Repoussé and chasing

Oct 22, 2014: Enjoying this craft so much I keep making more!

Sept. 26, 2014: The weekly craft class is back in session. Because our leader is a retired art teacher we are learning more than how to make a craft. Her approach is to teach us a technique to get us started, then each of us will usually come up with how to apply that technique into something tangible.

One technique we are learning is repoussé and chasing. Repoussé is a metalworking technique in which metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design. Chasing is the opposite technique, and the two are used in conjunction to create a finished piece. Think embossing.

We started with a copper metal sheet about 5 x 7 and looked through magazines for something that appealed to us. Most of us chose a flower or a bird.

After tracing the item onto tracing paper, then tracing again onto the copper sheet using a pointed wooden stick we worked on the opposite side to push out areas; flip it over and add more detail etc. Once we liked the design we brushed ink over the metal sheet and after it dried used steel wool to remove most of it and then polished it gently with a soft cloth.

I really enjoyed this project so decided to frame mine. I'm already thinking of doing a few more.

Doors Open Milwaukee - Brady Street Tour

Originally settled by Italian and Polish Immigrants

Saturday, September 20th:  The third tour of the day was a speedy 60 minute walk through 150 years of Brady Street history. Not being familiar with this area, I was anxious to take part. Rain showers had just left the area when we met at St. Hedwig's Church on the corner of Brady and Humboldt. After a short while, I recognized another person on the tour and enjoyed his commentary more than the tour guide as he lived in the area during the "hippy" era. The tour guide needed to refer to his notes quite frequently.

Brady Street is one of Milwaukee’s most colorful and storied neighborhoods. We were guided first north of Brady Street and learned about the area's Polish roots. The rapid walk crossed over to the south of Brady street where the homes were quite different as they had been settled by the "Yankees and rich Germans".

I rate this tour THREE stars out of five.  I'm glad I went, but wish I would have taken the Brady Street Food Tour instead!

Doors Open Milwaukee - Harley-Davidson Museum History Tour

History roars to life

Doors Open Milwaukee September 20, 2014

My second tour was a 45 minute guided tour of the Harley-Davidson Museum. A very classy facility located on the Milwaukee river front on the East end of the Menomonee Valley. We were outfitted with headphones allowing us to hear the tour guide as we moved through the museum. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it. Once again, the 45 minute tour went over the allotted time, but no one complained. We were free to wonder on our own once it was over. I hustled outside to take photos of the statue called "The Hill Climber" and kept walking around it finding different perspectives.  The nasty cycle towards the end is the "Japanese Tsunami" Harley that washed up in Canada. The last photo I've titled H.O.G. wanna be.  Enjoy the photos!

I also rate this tour FIVE stars out of five!

Doors Open Milwaukee - Menomonee Valley Tour

From Machine to Model

Saturday, September 20, 2014. First stop is the Menomonee Valley Tour. A 90 minute walking tour through an area just East of Miller Park and South of I94.

When Milwaukee was the Machine Shop of the World, the Menomonee Valley was its engine. Yet by the 1990's the Valley's legacy was lost amid hundreds of acres of vacant buildings, a forgotten river, and the north/south divide it symbolized in our community.  Today, the Menomonee is experiencing a transformation and has become a national model of sustainable redevelopment.

I rate this tour FIVE stars out of five!