Rose Herbeck, Stangl Designer - June 1999
Museum Development, Continued
"Stangl is not just for yesterday, it is for tomorrow as well"
Rose Herbeck, Stangl Designer - June
1999
The fantastic interest in Stangl and Fulper that is developing both nationally and internationally is a solid testament to Rose's sage sentiment. To express the connection between the Stangl of Yesterday and the Stangl of Tomorrow, we commissioned Kay Hackett to design an original motif to adorn the central medallion on the floor of the kiln.
Kay retired from design work in 1965 to pursue a career as an antiques dealer. During the next 34 years, Kay was an established dealer at the Golden Nugget Flea Market and then at the Lambertville Antiques Market, both in Lambertville, NJ. Kay's myriad of fans, friends and groupies could always find her there on any weekend in the year.
Kay and Rob in Lambertville
In June 1999, as Kay neared 80, she "retired" from the antiques business so that she may be able to once again develop a career in freelance design. Kay spent the summer and fall of 1999 liquidating her antiques inventory, and preparing her design studio in readiness of her first design commission.
In February 2000, we approached Kay with our idea of a central medallion on the floor of the kiln that would be altogether new, yet express the essence STANGL. Kay was more than enthusiastic with the project. As she told us at the time, "What's the good of a design studio if there is no purpose to producing a design?"
Kay jumped headlong into our design, using the self-same tempera paints and squares of Celotex she had used at Stangl during the 1950s and 1960s! Within two weeks Kay had come up with about a dozen new and original motifs. Each one represented Stangl in its own way, but Kay had two favorites. So sure was she that it would be one of these two that we would choose, she went ahead and also created the 30" stencils required to transfer the design to the floor!
Kay's Thumbnail sketch for her new
"Kay's Tulip" pattern.
Kay was absolutely correct, we fell in love with both designs! On March 1, 2000, just over 2 weeks since we had first proposed our idea, we paid Kay for not one original design, but two!
Kay felt the one design to be most appropriate for the kiln floor, and we concurred! This design captures the total essence of all that made Stangl dinnerware STANGL. The other design was so charming, and actually Kay's favorite, so we bought it, feeling we would certainly put it to use somewhere!
Kay's tempera rendering of her "Spring
Bluebirds".
Designs in hand, it was now time to prep the kiln floor for the decorative paint-job. After consulting with several paint companies, we determined that Behr's Porch and Floor paint covered with two coats of Behr clear epoxy designed for garage floor use would achieve the effect we wanted and yet withstand repeated foot traffic.
Hours were spent scraping off many coats of the original gray floor paint and filling several holes with Quick-Crete. Once the Quick-Crete set, we scrubbed decades of accumulated dirt from the bare cement floor, then acid-etched it, as per the paint manufacturer's instructions.
Kiln floor clean, Scrubbed and etched.
After the appropriate drying time, we centered a 30" diameter stencil on the floor to set the dimensions of the medallion. This area was then primed, and then painted with bright white base paint.
Stenciling the motif.
We accentuated the rough texture of the cement with a light dry-brushed swirl of brown to emulate Stangl's early hand-brushed dinnerware.
Next step was to use Kay's stencil to transfer the motif to the floor. Then the "carved" brown outlines were carefully brushed on.
Adding the "carving"
Once the "carving" was done, the colors were applied. In order to achieve the same depth of color as Stangl's translucent underglaze colors, Behr Faux Finish glaze was mixed with the tinted paint. This rendered the paint translucent, allowing the purpose of each brush-stroke to be seen.
Colors in progress
After the colors and banding were completed, and the appropriate drying time passed, the clear coats were applied and a celery green concrete stain was sponged over the remaining surface of the kiln floor.
Applying the clear epoxy.
VOILA! On March 15, the floor medallion is complete! In just 30 days a truly artistic design is conceived, created, developed and translated to its intended purpose!
The finished medallion!
To both Rose Herbeck and Kay Hackett we are ever grateful. Rose, for making us realize that Stangl is as much a part of the future as the past, and Kay for actively participating in the continuation of the Hill-Fulper-Stangl Heritage.