But first hearts - then other stuff

 

Another one of those weekends where I attended to a few things: printing a couple of layouts of my Daily Words booklet; doing some preparation for the installation of the posts on Monday; processing bunya nuts; slicing a lot of heart formed metal ingots; and packing buffalo and bone earrings and delivering them to Maleny Additions. The final pile of the sliced hearts in the rough are above.

Some other photos of the hearts follow: first there are solid silver hearts, then silver-brass hearts and finally hearts attached to a few of the over-poured metal. The smallest hearts are about 1cm across. They all look rough in their cut state - but after drilling, grinding and polishing they will be ready to be turned into gorgeous earrings and pendants.

On Saturday I managed to print four pages - two sheets of my Daily Words booklet. I'm printing 25 copies to achieve 20 quality prints. It is working out well - Fiona assisted with advice about the most efficient printing sequence. The words next to the word Joy are not about Joy; but rather the word Shine.

SHINE

So a full weekend. I didn't get back to the spreading knives - probably get to those during the week.

Product and posts

 

I need to make quite a lot of product:  leaf knives; leaf spoons; leaf tea-caddy spoons; and word leaves.

Most times I use metal from ornate trays or placemats but this time with Fiona's encouragement I thought I would make some items that were neither ornate or hammered - simply beautiful forms. The three spreader knives (formally pate knives - but they are good for all sorts of spreading jobs) just show the beauty of the leaf form without and additions - I like this new form - these three were a test run. Of course I will continue with other variations.

A few process photos showing a serious amount of metal cut for the different product items. Another twenty leaf knives in the production process - some still need to be cut - I just wanted to round up the number to twenty.

I thought I would share a photo of my bench guillotine that can save me a lot of hand cutting if used delicately. The blade is 300mm long and the handles is over 90cm long. You can see the outcome of the cutting with the guillotine in the second photo above.

I have finished the third post for the post commission - the trio look good as you can see below.

The posts will be installed early next week.

An abundance

 

Though the day has ended with rain it started out with soft and lifting light. But first one of the shy wallabies from my walk

Back to the abundance -  an early morning hare, light one of the trees, birds, bees and another shy wallaby on my walk.

Plus a few other fragments of delicate beauty.

G's orchid house offered a few new gems.

Given the rain at the end of the day it seems appropriate to share a photo of a tiny forest of micro fungi in the cracks of footpath pavers.

A grand way to start a birthday. 

Contrast in cutting and finishing second post

 

As you can see from the photo above the first post now has a sibling. Each post will have one face with the similar curly design - the rest of the faces will be unique.

But first about cutting in preparation for art. On Saturday I spend the day cutting large sheets of Magnani Pescia Editions 140gsm paper into 14cmX18 cm sheets in preparation for printing my daily words booklet. The paper was cut with a knife and rotary paper cutter. The end result was 155 sheets - plenty for the job and proofs.

Late on Saturday I spend time in preparation for today - cutting rusty metal sheet on my bench mounted guillotine. I was amazed that it managed to cut rusted 1.5-2mm thick mild steel. I guess the almost 1m long lever helps. I used all the heavily pitted rusted metal on the post today.

Following are a few photos of the four faces of the post completed today. This post is 20cm square and 1.4 m long. The post will be set into gravel - about 20cm deep.

A few photos of some of the detail.

I have one post to complete - this post is about 1.2m long - so the working space is going to be 80cm in length on each face. A task for next week.

Timber and rust - one of three posts

 

Today I managed to add the rusty bits I have been stockpiling to the largest (1.5m HX 20cm square) of the three post installation I have been commissioned to make. A quick photo of two faces are in the photo above and another view in the last photo. I have used quite a few elements of the two garden chairs the 'commissionee' gave me to use - curly bits.

The sanded posts look beautiful just as posts.

Following are individual photos of the four completed faces - on the saw horses. The bare 25cm at the bottom of the post is deliberate - to allow the post to be set into gravel to a depth of 15-20cm. I have attempted to incorporate the knots in the timber into the designs.

And a couple of photos of the top of this post. The adornment on the top of the post is made from two furniture wheels.

Final one of two faces.

Some of the wrap around straps are there to ensure the timber does not crack too much.