Gleaming unbound book

 

What a grand feeling to finish a work; and for it to work out as planned. This unbound metal artists' book, in brief, tells the story of the injustice of the removal of Scottish Highland farmers from their farms and how they were manipulated into becoming fishermen resulting in much hardship, poverty and death. 

I love the light and shadows in the opening photo - natural light on the workbench.

The words that appear on the seven pages of the book are as follows:

coerced by an inhumane experiment

farmers unaccustomed to the sea 

tried to draw subsistence from a destructive sea 

on a rocky and perilous shore

forced to purchase unsafe boats

served a deadly apprenticeship to the sea

a multitude found a watery grave

A couple of process photos follow.

A range of photos showing the book from a few angles and in different light follow. I think it is lovely to be able to see the planished front of the sail pages and the stamped words on the back of the sails. 

'Folded' away for transport.

I love the strong beauty of this book despite the sad tale it recounts.

Dawn light and a few blossoms

 

The morning started chilly and dark - a canopy of stars were still out when I ventured out the front door  for a look.

The photos of the dawn light are presented in sequence staring with the opening photo at 5.23am and finishing with the photos at 6.20am

By 6.20am it was light enough to walk - though cold and windy. The grevilleas are starting open and the rainbow lorikeets are enjoying the nectar at dawn. A few other hardy blossoms create colourful moments.

Generally orchids seems to be waiting for the warmth of spring; but some crucifix orchids seems to blossom all year round.

You have probably picked up that I'm a bit enthralled by the winter light on cold clear mornings.

Unbound metal book - Betrayal

 

I spent Saturday progressing my unbound metal book for the Vessel exhibition.  The photo above shows metal cut: stamped for 7 pages of the book; 7 incense burner bowls; and 4 pairs of earring - all with the sail form.

The title of the book is Betrayal as it tells the story of how Scottish Highlands farmers in the Sutherland shire were driven off their land and coerced to become fisherman - many died. 

Donald McLeod, an eye witness to the clearances, reported that in one year in the northern sea of Scotland over 100 boats were wrecked and a multitude of people died.The pages of the book are in the form of sails; and the 7 lines of the story are stamped on the metal as you can see from the photo below.

Stamping metal does not always go smoothly as you can see from several false starts and mistakes in the metal below.

But the following photos show that I have made good progress - including the 7 pages neatly fitting into each other.

I hope finish the work during the week and add the other 6 pages into the stand to accompany the single finished page as you can see below.

Brooch pins and other gorgeous bits

 

Most of the day was spent with Fiona doing curtain stuff for her dad. But I did grab a bit of time this afternoon to turn some of the beautiful bits of metal below into jewellery including the brooch pins above. These pins can be used to pin a scarf or simply as a decoration on one's coat. Fiona tested the prototype and pinned it on the lower side part of her coat. The brass pins are 50mm across.

Some of the components became earrings as you can see below.

I did add a jump ring and a rubber neck piece to a lovely textured melted metal rectangle to make a pendant. The rectangle of metal is about 50mm long and 25mm wide.

There are still more melted metal components to be assembled; but that is for another day. 

Mist, mizzle and gorgeous wallabies

 

It is a very dreich day today - it started dark and full of mizzle and mist as you can see from the photos below. But that did not seem to discourage the local wallabies. Not only did they come out in the weather but came within 10m of our back deck. I took the photo above by sneaking out and hiding behind a deck post. More wallaby photos at the end of the blog.

Now for the dark and misty shots.

Some photos of the wallabies in the mist and below the deck.

And I finish with a photo of one of G's orchids at the studio where we worked today out of the weather. Taken in a break in the rain.

Even on dreich days there are beautiful surprises.