The 3 chess rooks: Pseudo jasperware urn and pedestal

Hello my friends.

Christmas was a few days ago and I hope that you have all spent those days enjoying yourselves with good company, good food and good cheer! I found some time around the festivities to work a bit on my many half finished ptojects. I started this "Jasperware" style urn back in June, but only this week it was ready to show it to you. 

In april 2023 in the post 'A Rook's Chessmate?' I showed you how I changed 2 rooks out of a small collection of second hand/damaged chess pieces into two pedestals for statuary. Each with its own style and decor.

That meant that one rook, the smallest of the bunch, was still waiting to be transformed. But what to do with it? Because of it's shape, and because I have only one of this size, the choices are somewhat limited. It can't be much more than a (part of a) pedestal or perhaps a decorative chimney pot? that is about it, I think. Alison's Marie Antoinette bust that I gave a faux terracotta finish looked good on the ebonised wood. But, nice as it was, it was jusy more of the same. A bit "meh", if you know what I mean. 

So it should be something else than another bust or statue. It became a vase. I had a resin urn with roman figures which had too many coats of paint on it so the reliefs were hardly visible, let alone decipherable. It lay in my stash waiting to be used for something. Inspired by some examples of Jasperware I wanted to try and give it that powdery matte Wedgewood look. 

First I used water and a toothbrush to remove most of the thick layer of paint. Next I tested what the finish would be if I used the porcelain paint pens I bought back in 2016 and haven't used since I decorated the egg cup garden urns that year. I quite like the blue although it is a hard colour clue. It fit's quite well with the Jasperware theme. I would love to have it a shade or two lighter, but I decided to go with it.

The porcelain paint in these pens are meant to be kaked in the oven. But when you let it dry in the air it sticks well to the surface of the object. And another advantage is that this paint dries up in a very matte finish when you not bake it in the oven. and since Jasperware is not glazed, that is exactly the finish I need. 

Even without baking it, it dries up hard and is rub resistant. So after covering urn and rook in 3 or 4 layers of ink with the marker it was time to think up some fitting decorations in the classical style Wedgewood is known for.

And these two drawings are what I came up with. To let the white decorations match with the blue I did not use paint and brushes. The lines should be sharp. So I brought out some white artists fineliners and scribbled away. After the first tries I got something like you see in the picture beneath. The vase is not quite ready and the pedestal only has the greek scroll penned on, but I quite like how this is coming together.

Since we are halfway decorating the pedestal and urn it was high time to decide if I would fill it. And if so, with what? I can leave it empty ofcourse, or make a lid to close it off. But in the end I decided that I want to fill it with something. 

Flowers were suggested by some of you in the previous post. I quite like the idea. However roses or mixed flowers somehow just do not seem right for this type of vase. But what else? I turned my attention to fruits and nuts...

Since it is december, a type of christmas decoration is not unlikely. Citrus fruits were very popular in these parts of the world around Christmas and assoiated with december. Inspired by the post of Jonquil in her blog ( Latchkey & Jonquil) about pomanders or pomme dámbre, I got out the fimo clay and started making lemons, oranges, and tangerines using her excelent instructions in her post. 

I also wanted to make pomanders, but I had no time to finish those. So the orange balls I had prepared for those were kneeded back into one big ball and stored in a plastic bag. Hopefully I'l find time to work on those in the coming weekend!

Around 1806 the use of Christmas trees was slowly, very slowly becoming fashionable in the Netherlands. Much later than for example in parts of Germany and England. What was fashionable already, was to use fruits and nuts and berries to decorate the houses of the well to do. Towers of fruits and nuts or confectionary were already used to decorate houses since the early 17th century. 

So my plan is to use some of the tangerines to make a piramidal display to decorate for the holidays. As nuts I used koriander seeds or cilantro seeds. I used some residual clay pieces to make a base and stuck on the tangerines and seeds to form a decorative ensemble. It was trickier than I had imagined it would be, but I got there in the end. 

But finaly it all came together to form this ensemble. Do you like it? I do. It was quite a lot of work to make this. The pens are very time consuming for this type of finish. So I will not make a huge collection of faux Jasperware, but I will probably make another faux Jasperware piece sooner or later...

Unfortunately, you can see the black of the resin shining through in pleces on hte urn. That is where the original pain on the urn has rubbed off while I handled it decorating it and filling it with the fruit and nuts. I will repaint that as soon as possible together with some other retouches here and there, but for now I call it finished!

If I do not find a time to post again before 2024 I want to take the opportunity to wish you all a very happe Newyear! may 2024 bring you all joy and good health!

Huibrecht