Restoration and preparation

 

The photo above shows my electric furnace heated to 650 degrees - inside of the heating chamber.

A few days ago one of my graphite crucibles ruptured during a metal melt - see photo of the base of the ruptured crucible below. 

Unfortunately the hot metal just disappeared - I was not sure where it had gone and the furnace was too hot to deal with. So I just turned it all off and walked away.

This morning I investigated the furnace and found the metal had cooled into a blob at the base of the heating chamber - see photo below. However it could not be removed because the ceramic rim was quite a bit smaller in diameter than the base of the heating chamber.

Short restoration version - I managed to unscrew the metal frame holding the ceramic rim, removed the rim itself and was able to remove the metal blob (photo below) and put the furnace back together - photo below.

I tested the furnace with a replacement crucible and poured a few stars - below.

I gave the metal blob a grind - see below - grey and shiny and interesting texture . Not quite sure what I will do with this metal form.

I also cut salvaged silver plates placemats in preparation for making olive ladles and a few cone shaped bowls.

Good to be back in the shed using the tools. 

Stunning in the morning light

 

Blue sky morning and gorgeous morning sunlight - such beautiful contrasts and details. 

As you will see this blog is mainly about the blossoms themselves - and a bit of fungi; but the birds and bees were actively enjoying the blossoms as well.

I so need the beauty of nature to remind me not to dwell too long in the darkness.

Ladles - big and tiny for different functions

 

I'm determined to complete my push to restock my ladle stash. As you can see from the photo above today I got to make a couple of bigger soup ladles (9cm in diameter) with reclaimed solid brass handles; and tiny ladles (3.5cm in diameter). See polished reclaimed brass handle in photo below.

There are two types of tiny ladles one for jams or sauces and the other for scooping olives out of a jar. The olive ladles have drain holes in the bowl and right angled handles. 

You can see the difference between the two tiny ladles below in some of the process photos.

I have also been experimenting with handles - below are a pair of twisted 3mm brass wire handles and a pair of simple 3mm wire handles - probably for salad servers. 

The tiny ladles are quite delicate and have 2mm brass wire handles which are a nightmare to flatten, drill and rivet to the ladle bowl!

Photo of the two soup ladles and a tiny olive ladle follows - shows the size difference between the big and the tiny.

Four on the go

 

As you can see from the image above I indeed have four small watercolours on the go. Three are of the same building but from different angles because the owner commissioned three works for herself and relatives; and the fourth is a historic ruin that was also commissioned.

One advantage of doing the three of the building concurrently is that I get to use some of the same or similar colours from the pallet.

The images below show the sketches for the works.

The following image show my experiments with ink and pens to see what worked for creating the fine lines of the window frames.

Some more progress-process images follow.

I'm hoping that I get these four finished over the next couple of weeks amongst other tasks and other creative bits. When these are done I will have completed all the watercolour commissions.

Orchid beauty to lift one's spirit.

 

Fiona and I are fortunate that we can wander into G's orchid house and soak up the beauty Orchid beauty. Such beauty is particularly welcome on mornings like this morning which was grey and raining.

But first let us enjoy the beauty of some of the orchids on show at the moment.

And as promised a few photos of a dismal morning. I did an inside walk!!!

It is grand that even in grey and dismal times if we look hard enough we can find bits of beauty to lift one's spirit.

Rearranging-refreshing

 

Fiona and I spent some of our creative time moving and rearranging some of our garden sculptural pieces. We did this because we want to see and appreciate some pieces more out the front of our home; and because by rearranging we see the pieces with new eyes.

The opening photo with early morning sunlight shows the arrangement we have achieved so far - I say so far because we will be adding to what is there and maybe achieving a different balance.

The following photos simply show some of the pieces in morning light.

I took a photo of the trio of posts across from our front door; but took it from behind as we rarely take the time to see things from different angles.