Sunday, July 28, 2013

Pushing metal too far

Over the weekend I have continued my making of pieces and products for our Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition in late August-September.

I have been using some of the offcuts from all the silver-plated EPNS trays I cut up to get the pages for our commission.

But as you can see from the photo below sometimes the recycled metal has been stressed quite a lot in its first incarnation; so taking the curves out of a tray and putting new ones in to form a bowl sometimes just takes the metal too far; and you end up with cracks as you can see in the photo.

©Barry Smith - Fractured metal
And when one goes to extremes and tries to punch some of that curved metal into a tight half a sphere it also over stretches and rips the metal as you can see on the right hand side of the sphere below.

©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)
©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered and polished metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)
The sphere making was influenced by the moon shots earlier in the week. I thought the unpolished sphere with lots of solder splatter looks quite moonlike. It has come up ok with a polish. The sphere was a bit of a side experiment as break away from production - bit rough but it has potential.

Below are the stash of Daily Word bowls - hammered but not polished. The cracked bowl is in the centre. I will still polish it as I think it has some appeal with its fracture lines.

©2013 Barry Smith - Bowls for Daily Words - in the rough
And I did manage to make another circular Personal Shrine - again based on my moon and star theme.

©2013 Barry Smith - Personal shrine - Moon and Stars
©2013 Barry Smith - Personal shrine - Moon and Stars
The personal shrine is quite small - about 200mm in diameter - formerly the rack or stand to hold 8 plate coasters. I think the smallness makes it even more personal or intimate.

5 comments:

  1. your photos of the metal and it's cracks are wonderfully artful. i don't think i would have known what i was looking at. i always enjoy seeing your bowls and shrines, they are so appealing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful pieces as always B. I really like the energy of the raw sphere tho ... i'm thinking, something like that, would make really nice focal beads for jewelry. smaller of course :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, Baz - I love the moon sphere - you ruined it by polishing it - hahahah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. TL, LT & N - thanks for checking the fractured metal- which as we know has its own beauty. TL - I was working on some shrines today - I like what I have done - all will be revealed later in the week. LT & N - I agree the raw sphere was the best - but it was an experiment and one has to test both forms. Next time I will leave it in the rough. All- go well. B

    ReplyDelete

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