Friday, May 3, 2013

Metal harvest

Fiona and I are going to hold an exhibition in late August and most of September - so the planning and preparation is well underway. The twin themes will be stillness and peace - that is a surprise!! We both basically know what we want to create and the volume of pieces to go on wall, on plinths and in cabinets. The planning made me realise I needed a bit more metal. So last weekend we supplemented my stash by going on a run to recycling centres and and op-shop.

Today I did about 2.5 hours of cutting and sorting of much of the new metal stashes. It fell into two categories: large trays (stainless and EPNS) for large bits of flat metal for personal shrines: and small EPNS trays, coasters and bowl surrounds for bowls, leaves and peace books etc.

The photos below show the large tray; and the recovered metal.

©2013 Barry Smith - Large trays 
©2013 Barry Smith - Harvest of flat sheets of metal
©2013 Barry Smith - Harvest of flat sheets of metal
Some pretty interesting patterns on the metal.

One of the trays must have been over 50 years old as I found part of a 1959 newspaper used as packing between the metal and the timber backing.



The second set of photos are of: the EPNS stash; the mangled mess of cut up ENPS bits; and then the sorted EPNS metal.

©2013 Barry Smith - EPNS stash ready for cutting
©2013 Barry Smith - A tangled mess of metal
©2013 Barry Smith - EPNS metal - cut and sorted
No excuses - plenty of metal to work on. But by way of a change before getting out on the block and finishing the weeding and veggie garden digging I started beating a number of small bowls out of bowl lids and goblet bases. I will do more work on these over the weekend.

10 comments:

  1. What a wonderful haul! It's good to be reminded of the raw materials and the work involved in the process.

    My beautiful Seek Peace leaf arrived safely - and quickly (I am continually surprised at the speed of the postal service here, in South Africa it was a gesture of faith to put something special in the mail)

    Thank you again for the treasure - it's been much admired by my students.

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    1. Hi CLB - I'm always on the lookout for material. Glad that the peace leaf arrived safely - even being admired by students gives it the chance to inspire peace. Go well. B

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  2. love the idea of "harvesting" metal!! Of course that's what you do!

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  3. It's inspiring to see your stash and even more so to see the end results.

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  4. Awesome stash. Love the tray sheets ! You've given me a new view of that shelf of plated metal at the thrift store.

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  5. What a stash! You must've covered some ground to find all that.

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  6. Perfect inspiration for my stash which looks a bit like your before photos. I just need to get up the courage to cut them up. I know you'll do miraculous things with them, B.

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  7. VA, AA, PnM, JM & C - the recycling brings the true believers out of the woodwork - glad you enjoyed the stash or two I have put together. VA - can't really think of any other word - bit like hunting and gathering. AA - as a worker of metal you can imagine where this lot is going. PnM - off the shelves with your trays and on the side cutter - result lovely sheets of metal at a fraction of the cost. JM - we were lucky - good stash at three places including the two recycling centres. C - I'm waiting for your to get into cutting and beating mode. All - go well & collect well. B

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  8. It's always a joy for me to go out looking for stash to include in artworks so I'm reliving that familiar thrill of discovery while reading your post. Stillness and peace.... a lovely meditative theme for your exhibition.

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  9. Hi R - I know you can so relate to stashes - and vicariously can experience the anticipation of creating with the bits. The theme helps the focus. Go well. B

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Comments are welcomed - it is good to connect with fellow travellers.