Celebrating 40 years 1984 - 2024 Bringing Your Walls to Life With Our Art

Providing Exclusive Wall Pieces Created Using the Ancient Japanese Method of Raku

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Indoor Decoration

All the ceramic Raku is intended for indoor decor only. Each piece is removed from the kiln when it reaches 1400 degrees Fahrenheit and immediately plunges into a pit of combustible sawdust. The smoke and flame interact with the glaze, creating shimmering metallic colors which enhance the drawn figures and plant impressions.

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Quilted Silk Paintings by Nancy

Nancy Giusti brings her silk painting to life with silk stitches.

In the fall of 2017, Nancy took a class from Karen Sistek, a master silk painter at www.karensistekstudio.com, to learn her magic sizing technique of painting silk from an image.

Some of Karen’s students quilted their silk paintings. Nancy Sterett Martin, an award-winning quilt maker, was one of them and gave Nancy the idea to quilt her paintings to give them texture.

Nancy’s Rhododendron 50" x 39" was painted and stitched in memory of her Mom and sister Sherry. They loved their Rhodies. It will be in the 2024 In Full Bloom International Show in Huston. Nancy's 2023 Sunflower and Rhododendron are also in the 2024 Huston International jury quilt show.

Gyotaku by Tom Giusti

Tom catches the life and soul of the fish with his fish rubbings.

Information on Gyotaku

The Japanese Samurai warriors devised the Gyotaku technique in the Tokugawa Era (1600-1868). The Samurai used fish rubbing so they could boast of their fish catch. Black sumi ink was the main medium used to produce their prints. Fish rubbings have also been found in China, believed to be a direct extension of Ancient Chinese stone rubbing. The use of plant life is known as nature printing. It has been found in use in Europe as early as the year 1425.

Techniques

There are two types of printing most commonly used, Direct and Indirect.

Direct is one of blending ink colors and applying them directly onto a fish that has been carefully prepared. Then a thin sheet of Washi (rice paper) is carefully positioned on top of the inked fish. With one's fingers, the paper's surface is gently rubbed to lift the ink from the fish to the paper, picking up every detail and producing a realistic and dramatic image.

Indirect is done with the same prepared fish. The thin transparent Washi is now dampened and carefully positioned onto the fish. Gently sponging any wrinkles away. This now appears as a second layer of skin on the fish’s surface. Ink is then applied with the use of a tampon (a cotton wad bundled in silk) to form an absorbent ink dauber-type applicator. With the use of many tampons, colors are skillfully applied onto the paper's damp surface until all the details of the underlying fish have been transposed to the surface.

The eye is painted in after, using a brush in both techniques.

Tom Giusti

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he grew up stalking the elusive fish with pole and tackle and continues the search today in Northern California. “I was just one of those kids that every moment I had free, I would bicycle to the ponds, after school and weekends and go fishing.”

The fish he catches are meticulously prepared for the process of Gyotaku. With fish rubbing, he feels he can catch the life and soul of the fish and retain much of the detail. He is often surprised by what he gets, as each fish he works with is different. But the tactile nature and the physical touch of the dimensions attract him to the process. His creations have a delicate, luminous quality, the pastels enhancing the swimming movement of the fish.

Tom’s background as a machinist, potter, and agriculturalist and his collage studies in fish biology, photography, and ceramics have given him a deep love of nature. A lifetime member of the Nature Printing Society, he has studied with Japanese masters to define his own skills in the ancient art of fish rubbing, Gyotaku.

Celebrating 40 years 1984 - 2024 Bringing Your Walls to Life With Our Art

Custom Raku Plaques

Custom 16" Raku Plaque