Catherine "Kater" Cheek is a writer and artist.
Catherine Cheek
Author's posts
Dec 27
Jessica’s Jewelry Box
I made this for my niece Jessica, who is five years old. Like her sister’s box, it is a wooden box from Michael’s that I spent a few weeks decorating. I used violet interference paint, mixed with gel retarder, to stamp the leaf patterns on the lid and sides. I tried to make a polymer …
Dec 25
Tree Angel
I thought I ought to post pictures of our tree angel while she was still in one piece. She took a tumble while we were decorating this year, and the ceramic head broke at the neck. We managed to repair her, but she’s looking her age. I made her ten years ago. My favorite part …
Dec 22
Cobalt-Grid Porcelain bowl
When I was in Japan, I used to do cobalt underglaze on porcelain more than anything else. It was a style born out of the fact that I can’t read glaze colors in Japanese. There are a lot of traditional designs and motifs, usually used on fabric, which lend themselves well to the concave surface …
Dec 17
Mermaid Mask Book
 Fellow artist Jane Cheek gave me some fabric dyes, and I decided to try them out on a book cover. I started out with a calico that had spiral patterns on it. After all, using just plain fabric wouldn’t be much of a change over using paper. Some of the fabric dyes stain just …
Dec 13
Cobalt-Fish Scale Porcelain Bowl
This is my favorite of the traditional Japanese designs I use on pottery. Because of the way that the design has to change in order to fit inside the bowl, it never turns out the same way twice. I love hex-based designs as well, but when you do hexagonal designs on a curved surface, it …