Rustnstuff

Friday, October 11, 2013

Almost but not quite

Why am I surprised that Fridays almost always turn out to be such varied and full days - but I still am - just hopeful or naive I guess. I intended to finish a Steampunk influenced magazine rack today - got sidetracked with Fiona for a few hours of sorting books for a 'garage sale' for her folk's church (proceeds to our neighbourhood centre); and later today worked with Fiona to help a friend assemble an etching press and drink bubbles and single malt for all our hard work.

But I digress - I did manage to get most of the magazine rack assembled. Yesterday I had cut metal and bent bike gears (lots of heat and hammering and a few pieces of shattered high tensile metal) so, as you can see from the photos below, today was about: cutting, sanding and oiling timber (Camphor Laurel); drilling components; polishing; and bolting it all together. Photos are a bit blurry as I took them with the iPhone as I went along.

I still need to do a top and bottom decorative plate - but this piece of functional art is looking pretty good - and it will be finished at some stage over the weekend.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A few prints

I did a list of things to do before heading overseas for a holiday at the end of November - maybe I should not have done that as it was a fairly extensive list - well it is a great motivator. It made me get stuck into printing for the Maleny Printmakers exhibition on 8-10 November.

I have made my 10 plates but now it is time to do my editioning - 10-12 copies (prints) of 10 prints.

I have started a series called Urban Elements - rusted metal and peeling layers of paint - I like where that series is going.

I have printed a couple of the aluminium plates that I did as part of the copper sulphate etching day.

And I printed my lino cut bowl that I did when we were on Heron Island.

Including a lino cut of a boat, I have now done 6 of my 10 editions - so feeling pretty happy about that given I have about 4 weeks to go.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Earrings with attitude

I grabbed a bit of time yersterday to finish some earrings I have been making on the side as I worked on other bigger works and tasks.

I have two groups of earrings: those that lean a little towards Steampunk; and those that have been found or discovered as part of the process of cutting up the recycled metal.

The ones that are Steampunkish have a bit of attitude in that the wearer is going to stand out a bit because of the length and/or uniqueness of the bits and pieces they are made from.

The found earrings are often simple classic light and beautiful pieces.

Some of these earrings will make their way into my online shop (which I have neglected a bit lately); and others will go into a local gallery shop as the owner asked would I give his gallery the opportunity to sell my work as he is keen to have local artists in his gallery shop

Friday, October 4, 2013

People matter

Friday is one of those days I just love to get into the studio-garage and do my art thing - and today I managed to do that but in the latter part of the afternoon. The earlier part of the day was taken up with community meetings and a part of this afternoon assisting a friend. But as the heading of this post says if one does not put people first then what is the meaning of art anyway.

And I worked on finishing a couple of my Travellers' Shrines which are about people - people taking life and spiritual travels or journeys. The square shrine below is to be taken to Rosebed Gallery on Sunday as it is be be delivered to its owner just before we take our Paths to Peace and Stillness exhibition home.

The smaller rectangular one below will head off overseas once I have completed a second square shrine to accompany it on its journey.

As indicated in an earlier post my Travellers' Shrines are usually made from quality and decorated recycled silver plated EPNS and are supplied with: a small incense holder and a small bundle of incense sticks (broken from longer sticks of Japanese incense); a small bowl which can be used as an offering bowl or to catch the ash of the burnt incense; and an inspirational leaf - usually with the word peace stamped on it or people who request a shrine can choose their own word (the shrine going to Rosebed on Sunday has the word love stamped on the leaf form as the person requested that word).

But it is expected that owners will want to add their own bits and pieces such as in the photo below.

I love the thought that people will incorporate the use of my Travellers' Shrines into their daily life and spiritual journeys; and their actual travels. Red wine calls - so I must away.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Something a little different

Metal is having a bit of a new meaning in my art at the moment. Instead of cutting and hammering - I'm etching and rolling.

Fiona and I have signed up for the upcoming Maleny Printmakers exhibition. Thirteen of us have committed to producing 10 new prints (maybe in editions of 10) for an exhibition in early November - not too far away. All prints need to fit quality paper - size 11.5X13.5cm in portrait format.

On Tuesday Fiona and Susan B had organised a non-toxic aluminium etching (copper sulphate and salt) day in Fiona's print studio. Steph and I joined in.

I managed to do 7 small plates using a two different techniques (dry point and etching); and different resists (bitumen and shellac).

We did artists' proofs on Tuesday; today I spent some time finishing plates; and printed one edition of a small (5X5cm) mountain scene.

I felt pretty good about it. It has been a good process for relearning the printing process. And below are a couple of photos of a lino cut I printed an edition of.

Now only 8 more to go.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The beauty of orchids

I have spent various bits of the weekend working on more Travellers' Shrines. I have all but finished the four of them including the mini bowls and the leaf that are part of the shrines. But they still need : polishing; lining; an incense holder and incense bundle to be added; and the leather tie to be cut and added. So they will be finished about mid week.

I thought I might share a creative form of Fiona's dad (Graham) - orchids. When we visited on Thursday there must have been 10-12 orchids in bloom - so many different shapes and colours - just a few of them are below (photographed with iPhone).

Creativity takes many forms - and orchid growing is not one of my strengths - but I do appreciate their beauty. The dry hot weather we have had lately seems to have brought out such beauty in Graham's collection.

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, September 25, 2013

Of wind, leaves and a baby bird

Last night the wind howled and buffeted the house. We woke to leaves piled up along the walkway to the house....

and the Peace Tree with a bit of a lean to the south (easily righted - but amazed it moved given all the cement in the base) ...

and Fiona's Peace Flags still at right angles to the rope with many shreds fluttering away as the wind was down to a breeze ...

On my early morning walk (Fiona was doing circuits with her group) I decided to shoot a few shots of leaves scattered beside on the road.

But I came across this bundle of feathers ... I was a bit sad because I realised it was a baby bird that had been blown out of its nest and crashed to the ground - nature can seem to be a bit cruel at times...

I saw a little movement as I walked away - so I returned and found the bird was still alive but in bad shape - so I picked it up in my cap and headed home to see if there was anything I could do to revive it

Over about a half hour I gave it a bit of Rescue Remedy, some water, a few crushed grubs from the veggie garden and a little minced meat. By the time Fiona came home it had perked up a bit. We called wildlife rescue and one of the volunteers came around - and after checking it out and giving it a little more water we made a nesting box so the volunteer could take it back to the home tree as she said the parents would reunite with it and look after it now that we had got it over the critical stage.

We hope that when we walk tomorrow that the little bird I called Acka-Dacka, because of my cap, is making progress.