Rustnstuff: Spoons and ladles

Showing posts with label Spoons and ladles. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Something old, something new and a giveaway

I have been working flat out over the weekend making stock for Maleny Additions after I was informed they were running out of ladles; and would also like something new in the leaf line to add to stock for December.

And I'm having a small giveaway to celebrate the fact that I have passed 1000 posts - see the bottom of this post.

But first the ladles. Beautiful handles and bowl forms - a new shape for ladles - quite a conical bowl for some.

In the end I had 14 ladles - a couple with a small flaw.

I got Fiona to help with the selection of seven to go to Maleny Additions - tagged with Fiona's calligraphic tags - lucky me.

Six of the remaining seven will go into the studio-gallery for the open studio event on Friday and Saturday (4&5 Dec). And one will go into our cutlery draw - the one at the extreme right-top.

I also made 9 Leaf Pate Knives - Fiona selected 7 - and they were tagged.

I made a start on some Leafspoons but did not finish them - something for later this week.

And about the giveaway - I will post one of the small peace doves that have hung on our 'peace' at the front of the block but have fluttered to earth to three folk who leave a comment on this blog.

I will draw the name of the 'winner' out of the Tibetan singing bowl next Sunday; and post the names on the post next Sunday.

Well that wraps up a busy weekend.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Off to market - ladles, leaf spoons and wedding cake knife

Over the weekend we did more riveting on the award books - but I did get time to finish off the bits that are heading off to Maleny Additions. Seems like I will continue to makes Leafspoons and Ladles for some time to come - still a demand out there.

Few photos of the finished bits are below.

I finished one of the wedding cake knives - I think it has turned out well. The blade is about 23.5cm long. Eight rivets attach the handle to the blade. The ornate blade has a slight fold to give it rigidity; and it is quite sharp even though it is copper.

The Leafspoons, Ladles and knife will be on the market in Maleny Additions tomorrow. A successful weekend.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Back to ladles

I have had a couple of requests for ladles - so as part of my bowl hammering over the weekend I started work on 4 ladles.

But in the end there were three as I found a very small hole in one of the bowls after I finished polishing them. I gave it away to one of the people doing some work on our bathroom - can't have a leaky ladle!!! Below is how the three remaining ladles turned out.

I think that these three will give some choice.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Grabbing time

Sometimes it is not so easy to grab time in the garage-studio to create. So when there are only small stretches of time available I try to use it to progress work that I have on the go. This week it meant progressing the Ladles (not ladies VA) that are to go into Maleny Additions store.

Yesterday I managed to get enough time to attach (rivet) handles to four ladles; and polish them. The handles on these four ladles were rescued from some of the trays I bought back from Tasmania. All the bowls of the ladles are made from recycled silver plated copper or EPNS cut from discarded serving trays.

I'm a bit fond of the wee ladles - they cry out for: serving chocolate sauce; or serving olives; or ladling balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

And I have five other handles ready to go - shaped, drilled and polished - four are formed from brass rod and one from a tray handle.

I hope to finish the stash of ladles and get them into Maleny Additions early next week.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Shiny - bowls for ladles

I need to supply another stash of small-medium handmade ladles to Maleny Additions. The process always starts with making small bowls - most are shallow; but ones for sauces and chocolate are smaller and deeper. The widest bowl in diameter is about 9cm; and the smallest is about 2.5cm.

Often I cut a stash of bowl bits as part of a metal cutting morning. All the ladles are made from recycled metal - in the main silver plated EPNS or copper.

Then the bowls are given up to four more rounds of hammering (with wood mallets and iron hammers) - both inside and out. The final hammering on the outside gives the textured, patterned or faceted look.

And the after grinding the edges, the bowls are given a couple polishes inside and out.

They now rest on the bench awaiting handles to be made and then riveted to the bowls - but that is for another time in the garage-studio.

Friday, November 15, 2013

The beauty of metal

Over the last couple of weeks I have been back into hammering metal big time - well small pieces but a lot of them.

Yesterday I delivered another bunch of ladles to Maleny Additions in the main street of Maleny - they sell my ladles and leaf spoons. As hand crafted gifts they appear to be in demand. All the ladles and leaf spoons are made from recycled silver plate over EPNS or copper. Handles are made from recycled wire, old soldering irons and new brass rod (have not been able to source much brass rod to recycle yet).

One of the ladles did not make it out of the house as Fiona said it was about time we had one of my ladles; and she was keen on the one below.

Some closer photos of the other ladles that did make it to Maleny Additions follow.

And a few photos of some bowls in the rough or in progress. As you can see from the photo I tend to progress bowls in groups - efficient but a little hard on the forearm and wrist.

More hammering to be done to finish the bowls off; and then polishing of course.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Sidetracked on Saturday and Sunday

I had a few things on my list for the weekend including finishing the piece for the COMA food festival exhibition. But I also wanted to repaint the front steps and the entry decking. A few small jobs that offered balance and diversity.

However in the process of finishing the 'condiment' bowls (bit more beating, trimming and re-polishing) a couple of other bits of metal whispered to me - a couple of silver-plated goblets I had cut down and some 6 gauge (about 3mm thick) copper wire I had bought in NYC. The section of the goblet was re-beaten into a small bowl; and the copper wire became the handle (see below) of another ladle. But more on that later.

As you can see from the photo below I made a small shelf from a camphor laurel slab and attached it to the 12X12inch canvas I had painted black. I made small indentations in the timber for the bowls to sit in; and cut a hole in the canvas to hold the fourth bowl. I might add a few pepper seeds to give the impression they are spilling out of the bowl imbedded in the canvas. The bowl will need to be tilted a bit more - it is only held in with blutack so it can be moved around.

Back to the ladle. This one is finer and more finished than earlier examples. I hammer hardened the copper shaft of the handle on the anvil - it has some lovely beaten marks on it. The bowl for the ladle is beaten in a textured hammered pattern on the outside but it results in lively texture inside where it has been beaten on the panel beater's form. The bowl is attached to the handle with three small copper rivets made from 1/16inch thick copper nails. The ladle bowl is about 7.5cm wide and 1.5 cm deep. The handle is about 20cm long.

When I measured the length of the handle I found I needed to cut off about 7cm of the copper wire. So as not to waste it I thought I would see if I could make a small salt spoon from the off cut. I think it worked out ok. The little spoon handle is about 5.5cm long; the spoon bowl is about 1.5cm long and 1cm wide.