Rustnstuff

Friday, March 25, 2016

Trash to functional treasure

I had an unusual request - could I make some interesting garden plot name stakes-signs. They needed to be something that had a bit of interest in their shape, colour, material etc.

In my metal stash I had an old very patinated, worn and dirty brass tray. I decided that if I cut it into wedges like a pie it would produce interesting triangles with a curved top. I could stamped the words on two ledges using 10mm plumbers metal stamps. And the backside (which is the front of the tray) would have the beauty of the worn pattern. Basically I was simply adopting the existing shapes and design of the tray and repurposing them in the new design.

I think they have worked out well - quite a funky thing to have in the garden as a functional ornament.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Moon, magpies and a bit more

Whilst the moon pretty full it has not always been visible in our part of the globe because of cloud cover. Still the cloud can off some interesting halos, shadows and unusual cloud colours.

A few photos from last night - first few from about 7-8pm. Moon photos taken with Canon Powershot.

We are not sure why but we have hard about 50 Magpies hanging around our neighbourhood. Some of the bolder birds walked out of my path this morning rather than just flying away.

It must be the time for birds as I was much more aware of their presence on Treehaven Way.

And of course there were the other little surprises on the walk.

As you could see from the photo with the silhouettes of the three native Mynah birds the sun is now rising at the time I walk. This means it is getting to be quite dark when we rise as you can see from the valley photo below.

I think autumn is truly here and is even starting to get a tinge of winter about it - either that or I'm being pathetic.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Peaks complete

I got a good solid run on my two tabletop sculptures over the weekend. I can now say they are complete and in time ready for public outings.

Of course there was more cutting of templates and metal; sanding of bases to ensure they would stand unassisted; and final oil and polish.

Couple of views of the 7 peak sculpture (just over 1m long) - one piece with seven parts.

And a couple of the 5 peak piece - again one sculpture with 5 parts.

I must say that it is good to have another artist with a critical eye and sense of design, Fiona, to talk through set out of the elements of each sculpture - getting the angles, spacing and heights right is important. I have numbered each of the mountain forms and indicated which direction they need to be set out. I have also taken a topdown photo to show the set out.

Now I need to do paper work and packing for each of the sculptures.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Wrapping wood

As time permits I'm into adding the metal to the mountain forms. The metal is quite structured to contrast with the more organic mountain forms. So not only does it mirror one edge of the mountain form; it also is attached to the wood with a grid of screws which reflect the angles of the mountain forms and have a square drive head.

Each form is slightly different so I need to cut paper templates (Fiona's suggestion) which are transferred to the different widths of aluminium strips (vary from 6cm to 20cm in width). I end up with lots of paper templates and paper and metal offcuts on the garage floor.

I find vises and clamps to be my good friends in holding metal in place for marking, drilling and screwing.

It is good that I have two rechargeable drills and a rechargeable screw driver for this job as each piece has 20-40 screws in it. At the end of the making of the two sculptures I will have used about 250 screws.

So far I have finished attaching the metal to 6 forms.

And another almost finished on the bench.

Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon have been good art blocks of time. I'm looking forward to finishing these sculptures over the weekend. But enough for today - I'm off to make a pizza and share a wine or two with Fiona.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Seriously wet

This week has been pretty much like last week weatherwise - lots of misty mornings and evenings; and lots of short sharp rain showers.

I did manage to walk today (Wednesday) between showers. The theme of this blog post is definitely water related: fungi holding water; droplets; birds bomb diving in the mist; and misty vistas.

Fungi - mainly small and delicate

Droplets on flowers and webs

Birds bomb diving - great silhouettes

One can't see the valley for the mist - but a soft beauty

There is always beauty - even if it is a little uncomfortable.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Something old and something new for a wedding

I got my sculptural mountain-wing wood forms sanded and oiled on Saturday. I now need to let them just absorb the oil fully before I start to add the metal wraps.

So I moved on to a commission to create a wedding cake knife and server from a ornate silver-plated EPNS tray and twisted heavy gauge copper wire. As is often the case with me I decided to make two sets just to ensure that there was a high quality one to deliver. I decided to differentiate between the two sets by adding brass handles to the second one.

Anyway the process started with marking up and cutting up a 30cm 'round' silver-plated tray - this way I can get the most out of a tray. Of course there are a few off cuts that well become leaf forms and other things.

I twisted, hammered, bent and drilled the cut pieces and heavy gauge wire; and they were ready for grinding and polishing.

And then all the bits were brought together through the riveting process. I think both sets have turned out well - so options exist for the client. The knives are about 30cm long including the handle; and the servers are between 23cm and 25cm long.