From cutting boards to coasters, maker brings signature swirl to handmade work
Dec. 6, 2024
Echo Petersen’s husband, Bryce, teasingly says that the handblown coasters, trivets, charcuterie boards and holiday ornaments she creates finally gave her an outlet for her hot air.
What she actually does with a drinking straw is to swirl acrylic paints in fanciful designs on ceramic tiles, wooden cutting boards and canvas that put a splash of color on the items that sit on end tables and countertops or hang on walls.
Petersen of Plankinton will have her creative designs on display at the 605 Made Holiday Market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at Cherapa Place in downtown Sioux Falls. It will be the first time E Lee Designs — pronounced Ellie — has participated in a 605 Made market, although she has taken her designs to vendor shows in cities such as Brookings, Pierre, Aberdeen and Yankton.
Petersen worked as a financial assistant for brokers in Sioux Falls before retiring last year. That means she now can devote her days and nights to her handblown designs. Her husband also assists by creating oak frames for the canvas designs.
She first saw the technique while visiting Fort Collins, Colorado, with a friend. When she saw a set of four handblown coasters, Petersen was captivated.
“I saw these coasters and said, I want a set. My friend takes them out of my hand and says, go home and learn how to make them,” she said.
Petersen left those coasters on the shelf, but when she returned home, she started watching “hours and hours and hours of YouTube videos on paint pouring and the ways they do this.” Some techniques used blow-dryers, but that wouldn’t work on porcelain tiles, so Petersen began using assorted sizes of drinking straws.
“I blow every one of them, whether it’s charcuterie boards or coasters or ornaments or whatever,” Petersen said.
It took her months to come up with her own mix of acrylic artist paints. When the paint is properly poured into puddles, the colors remain separate. Use pools of blue and yellow, and they retain that color without blending into green.
She went through 50 tiles before being satisfied with her work, and even then she threw out the first set of four coasters. By the time she assembled all the items she needed, Petersen estimated, laughing, those first coasters cost $220.
Coasters are made of 4-inch porcelain tiles, just like the ones used in a kitchen backsplash. Six-inch porcelain tiles make trivets, and she orders wooden cutting boards 100 at a time. An added item that she can’t keep in stock is a bamboo charcuterie board with pullout drawers and utensils. She blows the paint on top and on the tiny wooden utensils.
Petersen uses high-quality products to ensure a product that lasts, she said. Each piece takes about a week from start to finish. After she paints a tile, it must dry and the paint must cure. Then, Petersen does the prep work, sanding down the back and taping it to protect it from the resin she pours over it. That takes three days to dry.
“It gets kind of hectic this time of year,” Petersen said. “I came home from a show in Pierre with nothing and immediately had to go to the basement and start working.”
Petersen has learned that handblown items in gray-beige paint and in purple paint are popular, as are oranges and autumn colors. One of her personal favorites is navy blue, moss green and gold. She likes to add a micro powder glitter to the paint to add a shine to the finished product.
Her designs also give her an excuse to go shopping, Petersen said. She needs to keep up on the latest colors in furniture and granite countertops, she said, so the hues she chooses will be complementary.
More than 40 makers will take part in this year’s 605 Made Holiday Market, which will take place in the lower-level parking garage of the original Cherapa Place building, which is on the east side of the Big Sioux River between Sixth and Eighth streets. It will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free.
605 Made is organized by Knotty Gnome Variety & Salvage, Sew Doggy Boutique and SiouxFalls.Business. It is sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls and Dakota Business Finance.
