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ATELIER ŠIMA

House and animal portraits

An enamel sign with a house portrait, drawn for your place.

Starting from a photograph, Šimona develops a drawing of her own in which the architecture, the name and the personal details settle into one quiet composition. The motif is then engraved by hand and fired several times in vitreous enamel on copper.
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Ostrich motif for a fortieth birthday — vitreous enamel on copper
Ostrich motif for a fortieth birthdayView the full commission

Two works from the atelier

House sign “Kouty 78” with a blue bird

Rectangular house sign with local name, house number 78 and a painted blue bird.

View the full commission

Complete “Kouty 78” sign mounted on a stone wall with bare vines.

01/02

Commission 1 of 2. House sign “Kouty 78” with a blue bird

Not a photo print, but a new drawing.

The photograph is only the starting point. Šimona reduces perspective, lines and detail so that both the house and the lettering stay legible at a small size. The result is neither a photographic copy nor a template from an online editor, but a commissioned work of art.

From photograph to composition.

A few precise details are enough to begin. You do not need finished artwork — the drawing is made in the atelier.

  • A calm, well-lit photograph of the house or the entrance, as frontal as possible.
  • The exact wording, with spelling and the order of the lines.
  • The mounting position and the space roughly available.
  • What should be kept and what may be simplified.

An animal can be part of the story too.

An animal portrait can carry the sign or sit quietly within the composition. What matters is a clear photograph in which the characteristic features are easy to read. Šimona redraws the motif for the scale and the material; the photograph itself is never printed onto the sign.

How the one-off is made.

  1. Brief and photographsYou describe the place, the wording and your idea for the motif, and send the photographs you already have.
  2. The artist's sketchŠimona develops her own drawing from it and agrees format, lettering and motif with you.
  3. Engraving and enamel layersThe approved motif is transferred to copper by hand, engraved and built up in layers of enamel.
  4. Firings and final checkSeveral firings at roughly 750–850 °C and a final inspection complete the work.

See the full commission process

What we need for a first assessment.

  • The exact wording as it should appear on the sign.
  • One to three reference photographs of the house or the animal.
  • A photograph of the mounting position.
  • An approximate format, or your own preferred size.
  • Your idea of the timing.

An enquiry is neither an order nor a payment. Šimona replies personally by email, and an individual quotation follows only after that.

Enquire about a house or animal portrait

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