Birgit Brühl was born and raised in Cologne, educated potter with a apprentice letter from a workshop in southern Germany and diploma from the art school in Kiel “Fachhochschule für Gestaltung-Freie Kunst Keramik”. Birgit moved to Bergen, Norway on a scholarship and received her degree from the Norwegian State College for Artistic Crafts and Design. Birgit now receives music lessons from Calle Hamre from Butterfly Garden and when Calle asked if Birgit would decorate the ukulele, she saw it as a great way to use her skills to contribute to a great project.
Here is a description from Birgit about the ukulele decoration:
I have first colored the ukulele red with liquid ink. Then I “blocked” the surface with 2 layers of lacquer, so that the ink do not flow out. I then started an ink line at the sound hole using an old-fashioned metal spring pen. The pattern is a freehand drawing without any support lines. It occurs under a type of “flow”and it grows along the way. I finally made the dots with acrylic pen. The ukulele is then stained many times with a mat lacquer.
I have recently taken up the guitar after a very long break – in my youth I played classical guitar and I wanted to become a luthier but I did not get an apprenticeship. For the last two years I have been building guitars and I am currently working on my 4th one, and I have experimented a lot with different surface treatment and applied all the experience I have gained with artistic surface treatment from my pottery work.
