Partnership post

 

Yesterday Fiona and I collaborated on the design, assemblage and installation of a sculptural post and finished off the adjacent bench seat. The photo above shows the completed installation. The post is about 16cm square; in the ground by about 15cm and about 120cm high.

The photo below was taken by Faith who assisted in the siting of the post. Two slightly warm, weary  but happy artists.

The photo below is a detailed one taken by Fiona of the top of the post. The top plate always plays a dual purpose - to look interesting and to stop water getting into the post through the top grain and cracks.

Following are some more process and detailed photos - taken by Fiona and myself - you can tell from the handsets who was taking the photos. Some of the rusty elements had both form and function in that some straddled and therefore secured cracks in the timber.

Ending with a slightly different angle of the installation.

We are happy that we got this post and bench completed before heading to Scotland. The post can now weather slowly - grey off and the rust to become more pronounced.

Stuff and rust

 

One can get some strange requests  - like this one - could I mount an antique cast iron door knocker on rusted metal so that it could actually be mounted outside a door? I said I would give it a go - above is the finished result with a bit of rust to keep it company.

The task entailed my drilling into the bottom of the square bit, tapping a thread into it and then making a thread and nut to fit. To accommodated the nut I made the knocker plate out of two 8mm thick pieces of rusty iron that I riveted together after screwing on the nut and gluing the nut into the bottom plate. I had drilled a large hole in the back plate to accomodate the nut which is now flush with the surface of the back plate metal. A couple of mounting hole were drilled and the cut edges given a grind and polish. A few development photos follow.

And a couple more rust images - I have been drilling the cut pieces and washers so they can be nailed onto the post.

I shall finish with another finished knocker photo.

Dark morning, stars and new trick

 

As you can see from the photos at the end of the blog post I set out on my walk in predawn light - this tends to result in a sky with stars and a purple hue. Fiona has been experimenting with a new technique on her iPhone camera with some very interesting results. She taught me this technique; and as you can see from the photo above I was able to use the technique in the low light on my walk.

Below are some blossoms from G's orchid house.

A grey egret in the Ob Obi Creek in the misty rain yesterday afternoon - you might see on closer inspection it was shuffling its feet to stir up little creatures to eat.

Some random low light morning photos follow. including ripples from a platypus foraging along the far bank.

One of a rainbow in the house at breakfast time.

Following are a couple of pre-sunrise photos with stars. The constellation I know as the Big Dipper (Ursa Major, Great Bear) is visible in the last photo.

Gathering rust - literally

 

Fiona and I hope to complete a sculptural post together before we head to Scotland. The post itself is cut, routed, inked and sanded - see below. It now needs rust embellishments such the pieces that together will form the cap for the post - to stop water entering the end-grain of the post. The cap piece is about 15-16cm square. The post is about1-5-1.6m high - very heavy rose gum hardwood.

Following are a few photos of rust I gathering from my stash and cutting over the weekend.

The photo below shows quite a good pile if rusty bits cut from pieces in the first two photos. I really appreciate the fact that my bench top guillotine can cut through 1.5-2mm thick steel including rusty circular saw blades.

The pieces have yet to be drilled so we can attach them with nails. I also need to rust some clouts with acid in preparation for the assembling work which I hope will occur towards the end of the week.

Title page

 

Some will be aware that I have made an unbound artists' book (see photo below) with seven brass sail shaped pages with the lines of a seven line prose poem stamped on the pages. The poem is titled Betrayal - it refers to people from the highland Clearances forced to become fisherfolk. 

See poem at the end of the blog post. 

On my to do list I had a task to make a title page for the book so that it could be displayed in the exhibition in the Strathnaver Museum's annexe with the title page facing upwards and downwards so that visitors can see how the pages are formed and see the stamped word betrayal. The opening photo shows how the pages will be displayed.

Following are a few process photos from today.

And a couple more photos of the very highly polished pages follow.

I was pleased with getting this little task ticked off my to do list. 

The words of the poem follow.

Betrayal

coerced by an inhumane experiment

farmers unaccustomed to the sea 

tried to draw subsistence from a destructive sea 

on a rocky and perilous shore

forced to purchase unsafe boats

served a deadly apprenticeship to the sea

a multitude found a watery grave