Mainly about metal colour

Over the weekend I: finished and delivered the the five Daily Leaf Word sets; planed and sanded a bunch of letterpress type trays so they would fit into the cabinet we bought from Maleny Recyclearama; and I made a good start on the 20 leaf forms for the commission Bending 5.

One aspect I love about working with metal is the surprises that can be part of the process. Today it was all about the metal colours that popped as a result of applying heat or washing the pickled leaves in water containing iron from the rusty fire pit basin. Any way first the colours of the metal.

©2016 Barry Smith - Fire colour on copper

©2016 Barry Smith -  Natural patina and colour before annealing

©2016 Barry Smith - Copper colour after pickling and washing in water from the rusty iron pit pit

©2016 Barry Smith - Copper colour after pickling and washing in water from the rusty iron pit pit

©2016 Barry Smith - Folded copper blanks for leaves - coloured after pickling and washing in water from the rusty iron pit

And then a bit of the process of working on the leaves today including finishing 6 of the 20.

©2016 Barry Smith - Copper coloured after pickling and washing in water from the rusty iron pit pit

©2016 Barry Smith - Copper offcuts from leaf forms

©2016 Barry Smith - Copper folded leaf forms (about 25mm wide and 200mm long)

©2016 Barry Smith - Hammered leaf forms (about 25mm wide and 200mm long)

©2016 Barry Smith - Six leaf forms - unfolded, ground and polished

©2016 Barry Smith - Six leaf forms - unfolded, ground, polished and patina solution applied

I also though I would share a photo of Fiona's mixed up type draws.

©2016 Barry Smith - Bit of a poor shot - but it gives one the idea of how this set of type draws is going to be a bit unusual - space for seven more trays!!!!!

A good practical art weekend.