For our second full day in Budapest, we had arranged with Zoltan to visit some local artisans in their workshops. We didn't quite know what we were getting ourselves into but it turned out to be a truly wonderful day.
Our first stop was at the home and workshop of a woman that works with glass - Mariann Dorozsmai. The studio was ready for us to see a demonstration of techniques used in her craft AND a chance to try it ourselves.
This was a first for us. We had not been to a stained glass workshop before. Here they make a wide variety of items including Tiffany lamp shades, stained glass windows, gift items, picture frames, and many other things.
Our hands-on demonstration consisted of learning how to make a pattern on the glass, etch it so it could be cut, cutting the glass to the approximate shape and then grinding the edges so they were smooth. Once the piece of glass has been shaped and smoothed, a foil is wrapped around the edge. The foil has a sticky surface on one side so it will adhere to the piece of glass.
I don't have pictures of the etching, cutting and polishing steps you'll have to take my word for it that I did it successfully with some assistance.
For a change, Granny is the photographer and I am on the other side of the camera. The glass pieces have been cut and the edges smoothed. Now it's time to put on the foil edging and smooth it down. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you can see the scraps of glass left from the cutting process. Also the tools used for etching and cutting/breaking the glass.
On the left, I am applying the flux prior to soldering. On the right, I am soldering my two pieces together.
If you click on the picture above, you will see a short YouTube video of the soldering process done properly. Here she works on a 5 petal flower rather than our simple two piece object.
Below is a picture of a finished box which has a flower similar to the one in the video.
Next on the tour was a porcelain figurine workshop. Here we met the artist Klára Bán. This was not a participation venture which is just as well. I'd hate think of what a figurine would look like after I worked on it.
The picture on the left shows the figurine at the start of our session. The picture on the right shows the same figurine finished and ready of painting and firing.
Click on either picture to see a YouTube video of Klara working her magic.
Following our visit with Klara, we drove to Szentendre, a well known artist village a little north of Budapest.
Zoltan asked if we wanted to try something a little different for lunch so he took us to a small place where all they had were potatoes. The regular portion is one and a half baked potatoes filled with your choice of toppings. The toppings included butter, sour cream, bacon, ham, vegetables, cheeses, sauerkraut, ... the list went on and on. It was delicious.
After lunch we went for our last artist visit of the day. This time it was painting on silk at the workshop of Gabriella Pistyur.
Like Klara, Gabriella's workshop is a small room in her house. She was waiting for us and was well prepared for a hands-on demonstration of painting on silk.
This time Granny was the student-artist. On the left is her starting silk and on the right is the completed masterpiece. Click on either one to see a short slide show of how the work progressed.
It was a good day with the artists. On the left is Mariann Dorozsmai. In the center is Klara Ban, and on the right is Gabriella Pistyur.
