A successful couple of days

 

It is hard to believe that the two days of the Pop Up Art Show in the Armadale Village Hall on Saturday and Sunday have come and gone. The opening photo shows the village hall and one of our bright coloured signs - we had a couple more down on the main road as well.

We enjoyed having over 60 visitors - some older friends, some new acquaintances and some folks just passing by. Lots of yarns about Fiona's and my work were had; exchanges of ideas about art; and quite a lot of our work went to new homes.

Whilst we are visitors to the area it is grand that our art and ourselves are made to feel welcome.

Some random photos of the art show set up follow.

It is always a challenge to set up the work in the big hall space on flodup tables; but it does give folk the chance to walk around and not feel crowded.

Though the art show was only over two days a lot of time and effort went into making the work, promotion, set up and clean up. Still it is a grand feeling that Fiona and I are able to share our art with our highland community.

Garden bench seat

 

As you can see I finished the garden bench seat today. The seat is to sit along the pathway beside the communal orchard that is under development.

The main feature of the bench is a salvaged slab of eucalyptus. As you can see from the photo below I had to put in a plate under the slab to stop it splitting any further and trim the split and splintering end off.

The slab had been milled a bit roughly so I needed to spend quite some time sanding down ridges etc. But in the end it was worth it as the sanding and a coat of timber oil really highlighted the grain as can be seen in the opening and closing photos.

The legs and cross beam were made from salvaged cyprus pine timber and all looked a bit rough and a number of cut ends were on show. In the end I decided to paint the legs and cross beam to protect and integrate them better.

The bench is now ready for installation - maybe on Sunday weather permitting.

A few things on the go

 

Over the weekend I was doing bits and pieces of work on four different projects. In this blog post I will share just two of those: a pearl shell pendant commission; and a bench seat for the new orchard garden and path in our village.

From the fairly fragile pearl shell I was given to work on I managed to cut out two 4.5 cm round pendants - as you can see above - with jump rings and cord. The pearl shell had a family-sentimental link - so I nervous about shattering it.

A few process-progress photos follow. Cutting out the pendant disks with a 4.5cm tube diamond drill was a bit nerve wracking; as was drilling the jump ring holes in with a 2mm diamond bit.

Both pendants were given a grind and then polished with a very fine jewellery polish on my polishing wheel. The two pendants will go to their new owner in the next day or two.

I had been gifted a 1.65m long by 40cm wide by 60mm thick plank of eucalyptus. After a short discussion with the person gifting the plank it was decided I make a bench seat that could sit adjacent to the path on the top side of a newly established community orchard in our village. Folk walking the orchard path will be able to pause and just draw in the beauty of the orchard as it matures. I drew up the following diagram for the seat - it is to use not only the gifted plank but also salvaged timbers from my stash.

Over the weekend I cut up all the shorter components for the seat with a hand saw.

Early next I will more batten screws of differing lengths I will assemble the bench. 

All but completed

 

The traditional fishing boat being built by volunteers in partnership with the Strathnaver Museum is all but complete - see above. Fiona and I visited the building workshop (poly tunnel - Borgie) twelve months ago when it was in its early stages. The floor, painting and or making were in progress this morning. The volunteers are aiming to launch the boat on 28 September; and Fiona and I plan to be at the launching event.

The boat is based on the traditional shape, building techniques and structure of the boat displayed in the SNM Annex.

The boat is painted white as you can see from the photo below; but the poly tunnel cladding makes it look pale green.

The shape of the boat is gorgeous as you can see from the photos in this blog.

A few other progress-production photos follow.

This has been a truly amazing feat by the volunteers; and what a gorgeous gift to the community and the story of the local fishing industry.

The big cleanup

 

As part of our ongoing tradition, Fiona and I have been doing a bit of sorting, gifting and disposing of stuff as part of the end-beginning of year. We have been in our current home for just over two years now so we felt it was time to review what we had in my work shed and stored downstairs in the store room. We thought we might have a small garage sale.

We had talked to a few folk in our village and the resident's committee decided that we would have a village wide garage sale; and also order in a largish skip bin to dispose of rubbish.

I did no art work over the last few days as our time was given over to: transporting goods including stuff from my and other folk's work spaces as seen in the ute in the first photo; sorting; categorising; pricing; making signs; putting signs out; taking signs in  etc etc.

As a combined group we had a pretty huge array of and quantity of stuff. A few photos follow that don't do justice to the range and quantity. As well as the indoor space shown in the final photo we had two large outdoor display areas as well - big!!!!

We failed to take photos of the selling frenzy and post sale clean up; but suffice to say the outcome of a few days work was very good including a ute load taken to the local resource centre. Funds raised will go to improving the village community centre amenities and functioning.

This week I will oversee the collection of stuff for the skip; and the packing of the bin to maximise its capacity. In all of that Fiona and I did achieve our goal of moving stuff on that we were no longer using or in love with.

All but ready

 

I received a message that said the group behind the development of the community grief garden-journey of life garden want to install 5 posts and the 'rest, reflect, renew' bench seat next week. That means I needed to have the bench seat finished this weekend. Yesterday afternoon was dedicated to glueing and screwing the bits together as you can see from the photos below.

Today was all about routing the words "rest - reflect - renew" into the front edge of the bench. I got up to the stage of inking the routed words as you can see in the opening photo. A light sand tomorrow to get rid of excess ink stain and the seat is ready for pick up and installation.

Fiona prepared a template of the words for me to copy onto the timber and then rout. Photos of the words, carbon paper etc follow.

And then it was on to the routing - not a professional job - still I think the slightly freehand  look might add to the experience of those using the seat. Pretty cute ink pot???

All a bit of a rush but we are getting there.

Pause and remember bench seat

Over the last couple of days I have completed the cutting, sanding and oiling timber for a bench seat that might go into a grief garden - if the garden gets approval from the local authorities. The photo above is Fiona testing the bench for height in her sartorial yard splendour.

Yesterday I cut the supports in three graduated lengths to give a stepped look; but Fiona and I felt that it detracted from the simplicity of the bench. So today I recut the supports to the width of the seat. I think it is a better look.

A few process photos follow. The timber is very hard and heavy hard wood - first life as fence posts for a horse property - hence the holes etc in the timber. The cut ends of the timber have been sealed with timber wax.

While I had the sander on the go I gave the base for my negative space leaf sculpture a sand and oil - really brought out the grain.

If the bench seat eventually goes into the garden I will need to bolt it together and cement it into the ground. It will be raised about 50mm on a cement base. And Fiona and I will rout the words pause and remember on the front edge of the seat.