Rustnstuff

Friday, July 12, 2013

Calling for donations of Peace Leaves

In our busy world and lives it is not always easy to stop and be conscious of peace in our daily lives and the global village. International Day of Peace (IDoP) on 21 September tends to focus our minds a bit - at least for a day a year.

As part of the recognition of IDoP 2013 I plan to construct a Peace Tree that will be on display for about a week or more at the front of our block (which is on a tourist scenic drive) so that it might attract a bit of interest; and in addition to the Flags for Peace it might create a little more peace consciousness.

The plan is that I will make a wire tree form about 2-3m high similar to the smaller one (1.6m high) in the photo below; and I will adorn it with up to 1000 peace leaves in autumn colours.

Why autumn colours? Because the reds, organise, yellows, golds, silver etc stand out against the green background; and because autumn is before spring - just as consciousness of peace comes before peace ways of acting and living. Why 1000 leaves? It just reminds me of the the story of Sadako Sasaki and her 1000 peace cranes; and because it will take effort.

I intend to create as many anodised aluminium leaves as I can between now and 13 September. Each leaf will be stamped with the word peace (as in the photos below); or some small peace saying or wish.

But I know I will need a bit of help to create 1000 peace leaves. So if you want to donate a leaf or more to the peace spirit of the tree you could send me a leaf or two or more to PO Box 102 Maleny Queensland Australia 4552. The leaf would need to arrive by 13 Sept as I will attached the leaves from 14 September onwards.

The leaves can be in any medium (card board, stiff fabric, metal ceramic). I would request that the leaves be: in autumn colours; 4-6 inches (10cm-15cm) long; with the word peace or a peace wish incorporated into the leaf; and if possible a hole in the top end stringing and attaching to the tree branches in a similar fashion to the small Christmas tree (below) I did last year.

So if you want to donate a leaf or more than one (even heaps) there is about 6 weeks to create and send. The leaves will be exposed to the elements for a week or more leading up to International Day of Peace and beyond. I have used the term donate deliberately as I can't see my way to returning the leaf forms after the installation. I will blog etc on the tree and give recognition to those who donate a leaf for peace.

Peace.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The moody valley and fungi

Being Wednesday it is not unusual for me to share a few photos of my walk, the valley or on the block. And in fact in this post some of each.

The valley has offered some unusual sights: mini rainbows hanging like lights across the valley; cloud pouring off the mountain like steam from a volcano; and sun reflecting off the windows of Brisbane CBD buildings at sunrise.

And when I walked in near dark a week ago I was rewarded with a brilliant violet early morning light.

When I was tidying up around the shed (aka studio-gallery) I noticed quite a number of fungi so I asked Fiona (who had clean hands and the camera) to take a few photos of these wee gems.

©Fiona Dempster - Fungi on book-stack

©Fiona Dempster - Fungi on log by the water tank

©Fiona Dempster - Fungi on log in the wood pile

I can only say nature offers so much; and seems to invite us to share. My photos were taken with the iPhone; whereas Fiona's were taken with the Canon camera.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Thanks for a good weekend

At the end of the the day it is people who make things good. Fiona and I are a bit weary after two full on days of open studio - but good and happy weary thanks to the beautiful people who shared our studio with us.

We had just over 80 visitors - all adults - some established friends and fellow artists and some new folk. All these people interested in the details of what we do, how we do it and wanted to see the odd bit of a demonstration. With the number of visitors we could stop and spend time with most people - a few times it got a bit crowded and hectic and so we could not spend as much time with some folk.

So the thanks goes to those who wished us well, promoted the event and those who took the time to visit.

Below are a few photos of the work bench and odds and ends at the end of the day.

And a big thanks for the support we were given by people who bought our art works. Now to spend a few moments catching my breath with a single malt over ice to aid recovery.

Friday, July 5, 2013

A peek at the Open Studio set up for this weekend

On Saturday and Sunday (6-7 July) our studio-gallery (601mvr) is open to the public from 10am to 4pm each day - and I think we are ready. Not only do we have things to show and talk to people about; but we have also given the studio-gallery a bit of a tidy and clean - you can see the view through glistening windows.

I thought I would share a few photos of what people might see as they walk down the driveway; around the studio-gallery; and inside.

So there you have it - all we need is people to join us. Can't worry about that - off to make pizzas and have a glass of red - all is well.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Daily Words off to Italy

Today has been a bit manic - fixing signs, moving sculptures and trimming hedges etc as part of the preparation for our open studios on the weekend.

But amidst this I have made a couple of sets of Daily Words for a friend (partly done yesterday and finished today). I love it when folk ask for a set of Daily Words (bowl and 7 stamped words) but want to personalise it a little - in this case choose the words and have them in Italian. The Daily Words set will be taken to Italy in the next couple of weeks as a gift.

I'm not sure if this happens to you but - in the effort of making one set of Daily Words I made two so the friend could have a choice; and because I was making bowls I made a couple of small punched bowls as well since I was cutting up silver-plated EPNS; and because I was stamping Italian words I stamped a few more to be given away in Italy; and because there were small pieces of metal floating on the bench I made a couple of simple forms for earrings - creation just has a mind of its own.

The shallow Daily Words bowls and deeper punched bowls are shown below. Daily Words bowls tend to be about 9-10cm in diameter.

Italian daily words.

Couple of earring forms (drops) - long rectangular pieces are 7.5cm long.

All part of good creative day.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

A bit of finding and forming

The weekend has in the main been given over to tasks on the block and preparation-planning for our open studio next weekend; and working on a mock-up for a possible commission.

I did get to finish off some earrings and pendants that I have been working on - including the couple of pairs of micro leaf-form earrings below.

And a few more pairs of Steampunk influenced earrings; and a pendant.

I got to put the chains on some peace pendants.

So a bit of building up of the stock in the studio-gallery sale cases - looking pretty good at this stage.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Metal mayhem

Over the last week I have been into metal in a big way.

Last Friday I flew from Melbourne to Launceston on a very cheap airfare to buy a suitcase full of silver-plated EPNS to add to the metal bank in preparation for a possible commission Fiona and I could be collaborating on. Unpacking the small carry-on suitcase revealed that I had purchased 25 trays a three smaller butter dishes. Quite a stash as you can see from the photo below. I'm not sure how I managed to pack them all into the case (a Tardis suitcase?).

Today I started cutting up some of the trays into small notebook size 'pages' (8X12cm). The first photo shows the carnage caused on the cutting floor when I get to trays with the cutting blade in my angle grinder. Could be some found earrings amongst the offcuts? And the second photo shows a few 'pages' trimmed, hammered and polished.

And I have been stamping, grinding and polishing a heap of Daily Words words and Inspiration in your Pocket words in preparation for our open studio on 6-7 July. Yesterday and today I managed to finish the grinding and polishing of the words.

The great thing about the Daily Words words and Inspiration in you Pocket words is that they give me the opportunity to use those off cuts you can see in the second photo in this post.