After years of designing furniture, carving, sculpting, and commission work, I have redefined my work.

I stumbled upon an article written about ‘turning hollow forms' several years ago. Since then, my entire focus has been to design stunning vases made of wood. A new direction in the way of using color has led me to create vibrant coloring techniques using paint, gilding, and airbrushing. Researching metal patinas and their application to gilding methods has allowed me to combine these new ideas with sensuous and sometimes stark forms to produce vessels of wood resembling blown glass.

“HOW DO YOU DO THAT?”

As you can imagine, I get asked that question a lot. The quick answer is: Patience. However, let me explain.

Making my vases consists of two basic steps. First, the outside form or shape. Without a beautiful simple form, nothing can succeed. The form of the vase must be appealing. That accomplished, the second phase: The finishing process. Most finish work takes eleven or more separate steps. One vase took 42 very thin coats of color to achieve the look I wanted. And that was only the coloring step. There are no secrets to what I do or how I do it. Sealing, sanding, staining, sanding again is just the start. If color is used, that would be the next step followed by another sealing. When I do use gilding on my work, it would be added to the process. Oxidizing (patination) of the silver or copper leaf creates unique shades of yellows, Magentas, and blues sometimes integrating into each other making more variegated colors. Airbrushing may also be applied which takes 8 or more application techniques. From there, the vase gets a clear top-coat or sealer as the case may be, and then a final clear coat. Finally, the vase gets a machine buffing, much in the same way guitar luthiers do, to get a luster that otherwise could not occur. Mind you, lots of time goes into drying and curing. Several weeks are needed from beginning to end to complete a large vase. This is only a brief outline of what it takes to produce just one of my vases.

I hope this helps answer the question: “How do you do that?”.

I encourage those attracted to my work to seriously consider owning one of my pieces. Experience the pleasure of possessing a unique piece of art, something you can't not look at.

Michael Ferreira
Visions In Wood
Ridgefield , WA
360-887-0475