Rustnstuff

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Upward and outward

I'm not a great one for doing wall pieces for exhibitions; but King Ken of COMA fame said he was looking for a couple more wall pieces for the COMA exhibition in the Tree Frog Gallery.

So I have grabbed a little time in the garage/studio to make a wall piece inspired by Muna blowing Dandelion seeds when we were on one of our walks. The seeds just exploded in all directions - upwards and outwards to be taken by the wind to make new beginnings. The pop rivets 'seeds' in Upward and Outward all fan out from a point at the base of the piece between the two brass bits hooks on the copper plate.

In a way the piece is also a metaphor for life. Now and then we venture upwards and outwards in new directions to find new aspects of ourselves; to find new possibilities; to start new aspects of our personal journeys.

Upward and Outward is made from recycled copper and brass from an old spray backpack that had been painted oxide red; copper from a small water tank; rusted sheet iron; new black coated pop rivets; and new copper nails. All mounted on a painting canvas stretched over a timber frame.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Some of the colour of Spring

Our daily walks have exposed Fiona, I and our visitor Muna to an abundance of colour; and the warm weather has rewarded us with a daily harvest of Poppies to bring colour into the house.

Thought I would share a few images.

The orange and yellow Poppies have almost been like bring sunshine indoors. All photos were taken with the iPhone; so a single delicate Poppy petal offered the opportunity for a little alteration.

Nature often offers such beauty.

Friday, November 16, 2012

A love of leaves - including leaf Spiral Post

Over the last few weeks we have had some dry and strong winds that have resulted in quite a lot of leaf litter. On our morning walks Fiona and I pick up objects that catch the eye. With Fiona it is usually feathers; and for me it is an elegant leaves or a leaf with interesting markings.

I photographed a few of 'the collected' on a white ceramic platter.

And yesterday I got to finish the Spiral Post whilst Fiona and Muna went to pick up our art pieces from the Secrets exhibition; and they also went for a wander in the town.

All I need to do now is write a few words for Ken on the piece; and arrange for it to be transported to the COMA exhibition which starts when Fiona and I are in New Zealand.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Hands of the maker

Yesterday Muna and I spent quite a few hours creating a stash of leaf forms; and turning them into pendants as gifts for friends and family.

It was a magic day to take someone through the whole process of making - from annealing metal through to adding findings etc to the work to create the finished product.

Muna was amazingly focussed and dedicated to the task - and very independent - I was allowed to demonstrate but Muna did every step of the work herself as the photos of the hands of the maker testify. The leaf forms were made from recycled copper and brass and are about 7-9 cm long.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Spiral progress

Fiona, Muna and I all got to do a few hours of creativity this afternoon. Fiona and Muna (our Indonesian visitor) got to make a hand made book; and I got to all but finish my Spiral Post for the COMA exhibition.

The reclaimed copper metal on the previous post was annealed; folded; cut into leaf forms; beaten; annealed again and unfolded. The photos below show eight of the cut, folded and beaten leaf forms; the edges of the beaten leaf forms; and then a stack of beaten leaves that have been unfolded.

And then they were installed in the timber post that I had sanded and cut grooves into.

I have painted the leaf forms with a patina solution. After that has reacted and dried I need to cut and attach a stable base. I have a sheet of rusted iron that is 60cm square by 1cm thick - I intend to cut it down into four 30cm squares that I can use as bases for posts etc.

Friday, November 9, 2012

The magic of metal

I have been doing a little more work on the Spiral Post for the COMA exhibition. We have an Indonesian university student staying with us for 10 days as part of leadership and cultural exchange program so I will be picking my time to go to the garage-studio and beat metal.

However, I did get time to sand the post back; and cut metal for leaf forms. The reason I'm able to make this piece with such large copper leaf forms is because I was given a 100cm square copper trough that was previously a shower base. That is a lot of copper - I exchanged it for a set of wood and riveted plate earrings.

I have cut the edges off the trough (about 15cm high by 100cm long strips); and cut them down into 25cm by 12cm strips to beat into leaf forms. Check out the stacks of metal below - beautiful patina and wear and tear - before annealing.

And a few of the leaf forms I showed on the earlier post regarding the Spiral Post - thought it would be good to show the foldformed leaf forms in their full glory.

I will complete this work next week - I will gain a little time here and there.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A start on a new spiral post

"King Ken" the Co-ordinator of COMA has all of us on the creative move again - we are doing a Christmas exhibition in the Tree Frog Gallery. Though the title of the exhibition is called "The Best Of" I have decided to experiment with a new sculptural post (aka wood monolith?).

I want to combine the simple beauty of wood and copper - so what better thing to do than make a post with patinated leaf forms spiralling up the post from the bottom. I started the piece yesterday. I have roughly cut the post; and have experimented with a few leaf forms to which I have added patina solution.

The photos below show the progress so far.

Quite are few more leaf forms to make - these are about 10cm wide by 25cm long; and then sanding and assembling. The post is 112cm high and 15cm square.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Recycling, repurposing, resurrecting ....

From time to time when I'm doing a post and choosing labels for the content; when I'm writing descriptions for items going into my online shop; or describing my work to visitors (e.g. during our open studios events) I get to thinking about what describes what I do with the metal I salvage and use.

There is no doubt that I'm recovering and recycling metal salvaged from donated, found and purchased objects such as trays, pots, jardinieres. But I tend to respond to and work the metal in different ways.

When I cut up silver plated cake and biscuit trays and brass and copper jardinieres I am usually just interested in getting a stock of plate metal.

I then beat and fold form this flat metal into bowls and leaf forms. This is very similar to what other metal workers do when they buy sheet metal stock.

I use the offcuts to make riveted earrings and stamped inspirational words - again recycling and pretty standard metal and jewellery making work.

But in other instances I cut forms from objects and in some case rework them. For example, I sweat the stems off silver plated EPNS or copper wine goblets and cut the bowl of the goblet down to a size that suits me; and then after annealing the shape I beat it into the form that I want such as the bowl for a ladle or a small tall sided bowl. I also take salvaged metal tubing from old spirits stoves and reform it into rings. I see this as a form repurposing as I don't create the original shape from flat metal but rather reform and enhance what exists to give the section of the found object a new purpose a new life.

And of course there are times when I simply find shapes in the metal offcuts; and give them a new life as is the case with found earrings. I don't have to do much more than harvest and polish such bits.

So in fact at different times I simply recycle plate metal but at other times I repurpose forms and resurrect existing forms. I know this is not a world shattering revelation but I think it is useful for us as artisans to stop and reflect on just what it is that we do.