About
The Materials
I have been casting my own body materials for longer than I have been turning pens – I started casting pen blanks for my late second husband when he got into pen making to make me fountain pens.
After testing multiple casting resins, I settled on a well-established polyester resin that is known for being water-clear, an exceptionally high UV resistance, and excellent durability against wear and tear. It’s extremely difficult to turn cleanly and has a tendency to explode on the lathe when it’s not handled properly, but the glass-like finish and stunning color and clarity I can get when it’s fully polished makes it worth it.
The Tools
I turn on an older Wen lathe and a Sherline 8″ metal lathe. I prefer carbide whenever possible – in both my cutting edges and my drill bits. I have a Form3 3D printer, and can usually be found with a project or two loaded up in Fusion on the laptop. Product photography is shot on a amateur-level Canon DSLR, social media is on my cell phone. I edit images for the shop in Lightroom, and in Snapseed for social media, usually.
Bio
Abigail Markov, b. 1983, was born in the United States as the eldest of five children. Markov grew up predominantly in Massachusetts and Texas, moving frequently until late adulthood. Abigail is the mother of three children, and currently lives and works in rural Central Florida, where they also maintain The Tabula Rasa Farm.
About The ArtWork
Current fine art works are emotional landscapes with a heavy focus on saturated colors and high contrast organic forms. Medium is typically ink or handmade acrylic paints, but there’s really no limit to medium if it gets the results I want.
Which sounds very artist-emo, I totally own that, but c’mon, y’all, that’s what I am, so of course my work is going to reflect that. The art-craft hybrid works in alternative materials can be found in functional items such as bespoke pens, jewelry, and the soap on The Tabula Rasa Farm.
I’m a very proud alumni of ArtCan, a London-based non-profit arts organization.