And so the next 4 letters begin

What a great show of creativity the A Letter a Week (ALaW) challenge is proving to be. Over 20 people are now contributing. And of course there are so many good postings of the first 4 letters by the 3 February.

I posted my first 4 and am onto the second set.

As I indicated in an earlier post I am using light gauge brass from pot plant holders and the fold forming technique to create letters with straight lines – so that ids how I have created the above ‘E’. ALaW challenge is providing me with a no-fail opportunity to practice foldforming. On this letter I attempted to get the folds to run from wide to thin – seems to have worked OK.

Rusted iron and the generosity of fellow artists

One thing about my form of art is that the materials often don’t cost a lot – not many people are marketing rusted iron, cast off copper and brass objects or preloved and rotten timbers. But then again these objects are often hard to come by as they can just be sent to rubbish tips or to commercial metal recyclers. So it is always good to have friends and family on the lookout for bits and pieces.

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a bit of a windfall in the rusted iron department. I had to say no to Susan (print and handmade book artist) and Edith-Ann’s (ceramicist and assemblage sculptural artist) separate offers of rusted corrugated iron – I’m not quite up to working with pieces that can accommodate the scale of corrugated iron yet.

Kim (who combines rusted metal with ceramics) delivered these great metal plugs from the rubbish tip of a metal fabrication workshop.






James (who is into marble sculpture but is also a builder) rescued and delivered this huge (2m high) 3mm thick plate rusted fire place and rusted 2mm floor out of a 6X4 box trailer.







And Edith-Ann provided the rusted out top of a 44 gallon drum.





And of course the rust itself is a beautiful gift of nature.





I just love the fact that the network of fellow artists supports what you are doing artistically and are so generously willing to share.

Metal bowls for Super Bowl Challenge 2010

As earlier posts indicate I have been participating in Super Bowl Challenge 2010. Wendy Edsall-Kirwin has provided the opportunity for artists to take part in a creative fun activity that encouraged participants to create a bowl or bowls in time for the American Super Bowl football event.

Check out the Super Bowl Challenge 2010 Flickr group – there are some amazing pieces of work in a range of medium including metal, felt and clay from some 17 participants. I am sure there will be a favourite for everyone.

I posted the following three bowls – all using recycled metal and found objects.

Thanks Wendy for taking the time to set this challenge up and encouraging us to take the time to be creative.

Rain, heat and flowers

Yesterday I was reflecting on things that were hot on the block - weather and chillies – and the lack of rain. Well the last 12-18 hours has just been grey and wet, wet, wet. We have measured about 125mm thus far. However we should not complain given that folk south of us have had over 400mm in the last 24 hours.

I always get a bit concerned when we have heavy rain – it is always a test for the terracing and the gravel mulching. But you can see from the photos that the water is all flowing into the rock river and the gravel is slowing down the flow – all good so far.

The heat and rain has been great for the frangapanis this year - lots of growth and intense colour in all of them; and great perfume from the white and yellow flowers.

Hot on the block

Today is very humid and hot on the mountain. As I sit at the computer storms are rolling around us but not on us to cool us off.

Of course there are always things to do on the block and today it had to be preserving chillies- we have one bush but it is absolutely loaded. While Fiona was cutting and processing the chillies - with protective rubber gloves - I could not resist photographing the rich red hot little numbers.

Words for Peace 2010

Fiona discovered that Mike was facilitating a peace installation for spring of 2010 called Words for Peace 2010.

I was so impressed with the sentiment and power behind Mike’s project that I just wanted to be part of it and add my voice on a card that is 5inches wide and 20inches long. I thought I would try to use rusted drilling shavings and granules as my ‘ink’ on 850gsm rag paper.

As you can see from the photos what I want to convey is that I hope that weapons are not used for war or even in anger or against each other; and that they might just rust and return into the soil without inflicting pain or horror. Without weapons to resort to we might have a better chance of finding a peaceful path to resolving differences.

I have wet the rust and paper on a number of occasions and the rust is beginning to bleed nicely into the paper.

A meditation bowl for a friend

I was working away from home for the best part of three days in the past week including Friday – so there was not the chance to get the Friday afternoon creative hit in the studio. But I was catching up with a friend yesterday (Sunday) and just wanted to give him one of my reflection-meditation bowls so got down into the garage-studio on Saturday afternoon. And so the Star meditation bowl was made.

This hand (palm) sized bowl has no words – it is blank – a ‘being in the moment’ type bowl.

This bowl is what I call a punched bowl with a bit of foldforming influence - at the centre it has a rudimentary foldformed star with copper rivet highlights. In line with the balance of life I have posted two photos – one with flash and therefore full of brightness; and one without flash and therefore still shining but with a few shadows.

Amazing blue in the sunset

About a week ago we were sitting on the southern deck sipping a few bubbles watching the sun setting. Of course it would be boring to take photos of all the sunsets but this one just had some unusual blues that became more visible as the sky became darker – so yes I did take a couple of shots that I thought were worth sharing; and to prove it wasn't just the bubbles distorting the eye. No photo shopping – just nature.

So while I’m posting on photos I guess I might as well give a pumpkin update. At last count the four original vines have now produced over 20 largish pumpkins. I just loved the light and colour of this little cluster under the leaves - the secret lives of pumpkins? Of course we are hoping it all stops soon – only so much you can do with a barrow full of pumpkins.

Beaten metal bowls 4 Super Bowl 2010

As indicated in earlier posts I have been working on two bowls for the Super Bowl 2010 challenge organised by jeweller and metal worker Wendy Edsall-Kirwin. I have completed a spiky bowl that includes sharp quills which I now call Spike; and a bowl that includes clock and computer parts that I call Time Machine.

Spike as you can see is made from beaten and polished recycled aluminium and patinated copper plate; plus echidna quills and copper wire. The copper wire has been used to sew the quills into place. The finely textured wire was plaited by Fiona.



Time Machine has been made from brass from and old pot-plant holder, recycled patinated copper, parts from a clock and brass nuts from computers (salvaged by Noela from our local computer store).

More metal letters

After looking at the ALaW blog I realised I needed to get my skates on and hammer out a couple more letters to be able to make the publishing deadline challenge of four letters by 3 February.

As you can see I have been able to produce my ‘C’ and ‘D’. As it turns out all letters will be done in recycled brass.

Letters with curves in them (e.g. B, C and D) will be hammered and punched; and the plate itself will end up slightly curved (as you can see in the above photos). The heavier brass I’m using for these curved letters comes from the side of an old brass pot plant holder. When I cut it up the sheet just sprung out flatish but with a definite twist to the metal – over stretched in the manufacturing process I think. So I am working with the twist rather than heating the metal and returning it to flat.

Letters that are made up of straight lines will be done using the foldforming approach I used in the first ‘A’ I produced. This metal also comes from plant holders but is much thinner.