Rustnstuff: 09/16

Friday, September 30, 2016

Sometimes there is not a lot to be seen

Today has been one of those days: Rhonda's sister picked up the ladles and Artisan Lamp; I repaired a garden fork so we could dig the potatoes; I built a garden edge; and I hammered some stems to be riveted to the leaf forms that will make up the commission Bending 5.

For me the stems are the most interesting and creative part of the day. I need to make 20 stems to attach to the leaf forms. I started out with 24 lengths of rusty iron rod from my 'rust bank'.

Using a small heavy hammers and round anvil I flattened the ends off the rods.

They were all then given a grind so that they are slimmer to fit into the fold of the leaf forms.

It was almost like having a stash of rusty iron arrows.These will provide a good base to drill and attach the leaf forms at a later date.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Suddenly there is more light

Fiona and I get up about 5.30am on the mornings Fiona goes to her exercise group. It did not seem so long ago that we were getting up in the dark and having to turn on lights just to get around the house. Though we are only a month into spring the sun is rising and flooding the valley by 5.30am. I think the photo below will be one of the last morning light photos I will be taking for a while.

And of course with the sun up the bees are very busy - the bottles brush trees were just alive with them.

And there are cascades of tiny blossoms.

And startling colour like the reds and yellow.

It won't be long before I'm walking in summer light.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Stemless solid silver saki drinking vessel

I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a stemless saki drinking vessel from a sheet of solid silver. This would mean committing quite a bit of new .5mm thick 925 silver to the project. I wanted the vessel to be stemless and yet have a stand as I wanted the drinking vessel to be very pure in its lines.

It was a while since I had hammered small bowls with straight sides from flat sheet so I practiced on some silver-plated EPNS before committing to the solid silver. The diameter of the drinking vessel circle of metal was 70mm; and that for the stand was about 35mm.

Making the stand was a bit of a challenge - quite a small piece of metal to hold and hammer on the stake.

But the combined outcome looks good in front of the anvil.

And the test bowl, the drinking vessel and stand look pretty rough on the grinding-polishing bench.

As you can see the the drinking vessels looks reasonably small in my hand; but in reality it is 60mm in diameter and about 20-25mm deep.

A couple more photos on stone; and with the vessel and stand separated.

I think I proved to myself I can do this; and I think a fellow metal worker will appreciate the beauty and hand hammered nature of the vessel.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Mostly about preparation

Over the last couple of days I have been starting-progressing 4 creative tasks: a few inspirational silverplated leaves; an Artisan Lamp from a sewing machine; a commission - a set of my bending leaf forms; and a few small bowl forms.

I was doing the silver-plated leaves as I wanted to take one to a wedding tomorrow - but why not make 3 when you can.

I have had a rusted up sewing machine sitting in the garage-studio for months. I had to keep moving it around when I was trying to access other stuff including our coffee cherry pulping machine which we started using again this week. I want to make a lamp out of some of the parts for the friend who gave it to me.

For the commission of bending leaf forms I need quite a bit of recycled copper sheet so I decided to pull the copper fire hood apart and use some of the metal. It was a quite a big job - removing rivets, bolts etc- but it has delivered quite a lot of sheet metal.

I also cut out circles of flat metal for the bowls - but will blog on that on Sunday.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Black cockatoos, fragments on the block, light and the last full moon

Some Wednesday blog posts turn out a little strage when I share bits and pieces from the week. As the blog title says this blog post indeed shares a bit of this and that.

First a small flock of Black Cockatoos spent some early morning time in the gum tree that leans across the side of our block. We were doing gardening and they stayed there for about .5 of an hour. There seemed to be some pairs and some grooming going on.

We have been picking heaps of Waratahs from down the back - the photo is one of a small bush form of the flower that we planted only about 12 months ago. I noticed the orange fungi with the small bit of moss when I was working down the back.

There has just been so much colour over the valley - most times we just enjoy it but sometimes it call out to be shared.

And I thought I would add a couple of moon shots for Ken M who is now travelling overseas - just wanted him to see the moon in the southern hemisphere.

Nature always offers something to lift one's spirits in some of the dark global times. Peace on International Peace Day today 21 September.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

International Peace Day 21 September

As the blog title says tomorrow is International Peace Day - a time to stop and reflect and to choose peace - peace in our daily lives and peace globally.

Each year Fiona and I try to honour the day by making a bit of art stuff and hanging it in our "peace tree" at the front of our block. We were encouraged to do this by a project started in 2012 by friend and fellow artist Mary Jane.

This year I decided to go again with my "peace birds". Many of last year's birds had fluttered to the ground and were given away as peace token; and the last 9 were taken down and used on our Christmas tree - so I made 12 more to bring me up to 21. Why 21 - well 21 September is the date of the international peace day.