Peace bell in a rainforest

 

A number of people have asked what has happened to our Japanese peace bell that hung at our house and was gonged for people, events (joyful and sad) and anniversaries.

Our friends Sue and Steve have become the caretakers of the bell. We ceremoniously farewelled the bell from 601 and it was moved to our friends house in a small rainforest on the range. The photos below show the removal of the bell.

Sue and Steve commissioned the building of a beautiful new tori-like structure - they then created a zen like gavel and rock setting for the tori and bell - below. When gonging the bell one looks out into the rainforest and sends vibes through the forest.

Fiona and I attended Sue and Steve's place where we all gonged the bell for peace and other matters in its new setting to establish it in its new setting.

The bell will still be gonged for people, events and occasions. In fact we visited the bell to gong it on ANZAC Day and Hiroshima Day for peace; and asked Sue and Steve to gong it on the anniversary of Jane's death.

The spirit and message of the bell continues.

Heavy metal of the brass variety

©2017 Barry Smith - Brass hose nozzle as centrepiece of the Avian Font

When I chose the base of a very old and large jardiniere for the metal for bowl of the Avian Font I thought I'd be hammering a circle of metal about 1mm thick. As it turned out it was closer to 2mm thick; and 37cm in diameter.  This is the thickest piece of brass I have hammered into a bowl shape. It took a few hours of heavy hammering from beginning to end. Heavy metal work indeed.

©2017 Barry Smith - Using my largest copper hammer to flatten and turn the edges on the anvil on the floor

©2017 Barry Smith - My Japanese metal working hammer was used on the reverse side of the metal to begin the process of raising the bowl on a metal stake

©2017 Barry Smith - Getting there after a few rounds of hammering on the stake and anvil

©2017 Barry Smith - Looking good - I could have spent a couple more hours hammer to get a smoother finish; but In fact I wanted the textured and hammered look - the bowl is about 37cm across and 7.5cm deep. Flattened section ready for cutting the hole for the stand.

After cutting the hole in the centre to attach the stand I cleaned the bowl and added a patina solution. This resulted in quite a blue colour so I coated the patina with a UV resistant art varnish and sanded it back to allow some of the original brown and black patina and polished brass to show through.

©2017 Barry Smith - Patinated bowl after sanding back to reveal the old patina and brass highlights

©2017 Barry Smith - Close up of the patinated and sanded surface close to the centre of the bowl - nice bit of rust from the mild steel washer reacting to the patina solution.

To get a firm and leakproof attachment I needed to make some rubber and steel washers. This took about an hour as the holes were bigger than my metal punches. The steel washer took quite a bit of filing.

©2017 Barry Smith - So little to show for the time involved

The stand and base, including rubber washers, were then assembled and ready for the bowl and spray nozzle.

©2017 Barry Smith - Stand and base - the stand has a copper pipe inner  tube and a rusty garage spring out sleeve. The top of the stand includes a brass plumbing fittings, a brass tap body and a rusty cog with an inner brass tube which was then riveted to the stand;s inner copper tube.

And this is the finished product - looking gorgeous enough to attract a few birds.

©2017 Barry Smith - Font without water 

©2017 Barry Smith - Holding water - ready for the birds.

This Avian Font will be delivered to the new owner mid next week.

Keeping waterways clean - library installation

©2016 Barry Smith - From rubbish to statement art - the rubbish in the photos above were collected by Ananda Marga River School students, cut up into smaller pieces and set in the resin

This morning Fiona and I set up an installation of about 240 small resin art pieces. The installation is in a display cabinet in our local Maleny Library for the month of December. The pieces were produced at the Amanda Marga River School workshops by 120 students on 21 November.

The photos below show that the installation tells an interesting story about water and rubbish.

©2016 Barry Smith - Installation curator!!!

The pieces were first exhibited along with the prints and weather grams produced at the workshops. The workshops works were part of the international collaborative exhibition with the Japanese environmental artist Shimokawa Sensi. Photos below show some of the Tatebayashi Sister Cities delegation checking out the students' artwork.

It is grand that the environmental artwork of the students has had the chance to tell their environmental story a couple of times now.

Welcome to the mountain and images that remind one

We have arrived back on the 'mountain' after a packed ten days in Japan. Over the last ten days we had so many great experiences and shared so much with some wonderful people.

Today, after arriving home this morning, we have spent the day doing the mundane chores one does after a trip away; but we were reminded of the beauty of where we live by the stunning sunset tonight - such strong contrasts in the sky.

The following few images encapsulate some of the broad spectrum of beauty of the ten days - in random order.

There will be other trips to Japan to soak in other fragments and memories.

Catching light

The morning walks are now being taken with the the sunrise - very light. This morning I was taken with how the sunlight coming at an oblique angle was lighting small blossoms, leaves etc.

It was a bit early for this visitor to be on the wing which meant I was able to enjoy its presence without disturbing it.

We are off to Japans it could be a good omen that the new growth on our  Japanese maples is a deep red - catching the early morning light beautifully

It won't be too long before the summer light is waking us at about 4-4.30am.

Stemless solid silver saki drinking vessel

©2016 Barry Smith - Stemless solid silver saki vessel on its stand with rust

I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a stemless saki drinking vessel from a sheet of solid silver. This would mean committing quite a bit of new .5mm thick 925 silver to the project. I wanted the vessel to be stemless and yet have a stand as I wanted the drinking vessel to be very pure in its lines.

It was a while since I had hammered small bowls with straight sides from flat sheet so I practiced on some silver-plated EPNS before committing to the solid silver. The diameter of the drinking vessel circle of  metal was 70mm; and that for the stand was about 35mm.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Circles of silver

Making the stand was a bit of a challenge - quite a small piece of metal to hold and hammer on the stake.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Hammering the stand - that dark metal is actually annealed solid silver

But the combined outcome looks good in  front of the anvil.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Stemless vessel with stand - in the rough

©2016 Barry Smith  - The solid silver stand

And the test bowl, the drinking vessel and stand look pretty rough on the grinding-polishing bench.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Ready for grinding and polishing

As you can see the the drinking vessels looks reasonably small in my hand; but in reality it is 60mm in diameter and about 20-25mm deep.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Saki vessel in hand - I have deliberately left the edge with a hammered look

A couple more photos on stone; and with the vessel and stand separated.

©2016 Barry Smith  - Stemless drinking vessel on sandstone

©2016 Barry Smith  - Vessel and stand on rust

I think I proved to myself I can do this; and I think a fellow metal worker will appreciate the beauty and hand hammered nature of the vessel.