’d like to comment on the difference that I
find in having more tools to do the repousse. Each repousse punch has
a certain and definitive “footprint”. If you use that tool
exclusively, your repousse will tend to show channels and patterns
that echo the width and shape of that tool. If you look at some of
the examples of repousse that have been given in this thread, you can
clearly discern the shape of the punch that has been used.
I also note that many of the examples of chasing and repousse that
accompany this thread are much more focused on chasing than on
repousse. Chasing is primarily done on the front surface of the
piece. It is used in the beginning to outline the pattern so that it
is visible from the back when you turn the metal over to do the
repousse. Then, in the final stage, when you finish the repousse and
turn the piece over so that the front is visible again, chasing
punches can be used to revitalize the original lines of the pattern,
which may have become obscured or uneven from the repousse.
I agree that you do not need as many straight or curved liners to do
this initial chasing work. However, if you try to make a tiny circle
with a too larger curved liner, (or with a straight liner), you will
find that the tool itself won’t conform to the diameter of the
circle that you want. A tiny curved liner is very useful, and expands
the range of pattern you can make.
If you want to have more variation in the width and depth of
“channels” or patterns in your repousse, it is much more effective to
do so with a variety of repousse punches that naturally create the
differentiated patterns that you want to convey in your design. The
repousse shapes that result can be much more subtle.
It is of course possible to do repousse with a limited number of
punches, and use them in multiple ways. However, a large punch will
never make anything but a large indentation in the metal. If you
want smaller channels or to clearly raise the metal into a very small
but distinct pattern, that will be extremely hard to do with one
large punch. Similarly, there is a great difference between the
various shaped punches - round, half round, square, oblong, teardrop
and so on.
While the sophistication of the repousse work depends, as always, on
the sophistication of the jeweler, it also is enhanced or restricted
by the limits of the tools the jeweler uses.
The finishing of the chased and repousse piece also needs to be
taken into account. When you turn the piece back to the front to
finish it, you can use a small number of liners (curved and straight)
to re-trace the original chased lines. But, for me, that is just the
beginning of the finishing. Using repousse punches, you can also add
decorative detail to the work that greatly enhances its complexity
and beauty. For example, if you have a repousse channel that is quite
wide and even on both sides, you can take round or oblong punches and
make an indentation in one side of the channel so that it is no
longer the same on both sides, but now appears to have a wider slope
on one side, and an inwardly sloped side on the other. Envision
something here like the curl of a wave as the surf comes in. You need
these tools to get this effect.
There are also different widths of curved and straight liners that
give entirely different looks if you retrace the original chasing
lines. Valentin has three sizes: the original thin liners, a middle
width of liners, and a very fat liner. The larger liner leaves a very
wide trail behind it, and if you align it correctly, you can create a
wide edge of flattened metal on one side of the line that makes a
beautiful edge to finish the piece. The other edge, then, will create
a “wall” on the repousse that gives the illusion of more height to
the design.
Similarly, there are various sizes of square and round planishers
that allow variety in how you smooth the final surface. Some of the
repousse punches can also be used to create texture. For example, a
series of 3 or 4 round repousse punches, from tiny to middle sized,
can be used to create an interesting texture of circles, or
overlapping circles.
So, in my view, having more punches means having more versatility
and control over the final result. While you can do with less, I
don’t see why you would want to, particularly if your interest is in
deep and subtle repousse as well as chasing.
I recommend you to Valentin Yotkov’s site where you can see a
gallery of his work and of work of his students so that you can see
what I’m trying to describe.
I also want to comment on the tools that have been shown. If you
look at the chasing tool section of Valentin’s site, you will see
their great variety. What is also important is their consistency. It
is extremely useful, for example, to have a graduated series of
punches of one shape. For example, if you want to make a channel that
gradually increases in width, to be able to move from a smaller oval
(oblong) tool into a series of larger oblong tools lets you makes the
channel enlarge in a very subtle fashion.
While I can make my own tools, and do for textured tools, it takes
real practice and knowledge to make a series of perfectly matched
tools. I prefer to use Valentin’s skill in that by purchasing punches
he has made, and to spend my time in actual chasing and repousse. I
don’t see that this has a moral value; it is a decision on how a
jeweler wants to spend their time, and comparable to deciding whether
you want to invest the time and money into doing your own casting, or
whether you want that done for you.
If you want to discuss this directly with Valentin, he will be
having a table at the Rio Grande Catalog in Motion in Tucson, Arizona
February 5 -8, 2010 where he will demonstrate advanced Chasing and
Repousse techniques. He’ll be located at the School area
located in the hall prior to entering the vendor room. The Catalog in
Motion show is being held at the Hilton Tucson East Hotel.
He has invited people to stop by and bring samples of your
chasing/repousse work. In his announcement, he said that he will be
happy to answer any questions you may have concerning this technique
and discuss upcoming classes and workshops.
I’ll try to send some of my own work.
It is exciting to find that there is a strong and growing interest
in this ancient art, and I look forward to more discussions and to
exchanging tips and techniques for chasing and repousse.
Marcie, thanks for the exposition of the subtlies of
repousse/chasing. You can post images by directing to [service at
ganoksin dot com] I believe. It would be nice to see some of what
you do.
However, if you try to make a tiny circle with a too larger curved
liner, (or with a straight liner), you will find that the tool
itself won't conform to the diameter of the circle that you want. A
tiny curved liner is very useful, and expands the range of pattern
you can make.
If you want to have more variation in the width and depth of
"channels" or patterns in your repousse, it is much more effective
to do so with a variety of repousse punches that naturally create
the differentiated patterns that you want to convey in your design.
The repousse shapes that result can be much more subtle.
Marcie, Valentin certainly does lovely work. (I included his work in
the gallery section of my DVD.) I have to say, however, that this
statement you made is not necessarily true. It depends on the
approach and technique of the repousse one is doing. I know Valentin
would agree.
There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat and more than
one way to puff out relief. A large or small tool moved carefully
and consistently can create an extremely subtle effect. It’s a matter
of knowing how to stretch the metal.
One handy tip: To create tiny circles, I use nail sets as stamps.
(They’re the tools used to hammer nails flush into molding.) They
come in a variety of sizes and are available at most hardware
stores. For most everything else, as I mentioned before, I rock back
on the large straight line tool and use one end of it to get around
tight curves. Here’s an example of a piece on which that was the only
line tool used. (The tiny circles that begin each spiral were done
with nail sets.)
Brian, I think that you have the answer. I’m American through and
through but I think of chasing as stamping and my chasing tools are
too sharp edged to use as repousse tools.
Stamping is not really chasing, though it may be similar to using a
chasing texturing tool in which you have a punch with a specific
pattern, and use a hammer to emboss that pattern into the metal.
Chasing refers to punches with a single sharp edge that may be
straight or curved. You use them to make a line drawing in the metal.
To do so, you strike the punch many times in succession while guiding
it forward on the pattern of the line you want it to make. When you
stamp, it is most successful if you only hammer the stamp once,
otherwise you may get a doubled image, like seeing something blurry.
You are correct that most time, you would not use chasing tools to
do repousse since the intent in repousse is to add volume to the
design, not convey the outlines of the design itself as you do when
you chase.
I am traveling and using a hotel lobby internet connection, but when
I can, I will send a couple images of my work.
Chasing refers to punches with a single sharp edge that may be
straight or curved.
Technically, as many of us on here have previously explained,
chasing refers to working the relief from the front, or viewed face.
The quoted definition is included in the term, but is not exhaustive.
Chasing can encompass far more than the use of line tools to
delineate an area of relief.
Also, for the sake of those less familiar with repousse and chasing,
since there has been much discussion of making one’s own tools, it’s
important to note that the tools outlining an area shouldn’t be
sharp, or they will likely punch through. Texture tools (and stamps)
can be slightly sharp but are usually not struck as hard.
Otto Frei finaly has the Nechamkin chasing tool set available. Like I
mentioned before, I have seen the prototypes. Worth every penny, time
to save up mine.
I bought some repousse tools from Gene a couple of months ago. They
are beautiful tools - carefully made with an excellent polish and
comfortable in the hand.
I wanted to experiment with these techniques before I devoted a lot
of time to tool construction and I am very glad that I bought these.
