Friday, May 23, 2014

Wild things ….

As part of my sorting the studio-garage I have also been dismantling various found and gifted objects including some old clock bodies.

©2014 Barry Smith - Detail of a Steampunk influenced bowl
Most old larger clocks have a brass plate at the front and back of the mechanism - the clock chassis. The availability of the plates and clock pieces prompted me to create a few wild Steampunk influenced bowls. The two brass plates I used were about 1-1.5mm thick - quite stiff and took a bit of hammering to form the bowls. I also hammered (curved) all the other pieces and gears to fit the curve of the bowls.

I got the three bowls roughly completed - they all required adjustments (some design elements don't quite work); and they need further grinding and polishing to take the rough edges and improve the circular nature of them.

©2014 Barry Smith - Three Steampunk influenced bowls - still a bit rough
The one below is the wildest - it not only has two plates but also a solid face, gong hammers, gears, and a little spring loaded whirligig that still works if you give it a little nudge.

©2014 Barry Smith - Hammers of time
©2014 Barry Smith - Detail of the whirligig gear thing
The next one is created using part of an aluminium display board that was used for watches. The focus of this bowl is on gears - both bike and clock.

©2014 Barry Smith - Gears of time
The bowl has a brass clock plate, watch bodies, gears, a clock levelling gear, feet off a silver plated tray and clock hands.

©2014 Barry Smith - Hands of time
The bowl section in each of the bowls is about110-120mm in diameter. All the pieces are riveted together with copper rivets. They can all be used to hold stuff - but given the layers of gears etc I'm not sure you'd get a lot into them Bur they are fun and would make both a talking point and a quirky art piece.

Fiona is about to serve a glass of bubbles and some of our macadamia nuts whilst I finish this post - sound good to me.

6 comments:

  1. Oh B, you'd know I'd love these, wouldn't you? Not sure which I like best, each is so different and original. You really deserve those bubbles...

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  2. Now that's what I call quirky! Like Carol I'm battling to choose my favourite. The holey one or the hammers or.... back to the holey bowl.

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  3. these are totally crazy B!! Love them :) But you know what, I am particularly drooling on that huge gear you have mounted on your Gears of Time piece. That gear size is pretty hard to find ...

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  4. ~hi hi hello and how do you do!!! much catching up with you and f to do and i do say i will...these little clocks are simply grand...little widgets manifesting in to timeless pieces!!! i hope you are well and life has been treating you only kind in your days...be well and much love light and blessings~

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  5. Hi C, R, SS LT & B - thanks heaps for your comments. Sorry for the delay in responding - we have been away for work and even at night there was not time to connect up the iPad. C - one of the challenges is to make them unique. R - I had to laugh about the preference - goes it means they all have appealing features - so that is good. SS - glad they made you smile. LT - yes another manifestation of my craziness. Sorry about the big gear. I will keep my eyes pealed for them for you - as you say they don't come along often. B - so good to hear from you. One thing about these piece4s is that time standstill - not a bad thing sometimes. All - may we continue to enjoy each others work and our community of art. Go well. B

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