Post assemblage-sculpture

 

Over the weekend I have been working on a couple of small post assemblage-sculptures for our side garden. 

I almost completed one as you can see from the opening photo. The post is about 80-90cm tall and 15cm square. The timber is salvaged rose gum I think - an Australian hardwood. 

A few years ago I had made a bench seat for G to take a rest on as he did his daily walk. Later it was moved to near a post sculpture F and I did for the area we planted out when we came to live at the village - see photo below.

The area is being redeveloped so we removed the post sculpture which is now at the front of our home; we salvaged the top planks of the bench seat. The timber is a bit worse for wear - see photo below of the timber on the work bench; but we thought it  could be repurposed as small garden post sculptures.

Some of the process-progress photos follow. 

The timber looks better after a good sand with a belt sander. The squiggly groove routed freehand into the timber with a small can shaped router represents the local creek. As you can see from one of the progress photos the groove is painted with Japanese black ink so the line will stand out. Rusty bits are added from our rust stash - though there is not to choose from these days.

The posts are given another sand once the black ink dries to remove and 'smudges' etc.

If time permits I will finish the second post during the week; and then they will be installed.

Clearing the decks - repurposing materials

 

Over the last month I have been sorting and clearing materials I have collected and in some cases even cut and drilled - but not assembled - see below. 

Whilst some metal and bits and pieces have made their way into recycling I decided to assemble all the jewellery related bits - making earrings and pendants. 

A couple of process photos follow. A couple of delicate earring blanks cut from Scottish slate - ground and drilled!! Earring drops cut from vintage tea-spoons etc

Photos of assembled earrings and pendants appear in the photos below. I love the combination of the rusty washers, riveted silver plated band and a solid silver chain - gorgeous contrasts.

The sorting, clearing and assembling processes in both the workshop and on the jewellery assembling desk now means I can get on with other metal work tasks I have planned including: another Memory Keeper Bowl; another Meditation Incense Bowl; a few more Daily Leaf Word Sets; some small metal books with stamped words; and some patinated copper leaves.  These things will appear on the blog over the next couple of months. 

Beauty for joy and hope

 

Over the last few years Fiona's dad Graham has spread joy and hope by installing orchid plants in about 30 trees outside villas in our little Maleny village. This year has  seen an abundance of these plants flowering.

So many folk have said how having orchids suddenly appearing in the trees just makes them smile. The great thing about  these flowering orchids is that they will stay in bloom for at least a few weeks - a gift that just keeps giving.

This blog post simply shares a few images of joyful-hopeful orchid beauty.

 Graham's orchids simply reinforces that  doing small local things can offer moments of hope in challenging times.

Metal play and water features

 

The image above shows the outcome of a bit of art metal play. I wanted to see how three layers of copper sheet would behave when pressed in wood and metal forms a number of times in my hand operated hydraulic press. If you like quirky spiky bowls this bowl will appeal to you; but if you are challenged by the square edges and pointy bits this one is not for you.  A couple of process-progress photos follow.

I think I will try this again but maybe with offset circles of metal. The hydraulic pressing process resulted in the three layers of metal binding together - no glue or rivets required - very organic!!!

I also finished hammering a couple of large bowls - one from the laundry copper and one from the base of the hot water tank. Both are water features - most likely watering spots for birds - stones for them to land on. The first bowl is about 450mm in diameter; and the second is about 350mm in diameter.

Who knows where the metal might take me over the next couple of weeks.

Doors and windows - postcard size watercolours

 Lately I have been doing watercolours of doors and windows I photographed whilst at the cottage in Scotland. I have finished four - two doors and two windows as you can see from the opening photo and the three following.

As some folk will be aware when I'm doing a watercolour series I can have two-four on the go at the same time. The following photos show some of the process-progress - in a bit of random order.

Whilst I will continue working on doors and windows I will be turning my hand to birds again as a sales opportunity appears to be opening up for my bird watercolours - more on that down the track.