Sometimes mistakes offer opportunities. Recently I was cold-forming a leaf-form from silver-plated copper from a recycled small tray. I thought the metal was 'soft' enough to fold and unfold - wrong - it split after the forming process as I opened it. So I thought what could I do with two half leaf-forms? Well I decided to beat them around a rod and created these neat spiral cylinder earrings which are about 75mm long.
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| ©2012 Barry Smith - Spiral cylinder earrings |
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| ©2012 Barry Smith - Spiral cylinder earrings |
Fiona said they reminded her of the curled bark that we see on the side of the road on our walks along Treehaven Way. The bark comes from a particular Eucalyptus tree. The bark often has marks on it from both growth and insects.
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| ©2012 Barry Smith - A cylinder of bark |
So now I think I have a new nature inspired form - the bark-spiral.
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| ©2012 Barry Smith - Spiral cylinders in the rough |
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| ©2012 Barry Smith - Spiral cylinders in the rough |
The pair of spiral above were made from slier-plate over brass - former life a champagne goblet. And as in nature no two spirals are exactly the same. Fiona took the photos - she thought these rough spiral cylinders reminded her of nibs - could appeal to calligraphers? The pieces above still need trimming and polishing etc.
