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 tylus
of ivory, cushion or calfskin, brush of squirrel – these
are some of the sensuous tools that London transplant Frances Binnington
uses to create verre églomisé, a fine art
that dates back to ancient times. "A lost art, but I’m
trying to find it," remarks Binnington, who now lives and
works just outside of San Francisco. "Generally if anybody’s
doing what I’m doing it’s because I taught them."
While
any expatriate café-sitter can tell you that verre means "glass,"
don’t look for the term églomisé in your Petit
Robert.
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Named after Jean-Baptiste Glomy,
an 18th-century picture dealer who popularized the art in France, verre églomisé is
the technique of decorating glass by applying 22-karat gold leaf
1/250,000 of an inch thick ("so thin the third dimension is
almost lost," Binnington says). Then the artist etches designs
into it. Viewed from the other side of the glass, the gilt reflects
like a mirror. Next come layers of color and finally, varnish.
"It’s a very pain-staking process," Binnington remarks
with a certain understatement.
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She
began her career as a gilder working alongside her husband, Peter,
a furniture restorer. It was in this capacity that she first encountered verre églomisé in
1980. "Someone brought me a broken piece and asked me if I
could replace it," she relates. "I’d never seen
anything like it before so I took it away to study." Most
of what she could find in ancient texts about verre églomisé was
plain wrong, but gradually she gained enough information – and
confidence – to attempt a first restoration. From then on
she was hooked. "There’s always more and more you can
do with it. While you’re working on one piece, you’re
thinking about the next." As well as the usual borders for
pictures and mirrors, she’s done two whole rooms in gold
glass.
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Confident
now in her technique, Frances was introduced to the Isabel O’Neil
Studio
Workshop in New York with the idea that she might teach her new-found
skills to others. Studio executive director Reed Walden says, "When
we saw Frances’ work, we were so taken that we jumped at the
chance."
She because the first outsider to teach at the famous old school
and has been doing so for the past three years. After shuttling between
London and New York, she decided to move to the U.S. permanently.
Binnington says, "Now I could never drop teaching or the actual
work, either one. They’re equally essential. Teaching teaches
me." |
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