Very chilly morning with pops of beauty

 

As you can see from the photo below we were up early and it was dark and it was chilly - though the clear mornings do lend themselves to some great dawn colours. By the time I walked it was light and there were a few pops of beauty, such as the rose above, even though many of the plants and flowers are in hibernation.

A few more fragments from the morning walk - including a couple of feathered friends collecting 'who knows what' from the roadside.

Even G's orchid house is a bit sparse from a blossom perspective but there are a few promises.

I'm hoping that these few fragments may bring a bit of joy and hope in tough times.

Bouncing around

Saturday and Sunday was about fitting in what I could when I could creative wise. I melted metal; ground daily words leaves; did a bit more work on the posts for the grief garden in town; cut inner and outer covers for my Daily Words booklet and tested the de-bossing on the cover; and sliced some melted metal for earrings.

In fact I did two metal melts one of which resulted in the gorgeous rainbow effect on the boat hull form above - someone said I might have mixed a bit of aluminium in the metal mix - not sure but will see if I can replicate it. The metal is extremely crystalline - almost like glass - can't be drilled without fracturing. Some more photos of the melted metal below- including the wrecked boat hull I finished; and the sliced melted metal.

Photo of the 5 posts for the grief garden - another coat of bitumen on the base.

Some photos follow on the paper and de-bossing for the Daily Words booklet. I need to finish the covers next week and begin stitching the booklets.

All in all a few good outcomes.

Three more metal workers

 

I spent about 4 hours today working with a mother and two daughters testing out their skills at metal work. They had seen my work in the DEP gallery-shop and were keen to have a go themselves. We decided to make a pair of leaf earrings, a leaf pendant each and a small bowl for sacred bits each.

As you can see from the photo above the earring and pendant outcomes were great. I added the jump rings, ear wires and rubber necklace thingy. One pair of earrings has clips as the youngest young woman didn't have pierced ears.  

A few process shots follow - not a lot as it takes quite a bit of attention when working with three novices with tools and metal that can do harm. Each decided on the length and shape of their leaf forms. The youngest decided to make the smallest leaves - quite a challenge but she was up to the challenge.

I didn't get photos of the finished three bowls but you can see one being hammered and polished below.

A very satisfactory day - giving time and seeing joy when people achieve beyond what they think is possible.

A wee break in the weather

 

As you can see from the photo below things were not looking good for a walk this morning - it was dark and it was raining. But in the time it took me to do my rites and an indoor walk the rain stopped long enough for me to do a short walk, enjoy the rain drenched blossoms such as the one above, marvel at the beauty of droplets and check out G's orchids.

Rain drenched blossoms and droplets to be enjoyed in the photos below.

Even G's crucifix orchids were holding droplets.

It was a joy that I could grab a rain free moment.

Connecting components

 

On Saturday I finished and put together components for my small fishing boats. Many of these boats have torn sails - the result of ferocious northern Scottish seas. Three are pictured above.

A collection of components before assembling.

A couple more photos of completed boats.

I needed to make a couple more copper components so I did a metal melt whilst putting the boats together. One trick I have learnt is if you heat up the graphite moulds there is less chance of spitting and bubbles in the metal when you pour the molten metal - less chance of a shock caused by sudden change of temperature. The rough cast pieces below need to have excess cut off and then filed and polished.

I have almost finished all the melted metal elements for this piece that will go into the Vessels exhibition in October at the Old Ambo Gallery.

A whole lot of earrings

 

I have managed to complete my leaf earrings and a few buffalo horn earrings. Not much time for art today as people came first.

The leaf forms vary in length from about 2.5cm to 6cm. Some have words stampede on them; and others are plain. All with the pattern from the silver-plated placemats and the rear side. Photos of earrings with differing ear wires.

I cut enough buffalo for 8 pair of earrings with metal rivets; but only got time to complete 4 pair.

Good to complete the earrings I started about 4 weeks ago.