September 30, 2007

Intaglio

I was reading Jackie Blue Home's blog the other day and she did a story on intaglio, which I love. Yesterday, I stopped by Housewerks Salvage to have a chat and beer with the owners, and to see what's new at the store. I've written about them a couple of times before and their store always has great treasures!
Yesterday, they had a collection of intaglio stones from the early 1900's. Some of the stones were of natural things, and others of people. Intaglio is a process in which a design, text, etc., is engraved into the surface of a plate (in this case, a stone) so that when ink is applied and the excess is wiped off, ink remains in the grooves and is transferred to paper in printing, as in engraving or etching.
Some of the stones only had one image on them, and others had a number. Still others had different sections of the same image, so as to lay down different coloured inks. The detail on the stones is extraordinary and to think it was all done by hand, carved into stone is incredible!

Here are some other images from Housewerks yesterday.

Stained glass window and ironwork fence section

Steel chair

Painted glass detail

6 comments:

  1. I like your suggestion a lot, but there is an online store from florida called the snappy turtle. I have MIA for the month of sept, but hope to be back up and blogging with everyone. I like the stained glass detail.

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  2. I really need to get to this shop soon! I love the painted glass detail.

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  3. Fairfax: Love your blog! Mind if I add you to my blogroll?

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  4. Fairfax,
    Thanks for the mention. Aren't intaglios amazing. I can't even begin to understand the level of skill and steadiness of hand it takes to carve those intricate images. I love architectural salvage but the only salvage we have here in Vegas are neon signs! Wish we had a source here - I would go crazy!
    Jackie

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  5. Housewerks is a wonderful place! And I love (love, love, love) the building they are in.

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