Rustnstuff: Personal shrines

Showing posts with label Personal shrines. Show all posts

Friday, January 24, 2014

Time for a shrine

I read Robyn's blog post and it just confirmed the importance of creating our own small sacred or quiet places or spaces in our lives, home, garden or studio. I knew that I would only have a few hours in the studio-garage this morning as Fiona and I had a lunch engagement and then this afternoon were heading up to Noosa to support Kim Shoenberger in the opening of her exhibition Expressions of Love 2.

©Barry Smith - Centre detail from personal shrine - Radiating

Inspired by Robyn's post I decided to make a small personal shrine; which I managed to complete before heading off for our lunch engagement. Some of the components before heading to the grinding and polishing station are in the photo below.

The finished shrine - I call it Radiating - radiating peace, calmness and stillness. The section of the design I cut out of an old stainless steel serving tray has a radiating pattern; moving out from a centre design. I have used part of a small pocket watch as the centre feature to represent the moon - radiating calm energy. Brass and copper nails are used to provide highlights and to attach the stainless steel sheet to a plywood backing.

The shrine is completed by adding a small hammered silver plated EPNS bowl; a bowl holder made from the ring handle of a tray; an incense holder made from a slice of brass window winder; and a silver plated EPNS peace leaf (which I had made earlier).

This small shrine is free standing. It can sit on a table, window ledge or she nook in the studio. It is about 18cm high and 12cm wide. Still needs a bit of finishing - painting edges and final polish.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Circular Personal Shrine

I have completed a circular Personal Shrine. I was asked to make it with a moon and stars theme to it.

My Personal Shrines differ from the Travellers' Shrines in that the former are used to create a personal and sacred or quiet space in a home; whereas the Travellers's Shrines are able to be taken on journeys. The shrine is about 32cm in diameter and the shelf about 10cm wide.

This shrine started its life as: a couple of large serving trays; the lid of a food bowl; cogs from old clock; large brass and copper tacks; and a scrap of 10mm thick marine ply.

These all come together in a shiny way to form the shrine.

Of course as a shrine it also gets an offering bowl and an inspiration leaf (peace).

This Personal Shrine is now ready for a new home; and to create a sacred-quiet space.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Return to Travellers' Shrines

A good Friday - couple of community meetings; planted some veggies; and got to do a solid afternoon of art.

Last time I blogged on the Travellers' Shrines I was doing for the Peace and Stillness exhibition I was asked if I had more available or was I going to make more. Well the answer is yes; and today was the day. I started 4 shrines today; and finished two to the pre-polishing stage. Why 4 shrines? They are a bit tricky to make as one is making metal boxes and fitting one metal box within another - I'm never convinced that they will always be of good enough quality to sell to folk - even though I personally like the simple handmade hammered nature of all of them.

Anyway, a few photos of the process are below. The photos are a bit blurred as I took them hurriedly with the iPhone.

Marking up the metal....

Shapes of the lids cut, drilled and ready for filing, bending and riveting..

A couple of the shrines are completed to pre-polishing stage - and of course I need to make the bits and pieces that are carried in the shrines. This time I'm making a couple of small rectangular shrines - dictated by the available metal. These rectangular Travellers' Shrines are a little bigger than a match box (about 7cm long, 5cm wide and 1.5cm deep) - almost pocket size - certainly handbag size.

And of course they started life as trays etc.

Fiona is cooking up a Friday dinner that will be accompanied by a red so I must away.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Setting up Peace and Stillness Exhibition

Much of today was given over to packing the car; travelling down to and back from Rosebed Street Gallery in Eudlo; and setting up Fiona and my joint exhibition - Paths to Peace and Stillness.

We were happy with the outcome - we are in a quiet white room and our works complement each other and make quiet statements about peace and stillness.

The few random photos below were hurriedly taken with the iPhone and don't do justice to the body of work or how it is set out in the room - but they at least show the works are on walls and plinths.

It was a big weight off our minds and hands given the works have been delivered - sigh of relief!!! The exhibition will softly open on Friday 23 August; and will officially open (more boisterously with 'musos' and bubbles) at 7pm on Friday 30 August. The exhibition will remain open until 6 October.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Travellers' Shrines

Over the weekend I completed my last pieces of work for our upcoming exhibition by making a few Travellers' Shrines. There is still a lot of tidying, polishing and adding hangers to various exhibition pieces - but the body of work is done

Quite a long while ago I made a prototype of such a portable shrine but never got around to making any more. But given the theme of exhibition I was inspired to make a few more. The ones I have made are in the style of much simpler box type Tibetan travellers 'shrines' such as those in the photo below.

My shrines are square (about 8cm square and 2.5cm deep). They have a brass lidless box that slides into the silved-plated EPNS lid; and the brass box is lined with felt. The lids have folds and rivets on the four corners. In the end I will only put two into the exhibition as the third shrine just did not come together well enough to be exhibited and sold.

As you can see from the photos above and below each of my Travellers's Shrine will include: a small hammered EPNS bowl (about 40mm in diameter); an incense holder made from a goblet stem; a small stamped EPNS Peace Leaf (about 70mm long); a small bundle of Japanese incense; and a yet to be added silk cloth.

I imagine that people who would buy such a Travellers' Shrine would add their own 'sacred' pieces including: written sayings; crystals; amulets etc.

These are meant to be personal pieces that have history and sacredness added to them over time.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Shiny shrines

The creation of pieces for the Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition rolls on. On my list I had 7 Personal Shrines to be made. I had made 5 so 2 to go. I have found some time during the week to start the process and had all but finished them - today I put the finishing touches to not 2 but rather 3 very shiny shrines including their peace and stillness leaf forms.

The 3 shrines below have been made from large flat polished chrome plated and stainless steel serving trays. The interesting 'decorative' bits are from pushbike gear hubs (known as gear cassettes) made from very very hard stainless steel. The brass pieces come from old clocks; and copper and brass tacks and nails come from the hardware store in Tatebayashi in Japan.

Each of the larger shrines is 200mm wide x 300mm high with a self about 90mm wide. These shrines can hang on a wall. The small shrine is 200mm high x 150mm wide with a shelf of about 80mm wide. The small shrines can free stand on a ledge of shelf.

I'm not quite sure what to call these shrines but the cogs give me a sense that they speak of the wheel of time in our lives.

I have decided that each shrine will have a silver-plated EPNS giving or incense bowl and a peace-stillness silver-plated EPNS leaf included as part of the shrine.

Below is a photo of my box of old bike gears - gift from Ben and Bec - Ben is into bike racing.

It is Friday evening and just on 6pm so that must be time for a glass of wine I think I hear you suggest.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Pushing metal too far

Over the weekend I have continued my making of pieces and products for our Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition in late August-September.

I have been using some of the offcuts from all the silver-plated EPNS trays I cut up to get the pages for our commission.

But as you can see from the photo below sometimes the recycled metal has been stressed quite a lot in its first incarnation; so taking the curves out of a tray and putting new ones in to form a bowl sometimes just takes the metal too far; and you end up with cracks as you can see in the photo.

©Barry Smith - Fractured metal

And when one goes to extremes and tries to punch some of that curved metal into a tight half a sphere it also over stretches and rips the metal as you can see on the right hand side of the sphere below.

©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)

©Barry Smith - Roughly hammered and polished metal sphere (about 3.5cm in diameter)

The sphere making was influenced by the moon shots earlier in the week. I thought the unpolished sphere with lots of solder splatter looks quite moonlike. It has come up ok with a polish. The sphere was a bit of a side experiment as break away from production - bit rough but it has potential.

Below are the stash of Daily Word bowls - hammered but not polished. The cracked bowl is in the centre. I will still polish it as I think it has some appeal with its fracture lines.

And I did manage to make another circular Personal Shrine - again based on my moon and star theme.

The personal shrine is quite small - about 200mm in diameter - formerly the rack or stand to hold 8 plate coasters. I think the smallness makes it even more personal or intimate.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Sun, Moon & Stars - a personal shrine

There is no doubt that some folk like things that are round - so it goes without saying that at least one of the personal shrines for our peace and stillness exhibition had to be round.

And as generosity would have it Fiona's mum and dad gifted a round silver-plated brass drink serving tray they bought from an op-shop. As you can see from the photo below I have teamed that tray up with: a small silver-plated EPNS round tray with a fancy edge; the centre of a brass mini gong I made for a COMA exhibition; a slice of anther rectangular silver-plated EPNS serving tray; some clock cogs; copper rivets and brass nails from the hardware store in Tatebayashi (Japan); and some scrap 12mm multiply.

And from this the shrine I have called Sun, Moon and Stars has been created. The photos were a bit rushed - I will take better ones when all is complete. The main circular piece of silver-plate is about 280-300mm in diameter.

There is still a bit more tidying up to be done; and I need to find the right hanging point/s given that the weight is on the lefthand side because I have offset the small silver-plated tray and the brass centre of the gong. The offset tray etc cover the inscription on the centre of the larger tray. I am pleased how this has worked out.

Friday, June 14, 2013

A little art on Friday

Today has been a very busy community work day - so I didn't get into the garage-studio until mid afternoon. Yesterday afternoon I had started another personal shrine for the Peace and Stillness exhibition; and I got to finish it today as the light of day faded.

As you can see from the photo above this shrine has a bit of a Christian focus. The cross came from an old iron cross that was given to me with a couple of candlesticks - someone possibly had used it as part of a spiritual shrine in their home in the past.

I think the ornate silver-plated EPNS border (that was cut from an old serving tray) gives the shrine iconic feel. No matter what our spirituality might be we can pause at different times of the day and seek peace and stillness. The timber is Camphor Laurel. The shrine is about 250mm high and 200mm wide. It can be hung on the wall or can sit on a bench, a niche or a ledge in the house.

The recycled metal for shelf part of the shrine had a inscription to a recipient some 26 years ago. I have ground the inscription back somewhat and 'repurposed' the metal by over stamping it with the words Peace and Stillness.

And just in case you missed the information - as part of the relaunch of my online shop and some ongoing glitches I'm offering 15% off all items and a flat $10 pack and post to anywhere in the world until 30 June. You will find some funky found earrings in the shop and some gorgeous raised bowls as well as reflective light catchers.

Time for a wine I hear you say - and I couldn't agree more.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Personal Shrines

It is quite a long time since I made a series of personal shrines. In fact it is almost two years ago - I really find that hard to believe myself but the post on a shrine celebrating the moon is proof.

As I did some two years ago I stop and ask myself - what are the personal shrines about? Well to tell the truth they are a small reflection of our own life. In our house we have a corner where we have a few candles, a bowl of words and an incense holder. It is the place where each morning we pause, have a juice, look out over the valley, choose a word to start out day. It is a quiet spot to give a start and focus to the day. In making the personal shrines I guess I am making pieces that can become the personal quiet spot for folk in their home - to start and/or end their day.

The thing about personal shrines is that what I offer is the beginning. People who purchase the shrines take them and personalise them. Folk will add crystals, icons, words, photos etc - whatever is the focus of peace and stillness in their life.

The two small shrines below reflect the themes of our upcoming exhibition - peace and stillness.

These shrines are made from leather bound wood covers from a very old but damaged book. They can hang but given that they are about 220-250mm high and the brass shelf is very rigid they can stand nicely on a niche or corner in a home. The two back boards have brass or EPNS decorative bits cut from an old tissue box holder and EPNS tray respectively.

Each of my personal shrines will have a small offering bowl held aloft on a brass ring. The bowls will be made from EPNS drink coasters and the brass rings are cut from an old 'yabbie' bait pump. Each shrine will also have a small EPNS leaf with the word peace or stillness stamped into it. The offering bowl can also be used for incense. Both shrines need a few finishing touches.

Home made pizzas and red wine call so I must respond.

Rustnstuff

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