Friday, October 11, 2013

Almost but not quite

Why am I surprised that Fridays almost always turn out to be such varied and full days - but I still am - just hopeful or naive I guess. I intended to finish a Steampunk influenced magazine rack today - got sidetracked with Fiona for a few hours of sorting books for a 'garage sale' for her folk's church (proceeds to our neighbourhood centre); and later today worked with Fiona to help a friend assemble an etching press and drink bubbles and single malt for all our hard work.

But I digress - I did manage to get most of the magazine rack assembled. Yesterday I had cut metal and bent bike gears (lots of heat and hammering and a few pieces of shattered high tensile metal) so, as you can see from the photos below, today was about: cutting, sanding and oiling timber (Camphor Laurel); drilling components; polishing; and bolting it all together. Photos are a bit blurry as I took them with the iPhone as I went along.


©2013 - Bike gears - cut, polished and bent
©2013 Barry Smith - Formed bike gears on cut and bent copper sheet
©2013 - Barry Smith - Three shelves of the rack set out and being marked up for drilling of bolt holes
©2013 - Barry Smith -The almost completed rack (100cm high by 31cm wide)

©2013 - Barry Smith - Looking down on the magazine shelves - holds 6-8 magazines per shelf quite easily as the bike gears give the copper structure strength
I still need to do a top and bottom decorative plate - but this piece of functional art is looking pretty good - and it will be finished at some stage over the weekend.

5 comments:

  1. Wonderful rack and beautiful wood grain.

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  2. Hi AA, VA & K - thanks for checking this functional piece out. It was finished over the weekend. Hoping the company that commissioned it likes it enough to come up with the $s and picks it up and takes to a new home. All - go well. B

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  3. Ooh, so envious, B, as my acquisitive little brain sees yet another great item it loves and wants. Luckily, no room for such a thing but it really is fabulous.

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Comments are welcomed - it is good to connect with fellow travellers.