Rustnstuff: Memories in a lamp and ladles

About a month or more ago I committed to making an Artisan Lamp and a couple of ladles by way of saying thanks for being gifted a heap of stuff by Rhonda McK. I agreed to turn a set of vintage Indonesian scales into the lamp without impacting on the integrity of the scales; and I said I would make a couple of ladles from a couple of small very worn silver-plated trays and some plumbers hand copper soldering iron.

As is often the case the task begins with dismantling the pieces and cutting up metal.

Then moving on to hammering bowls and making the light fitting bracket; and grinding and polishing the pieces.

When I gently sanded and oiled the timber section of the scales I discovered that there were heaps of measure markings on the timber. The markings had been made by drilling very fine holes into the timber and hammering in brass wire. As you can seen in the photos below this is very beautiful.

Once all the polishing was complete I could assemble the lamp. I threaded the cord through brackets etc and attached with black ties as I did not want to drill into the timber. On Fiona's suggestion I used a long globe as it fitted the slim nature of the lamp.

The base was made using recycled timber Rhonda had given me; plus the hanging hook of the scales and the weight used on the scales. So all parts of the scales are present in the lamp. I drilled a hole in the recycled timber so that the scale timber pole could be inserted but not glued. If the family wants to dismantle the lamp it can easily be returned to the glory of the scales.