Three years ago I started this site and it’s grown slow and steady. Often I wish to progress Ashes & Milk faster, grow it bigger, include more artists and their work, photograph artwork in amazing ways like Ditte Isager, increase sales through more aggressive marketing and restock sold-out pieces for all of you wonderful people who write asking me for more. -Perhaps I will give you just that, minus the fast part. Please bare with me because the truth is, I’ve always taken life slow to savour its details and in turn can promise to stay true to what this project is all about.

With all this said, I’m really happy to introduce to you the newest addition to Ashes & Milk, Geoffrey Lilge who created a collection of hand-crafted Wood Serving Boards.

Above are a few of Geoffrey Lilge’s Walnut Serving Boards. Each piece is a unique functional object fashioned by hand from a single piece of wood.

The story behind the creation of these boards is sweet and born out of love. Geoffrey sought to find the perfect cutting and charcuterie boards to outfit his wife’s restaurant. After about 4 years of prototyping and restaurant testing he came up with these beautiful simple solid wood boards.

A sneak peak of Geoffrey’s warm and inviting studio.

[ Be sure to check out the entire colleciton of Geoffrey's Wood Serving Boards
at Ashes & Milk. ]

[ For those of you in Canada, see Geoffrey's boards in action at Culina and Highlands Kitchen Restaurant. ]

Wood Serving Boards by Geoffrey Lilge + A Little Self Reflection is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

With all that said, I am so happy to announce that Anya created a very small and magnificent collection of her wood jewelry especially for Ashes & Milk.

Above left, is a collection of  Arrow Necklaces made up of a variety of woods. On the right, is a sculptural piece called Ebony Crescent Necklace.

The beautiful Anya Jindrich is at work in her studio (photographs courtesy of Leslie Williamson).

Nikko I’d love to talk a little bit more about your process of creation and what influences you and your work. Would you mind sharing these things? Could you tell me where you source the wood that you use. Does each piece have a story behind its design?

Anya Since the pieces of wood that I use are small, I am able to use offcuts from other woodworkers. I received a box of tiny offcuts from my dad that is full of beautiful and unique pieces. I just look through the box for a piece that sticks out to me and then I try to come up with a shape that might compliment what already exists in the wood. For one commission the customer supplied me with lilac wood that he wanted his jewelry made out of. I also find inspiration and ideas through my husband. He is a guitar maker, and we share our little shop space. We enjoy exchanging ideas with each other. I guess what actually got me started making jewelry was a pair of earrings that he carved for me. I always received a lot of compliments when I wore them, so I decided to make another pair to sell.

A pair of Ebony Earrings in the making (photograph courtesy of Leslie Williamson).

Nikko You mentioned that you are going to school for furniture making. Would you show me a sneak peak of some of the work you are doing along these lines?

Anya I completed the nine month furniture program a little over a year ago. Currently I am focusing on making jewelry. I enjoy the creative and meaningful process of working with my hands. I use knives and files to carve and shape each individual piece.

Above left is a stool that Anya made by hand. I just love the detail of the joinery in the middle image. On the far right, Anya is carving out joinery by hand only (no electric router).

A special thank you to the exquisitely talented Leslie Williamson who so kindly gave me permission to use her photographs.

[ Check out the full collection of Anya's hand-carved wood jewelry at Ashes & Milk. ]

Hand-carved, Wood Necklaces + Earrings by Anya Jindrich is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Today I am excited to show you a new collection of esoteric paintings by Kia Neill called Residual Forms.

Above left is Residual Form 1 and right is Residual Form 25.

Nikko How did you come up with these pieces (the idea/process)?

Kia Actually, these evolved out of my previous graphite series of drawings, for which I repeatedly drew very thin graphite lines in succession to one another until form and imagery slowly developed. These works often looked sort of topographic. I was trying to think of how I could develop the process behind these drawings in another way.

Polypropylene paper is a synthetic paper, a plastic, and it reacts quite differently than other common papers as it doesn’t absorb wet medium, rather paint and ink have to dry in order to be set. So I planned to make puddles of thinned down ink on this paper and when one puddle was dry I would create another on top so to slowly layer and develop a series of rings from the dried puddles. However when I went in the studio to experiment with this, I thought, “I don’t have time for puddles to dry! How can I speed this up?” And so I thought of using a hairdryer to speed evaporation, but then of course the hairdryer started to move the puddles around. Something I didn’t think about but totally loved!

Using a hairdryer essentially as a paintbrush is pretty crazy and very unpredictable. It took me a while of just playing to see what kind of marks I could make and also what kind of compositions were most successful, but I still barely have control over the medium. The lack of predictability and control is actually an important factor for me though. I like to make discoveries while producing my work and to compromise with the medium in creating new forms. I do have to say that when making this work, it takes a lot of concentration and I have to be 100% present otherwise I just end up with a splatter painting!

Nikko Were you inspired by anything? I know you said that you’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors and traveling lately.

Kia I am heavily inspired from nature, biology, geology, archeology, the way people collect artifacts and the way nature is depicted in souvenirs and home decor.

With these drawings in particular, when I was experimenting and trying to determine what forms and compositions were successful and why, I was most happy with the drawings that felt like a figure of some sort, such as an amoeba, a mollusk body, a microscopic organism, etc. I’ve been looking a lot at sea creatures lately, and I’ve also been producing a series of sculptures that simulate oyster shells and bits of coral. I like the relationship of the drawings possibly depicting what type of fictional life forms could have inhabited my faux shells.

Also, while I was on a residency in the mountains of Colorado this past winter, I noticed a similarity between the mountain landscape with all the patterns and shapes of the dark tree lines, ski trails, snow capped peaks, clouds rolling through town, the roof tops of buildings, roads, lakes, etc, and the various shapes and textures I was creating in my drawings. I found this very exiting because I am also interested in the idea of a form that can function as a figure and as landscape. Perhaps this interest developed out of my fascination with coral has led to this, as what is coral? Plant? Animal? Rock?

{ To see more of Kia Neill’s paintings, please visit Ashes & Milk. }

Residual Forms – New Paintings by Kia Neill is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

On this note, I want to share with you a beautiful example of traditions taught and passed down to the next generation. The Tajika family has been producing handcrafted scissors and shears in Japan for over four generations. Each piece is hand forged and sharpened using traditional methods.

We are quite proud to be able to offer a collection of scissors and shears by Tajika Haruo Ironworks at Ashes & Milk.

Above right sits Haruo the 3rd working back to back with his son Daisuke, who is the 4th generation to carry on the legacy of Tajika Haruo Ironworks.

Each piece is made by hand through a very time consuming process. Above a metal blade is tempered by heat and shaped with a hammer.

The wooden handle of this hammer is gorgeously worn to fit the hand of the artist.

Sparks fly as Daisuke Tajika sharpens a scissor blade.

Haruo meticulously inspects each pair of shears.

{ You can order your very own pair of Japanese scissors through Ashes & Milk. }

Tajika Haruo Ironworks – Hand Forged Scissors and Shears from Japan is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Eunice Kim creates exquisitely saturated black and white collagraph prints onto chine collé paper. She delicately places each mark by hand to form an intimate map of cellular structures.

Above is Porous, a collection of collagraphy prints with chine collé by Eunice Kim.

Eunice was kind enough to share the details involved in her printmaking progress as well as some really great images of her working in the studio.

She works exclusively in the non-toxic printmaking medium of collagraphy, a process in which materials and textures are adhered to a plate surface, inked, and run through an intaglio press with paper for transfer of image.

Unlike traditional printmaking techniques, each plate has temporary life span. -Therefore each print edition is unique.

Eunice constructs the collagraph plate by putting down the modeling paste marks.

Taking a beautifully restrained approach by choosing to work only with very small dot marks, Eunice meticulously positions modeling paste on the plate surface a single mark at a time. She then carefully shapes each individual dot to height and contour optimal for printing. The dimensional differences of the tiny dots are almost impossible to discern by sight alone; therefore she relies heavily on her sense of touch during this stage.

Each dot is shaped to height and contour optimal for the printing process.

A completed collagraph plate inked, wiped. and ready to print.

Porous Collagraph Print #54

[ You can see more of Eunice Kim's work right here. ]

Eunice Kim – Collagraphy Prints with Chine Collé is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Byran created the above piece through relief printing and a laborious rubbing technique. Above, he rolls ink out onto the surface of a Locust tree cross section (the actual print block) and a piece of handcrafted washi paper is placed over the print block.

Scratching his fingernails over every surface of the tree while pressing little by little with his fingertips, Bryan imprints the texture of the wood on the surface of the paper. I love that Bryan had to touch each tree-growth-ring in order to deposit its mark.

The actual texture, pattern and diameter of this tree section is literally translated onto paper.

Bryan Nash Gill created Locust exclusively for Ashes & Milk.

[ You can see more work by Bryan here and here. ]

Bryan Nash Gill – Locust is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Nicolas Cheng created the 150ml Collection above for Ashes & Milk.

Each design is unique and holds a capacity of 150ml. Playing with how volume is perceived, each piece is disguised by shape and size making dissimilar pieces’ true value exactly the same.

Above, prototypes of the 150ml Collection were created in wood and are ready to be molded.

Left, a collection of tree branches sits in Nicolas’s Studio. On the right, molds are being prepared to cast porcelain.

Nicolas Cheng in his studio.

You can see more Nicolas Cheng’s work right here.

Nicolas Cheng is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Above are the Wool Felted Rugs that Ashley Helvey created especially for Ashes & Milk.

Nikko: I am familiar with the process of felting wool but a lot of people have no idea what is involved from start to finish. Can you tell me about how you obtain the wool material and about the process of creating your rugs?

Ashley: I source all my wool from either local or organic farms. Living in San Francisco, I happen to be close to a lot of farms that are not USDA certified, but practice organic ways of raising sheep. Visiting farms and meeting the people and animals involved is a nice way to begin my process. When I worked with plant-dyer Sasha Duerr to create the Sheep and Weeds installation in Oakland, I used a mixture of pure California sheep wool that I sourced from one of the only wool mills in California, Yolo Wool Mill. In addition to farms being organic, some even call themselves “predator-friendly” which ensures that no lethal controls are used on the sheep’s natural predators. It’s very important to me to support this way of farming because it brings integrity and quality to the fiber and to my work.

Above is a sheering of raw wool taken from one sheep. The highlights of light-brown on dark-brown are natural fluctuations of color that are caused by sunlight.

Ashley: As the oldest textile in human history I was immediately drawn to the organic nature of the felting process, which begins with a sheep fleece that has been skirted and washed, put through a picker, and then through a carder to create large, brushed batts. With the batting I create layers upon layers of wool, intentionally crossing the fiber enabling it to entangle easier. The wool is then wet with hot, soapy water, which causes the scales on the fiber to open up and slip into one another when agitated. To agitate it, I roll it up onto a large PVC pipe and pull it either manually or, in the case of the larger pieces, pull it with a tractor back and forth. After the piece has somewhat entangled I then begin the fulling process, which is basically rubbing it back and forth against a washing board to further felt it.

Ashley agitates the wool by rolling it up in a PVC pipe and pulls it back and forth with a tractor.


To ‘full the wool’ Ashley gets to work on her hands and knees.

Nikko: Also, I couldn’t help notice that you often work outside in really beautiful places. Do natural settings affect how you work with wool or influence the style of your work?

Ashley: I am very fortunate to have a boyfriend whose grandparents operate an olive oil ranch (Regina Olive Oil) in Napa County, which allows me to work in such a beautiful environment. I would definitely agree that this influences the way I work. I have become very dependent on the weather and have developed a sort of relationship with the environment. The process itself becomes reliant on these different components, causes and effects, and the work in a sense is a result of the interconnectedness of the entire process.

Creating the Gray Wool Felted Rug – Small.

Nikko: When I look at your textile pieces within a space they remind me of sculptures or installations. How do you describe your work as a medium and what is your favorite way to present it within an interior space?

Ashley: Yes, I like to think of my work as installation-based because I am not really producing a product, I’m engaging in a process. Within interiors, I think the medium brings a very raw, primal, and exposed beauty to a space that makes you kind of want to curl up in a ball, it’s very womb-like. This is actually how I feel when I am felting. I use the repetitive motions of fulling the wool as a meditation to practice consciousness and bring my mind home.

Ashley created a large wall-hanging as an installation at Iko Iko in LA.

Ashley: I also really enjoy creating site-specific work, which again is challenging because it is dependent on so many different elements. In my most recent installation at Iko Iko in Los Angeles, DEPENDENT-ARISING, I created a large wall-hanging that was introduced to the space by my friend Cameron Mesirow of Glasser with a song [ shown above ] she wrote that was based on ancient Scottish waulking-fulling songs. In Mongolia and Tibet people sing prayers to bless their gers or loovuz and the people and spaces it will live with.  There is definitely a spiritual element to my work and I try to convey that in the way it is presented, whether it’s singing a song or preparing a feast of lamb ragu and sheep cheese raviolis to honor the sheep.

Nikko: What are you plans for the future?

Ashley: I am very passionate about collaborating with other artists because it adds a different perspective to my work and keeps things fresh. I am currently working with Creatures of the Wind to create textiles for their Fall 2010 collection, as well as working on more costumes for Cameron Mesirow’s band Glasser. Other projects include collecting bison moltings with artist Alison Pebsworth for a research project documenting lost America and building a sleeping tent for a music gathering in Ukiah, California.

A long term dream of mine would be to raise sheep and process my own wool like my wonderful mentor, Dutch felter Claudy Jongstra. I would love to see the process all the way through from the sheep to the finished piece!

Ashley Helvey is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

I am so excited to welcome artist Deborah Weiss to Ashes & Milk whom created the above collection of graphically eloquent woodcut prints called the Architecture of Nature. Through relief carving and a distinctive print technique, Deborah pieces together deconstructed silhouettes of botanical imagery onto Nepalese paper.

Deborah in her Connecticut Studio composing ‘Architecture of Nature – Vine.’

Nikko: Can you tell me a little about your process of creating a woodblock print and how you come up with your ideas?

Deborah: I have a degree in graphic design and art history. -That said the textile studio was my second home in college. Also, textiles to this day remain an unending source of inspiration. I found my way to printmaking about 6 years ago when I began spending time at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut.

The printmaking world is vast, traditional techniques and new digital media offers a limitless opportunity for artists.  However, I became enamored of the woodcut print. About 5 years ago I began to commit my time and energy to solely exploring the woodcut print. For me it is a technique which is boundless and fascinating. Although I have had the opportunity to work with a couple of established woodcut printmakers I consider myself for the most part self taught.  It is through endless experimentation that I arrive at a body of work.  I thoroughly enjoy the carving process and print all of my own work.  Unlike the traditional edition – I use and reuse my carved blocks – reinventing them and printing them in different ways.

The exquisite detail of Deborah’s hand-carved print block.

Deborah: I work in a very non traditional way – my initial concept is based on the carved block not the finished print.  When I begin to carve I am thinking about form or imagery that inspires me. When the block has been carved I begin to explore the possibilities as I print it in numerous different ways. -I can rotate the block, overprint several layers and in the case of the Architecture of Nature series I began to print only selected sections of the carved block.  When I had numerous selected areas of the block printed I began to reassemble them. I “rebuilt” the plant/flower form in a way that is recognizable yet fractured. The title “Architecture of Nature” seemed like the appropriate title to this body of work as I do feel like I am building a natural form block/piece by piece.

[ You can see the Architecture of Nature collection by Deborah Weiss here. ]

[ For those of you in the Connecticut area, you can personally experience the artwork of Deborah Weiss at ArtSpace located at 555 Asylum Avenue in Hartford. ]

Deborah Weiss – Architecture of Nature Woodcut Prints is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog

Nikko: First off I wanted to say thank you for doing this interview with me. I wanted to do it as a thank you for doing my business and gift cards. It’s good timing too because you guys are going to have your show February 11th, 2009 at Lula Café so you’re probably full of…

Nick: Anxiety.
Nadine: Yes, it’s true.

Nikko: I have spent a good amount of time examining your prints and paintings and love what you do and wanted to know more about the new body of work you’ve both created.

Nick: With time and by working on thirty different things at once, I start formulating ideas. Nadine and I are also doing some record covers and some of those ideas get translated back into this work. I like the texture of simple shapes with screen print dots over them. It’s sort of an experiment of printing techniques. To me it’s like still all these different pieces, but with a week left I have to make decisions and finish. I am not good at finishing stuff unless I have a deadline. I can just go forever…

Nikko: Like everything is a work in progress.

Nick: Yes, it’s never finished. Previously my pieces were getting really quiet, stripped down. There was a lot of work put into it, but visually not a lot of impact. The new direction is a larger introduction whereas my old stuff you can just walk by and not see it. The new work has more of a focal point. Before I wouldn’t use a hard black or make things so colorful. Now I am finding out that I want to make things a little bit louder.

On the left is Nick with a silk screen created by Nadine. Right is a view of the studio with paintings Nick is finishing up for the Lula Café exhibit.

Nikko: What are you submitting for Lula and how did you come up with ideas for these pieces?

Nadine: I wanted to do something more painting installation-y. I’ve been into using textural spatial stuff as elements for composition. -Like found drawing boards, canvas stretchers and green bars which are old type spacers.

Nikko: I think those are the textures that are on my business and gift cards!

Nadine + Nick: Yes they are!

Nadine: I like it when paintings are out and about in a studio and are treated nonchalant. I can put something on it and it becomes it’s own composition. It has stillness to it that I feel it’s different when it’s hung in a gallery which is like “now it is done and there is nothing more to it.” -But for me it’s like I hang it up and the composition is not yet done. The contextual part is always evolving and the one part that I am interested in. Imagery is all about what you read in context. I feel like painting can be a little bit dead. It’s this thing where you wear your gloves and you hang it on a wall and its done. A painting in someone’s house is going to feel a lot different than a painting the Guggenheim. The way I like art to be is this organic thing in people’s lives.

Nikko: I think that the best part of going to artists’ homes or studios. Art is treated like a daily object like a coffee cup, something to interact with.

Nadine: One of the reasons I like abstract things is it seems like there’s room where anything is possible. It’s funny because when I work in abstract I associate figurative things to it and if I do something figuratively I see the abstract in it. I think it’s a possibility to see boring or ugly things in a new way.

Nikko: When you were creating my business cards, we had a conversation about your style, how it is textural, subtle and abstract. -While some people do figurative, illustrative work. I guess it’s a certain type of mind who likes to play around with stuff like yours.

Nick: I like both. I do both. They each sort of magnify the other. When I get bored doing one thing it’s nice to have another place to go. It’s like what Nadine was saying, when you see the abstract you want to make sense of it.

Nadine: The reason why I do the things I do is that I am not good enough to do photo-realism painting. Maybe I don’t have the patience for it. I think people gravitate to a solution that is within their skill set.

Nick: I think it’s something you can work towards, Nadine. You are making things that you are happy with and you can use it as a testing ground. From there you can slowly make your way to realism.

Nikko: I agree with that you do what you’re capable of. I like the abstract and organic style too. When I draw I am slow, my style is blocky and textured where some people are very line based and they can just zip it out. -So I never really thought of it that way. I was just like,“This is my preference, this is what I like.” Haha!

Nadine: Haha! –Which is fine. I think that its good to critique yourself, to school your skills and remain open to the fact that there’s more to be learned. -To venture into other parts. The best thing for me is when I discover the art masters did something that I did before, but I didn’t know it. Like when I was into book covers, Nick was like Rauschenberg did that. I didn’t know what he was doing! The fun part is to discover an epiphany in my own rightful way, not trying to be big or anything. It’s really empowering to see these stages that I can attain myself, and it’s the same activity fields that big names have done. That feels reassuring in a universal way. -That a lot of people can get that experience from making art and can be out of the spotlight.

Nick: For me I need to have my work totally finished and done before anyone sees it, whereas Nadine can show her work at any stage. She always wants to show something new.

Nadine: We’re totally opposite. I work and when the deadline comes, I stop. For me putting a deadline to a painting is cutting a painting’s life off.

Nick: I wish I could work like that. I am inspired to try but it’s so hard to let it go where Nadine is much more free. Our personalities are opposite. In life I am laid back but when it comes to art it has to be finished. No questions.

Nadine: That’s the one part of art that doesn’t have to do that for me.

Nick: Maybe that’s why I reserve that for the rest of my life.

Nikko: In regards to your paintings when they sell, it’s like the person who is choosing to buy it is deciding that it is complete. -Cause if they don’t buy it, the painting would come back to you and you’d work on it more.

Nadine: Well, unlike me Nick sells all of his paintings.

Nick: That’s not true…

Nadine: I don’t have that experience so I am going into it with no expectations and am totally cool showing stuff raw. It’s a very honest way of working.

Nikko: It is a very pure approach! Thank you Nick and Nadine for speaking with me today and for taking the time to do an interview with Ashes & Milk! I can’t wait to see your show at Lula.

Nick + Nadine: Thanks it was fun!

All images photographed by Nikko Moy and hosted on flickr here + here.

[ You can see more work by Nick Butcher and Nadine Nakanishi right here. ]

[ For those of you in the Chicago area, you can personally experience Nick and Nadine's new body of work at the Lula Café from February 11th - April 15th. ]

Nadine Nakanishi + Nick Butcher is a post from the Ashes & Milk Blog