Starting posts

 

I have been asked to make two post installations for a garden. One will be an entry name post; and the other a destination post.

The entry post is being made from a 250mm square by about 600 high piece of extremely hard and dry salvaged hardwood. 

After an hour of sawing a square bottom on the timber;  an hour of sanding all the faces; sanding a very eroded top; and creating a divot in the eroded top I have managed to get the timber to a stage where it looks pretty good and is in the main splinter free and can hold a water basin - see opening photo. 

Some of the process photos follow.

I now have a clearer idea of how to develop this entry post. More work to be done over the next week.

More about patinated bowls and posts

 

I have sold the first Memory Keeper and Meditation-Incense Bowls I made so I'm looking to make a few more from the remaining patinated copper cut from the old laundry copper boiler. I tried two different finishes with the two I just finished. As you can see from the photos above I did not renew the patina on the hammered bowl - but I quite like the outcome. On the bowl below I refreshed the patina colour using a patina solution - gives a rich free-blue patina colour. Both bowls have been given a light coat of varnish.

I'd be interested in folk's opinions as to which they like as I will be doing another four bowls in the coming weeks.

As you can see from the photo below I have finished adding rusty bits to the two small (80-90cm tall) posts I was making by repurposing the timber from a bench seat I had made and that had been in use for 3-4 years.

Fiona and I will install these posts in our garden in a couple of weeks.

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.

Restoration and preparation

 

The photo above shows my electric furnace heated to 650 degrees - inside of the heating chamber.

A few days ago one of my graphite crucibles ruptured during a metal melt - see photo of the base of the ruptured crucible below. 

Unfortunately the hot metal just disappeared - I was not sure where it had gone and the furnace was too hot to deal with. So I just turned it all off and walked away.

This morning I investigated the furnace and found the metal had cooled into a blob at the base of the heating chamber - see photo below. However it could not be removed because the ceramic rim was quite a bit smaller in diameter than the base of the heating chamber.

Short restoration version - I managed to unscrew the metal frame holding the ceramic rim, removed the rim itself and was able to remove the metal blob (photo below) and put the furnace back together - photo below.

I tested the furnace with a replacement crucible and poured a few stars - below.

I gave the metal blob a grind - see below - grey and shiny and interesting texture . Not quite sure what I will do with this metal form.

I also cut salvaged silver plates placemats in preparation for making olive ladles and a few cone shaped bowls.

Good to be back in the shed using the tools. 

Birds, bowl and ampersand

 

As you can see from the opening photo I have finally finished the three comfort birds I started some weeks ago. They are so individual in terms of timber and shapes. Size and shape is often determined by the variation in the sawing, whittling sanding processes. For me the important thing is how they finally feel in the hand - and these three feel different but good. Some process photos follow. The birds are oiled with Lemon Myrtle eco oil.

A person wanted to purchase one of my larger (about 110mm in diameter) Starburst Bowls to hold some simple metal stamped daily words. Though the bowl could rest on its side and hold the words I thought a simple stand made out of a piece of 50mm in diameter copper tube would offer an alternate way of holding the words. The bowl and stand are shown in the photo below - I like the look. It is now packed and ready to be posted to its new home on Monday.

As part of our art studio garage sale I sold most of the silicone moulds I used for casting cement pieces. Of course one of the moulds we couldn't leave go was that used for casting ampersands. I decided to buy a small amount of two-pack resin and do a test cast of a resin ampersand. As you can see from the photo below it is looking good at this stage. It is slow curing resin so won't be dry for 24 hours.

There are days when doing a bit of this and that reminds one of the joy of unstructured creating.

Back to basics

 

Over the weekend I got back into metal work. This blog is about a couple of basic vessels - bowls - photos above and below. The bigger bowl is 13.5cm in diameter and about 4.5cm deep; and the smaller one is 12.5cm in diameter and 3.5 cm deep.

Following are a few process photos including metal marking and cutting, planishing the smaller bowl on a metal stake, the completed but unpolished smaller bowl and the polished smaller bowl.

The bowls will make their way into DEP gallery-shop. It is a good feeling to be hammering and forming metal. I also cut quite a bit of metal for leaf-spoons, tea caddy spoons; and melted offcuts and poured hulls for small boats - but that is all for another blog.

Patinated copper bowl on post

 

I have completed the last element of the rusted large three leaf sculptural work. The whole work is made up of three large (1.4m to 1.8m) rusted Corten steel leaf forms to be attached to a slat wall and a large hand formed copper bowl on a 20cm square post with routed and inked line.

The opening photo shows the patinated bowl and top section of the routed and inked post; and the last photo shows the whole post and bowl.

Following are some bowl forming photos. To get a smoother finish I used the metal stake as a hammer and hammered onto the anvil from the inside - rocking the bowl back and forth.

I washed the bowl and then applied a patina solution - really a diluted acid. The bowl has been given a light coat of matt varnish to stop the patination process.

A meandering line was routed on to the post and inked with black Japanese ink. Do you like my ink pot - a silver-plated pepper dish in a former life.

The finished piece stands strong.

I think the combination of the rusted leaf forms and patinated bowl will look special.