Studio Martha Collins



Studio Martha Collins

About The Artist

Martha Collins • Carlsborg, WA
Wood • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

My passion is to create personal, meaningful works of art with the natural color & grains of exotic hardwoods & hand dyed maple veneer. I "weave" wood into fabric like patterns, reminiscent of bead work or needlepoint. Sustainable woods from around the world are used. Chatke Viga is a vibrant orange, Kingwood a striped purple; Lacewood & White Oak add texture with their dramatic grain patterns. A 3 inch bowl can have 1200 individual pieces of wood in it. A block is laminated using 12 different specie of wood and dyed veneer. The block is re-sawed at .030 thick. 25 slices of laminated material are stacked, shifted and re-laminated to create the different patterns. The new shifted block is turned on the lathe to reveal its beauty & movement. The Helical Mosaic design has a precise pattern of movement throughout, the Linear Mosaic design is a woven fabric of wood & the Bold Mosaic is visually dramatic with its larger mosaic pieces. Spirit bowls, tableware, jewelry



Connect

Instagram
Artist website
Email

Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

MARTHA COLLINS ARTIST PROCESS Beginning with 12 or 13 different specie of exotic and domestic hardwoods a block will be laminated. Each hardwood piece is 1/4 "" thick x 3.5"" wide x 16"" long. There are 40 different specie of wood ready to be used in making the original block. Choosing the 12 and establishing their order takes time. Each piece is selected for its natural color and grain. Once this order is chosen I add the maple veneer that has been dyed in my shop. After placing the dyed veneer next to the hardwoods I check the block for visual interest. Each three pieces of wood and veneer must look right all across the block. It is dry clamped so its aesthetic composition can be evaluated over the next few days. An enormous amount of artwork will come from this block. It is very important that it has a strong pleasing pattern. The block is laminated together with a jewelers epoxy which has a thin viscosity


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

The variation of this process are unlimited. Currently I am exploring vertical mosaic stave lamination. Everything can change with different thickness' of material, the way they are oriented, the use of natural or dyed veneer for accent.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

Everything is one of a kind