Sunday, June 30, 2019

Books, compassion exhibition and bones

©2019 Barry Smith - Seventy small metal book pages - each 1.9cm X 1.2cm
Fiona and I went to the official opening of the Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition yesterday afternoon - there was a good crowd to honour the work of the 26 artists.  Ken and Ardleigh, in the photo below, had done a massive job to bring it all together. Big thank you to Ken and Ardleigh. The exhibition is open for a few weeks so a good opportunity to get along.

©2019 Barry Smith - Ken and Ardleigh at the opening of Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition
I had 6 pairs small book earrings; and 12 small metal books in the exhibition 'shop'. The earrings all sold out in a couple of hours as did a few small metal books. I was asked by Ardleigh and a number of attendees whether I would be willing to make more earrings.

I started the process of making up to ten pair today as you can see from the opening photo and the process photos below.

©2019 Barry Smith - Silver-plated drink coasters destined to become book earrings
©2019 Barry Smith - I'm able to cut 10 pages (1.9cm X 1.2cm) out of each coaster
©2019 Barry Smith - Strip of metal in the jaws of my guillotine 
©2019 Barry Smith - Ten sets of 6 pages sorted into containers marked left and right - ready for stamping words on the middle page before riveting, grinding, polishing and attaching ear wires
Still a lot of work to do on the earrings; but hopefully I will finish them by or on the next weekend.

Since I was in preparation mode I decided to clean and cut more bone: some for carving and some for pendants and earrings. As you can see I managed a reasonable assortment. Bit of a warning about sawing and sanding bone - always best to be done in the open and with a good quality mask on. Bone dust is not so good for the lungs.

©2019 Barry Smith - Scraping the shin bones after they were cooked with the osso bucco 
©2019 Barry Smith - Bones marked up for cutting with a fine abrasive blade in my angle grinder.
©2019 Barry Smith - Bone that has been cut and given an initial grind.
Now that I have the pages for the books and the bone cut there is no excuse for me not grabbing bits of time to make the pieces.

Friday, June 28, 2019

Checking out Compassion - the artists' book exhibition

©2019 Barry Smith - Precious Library of Peace and Light and Love keep each other company
Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition officially opens at 3pm tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 29 June). Fiona and I will be there for the official opening; but because we were down the coast for an appointment we took the opportunity to have a peek whilst the exhibition was in its final set-up stage.  The gallery was open.

It is quite amazing just how many works are on show - but given the number of artists I guess it is to be expected.

©2019 Barry Smith - A wall full of artists' statements and photos
©2019 Barry Smith - Part of the Pop-Up Shop 
©2019 Barry Smith - Looking across one room of the gallery
Fiona and I were able to check out our pieces. A few images of mine and our collaborative books follow.

©2019 Barry Smith - Kindness Care and Hope - one of our book collaborations
©2019 Barry Smith - The Measure of Society 
©2019 Barry Smith - Giving and Gathering 
©2019 Barry Smith - Compassion is....
©2019 Barry Smith - Across the room
©2019 Barry Smith - Our other collaborative book - We are Sorry
I think there will be quite a buzz at the opening tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

A wet Wednesday and dark light study of our tree

©2019 Barry Smith - Violet with rain drops
There was no walking to be done this morning - not on the block or Treehaven Way.  We suddenly found ourselves in another wet patch - 75mm over night and still raining this morning.

I did manage to capture a couple of images between showers as I went about tasks.

©2019 Barry Smith - Wild fungi in the grass
©2019 Barry Smith - Crisp white crucifix orchids 
I found the following images on my iPhone from Monday - beautiful images of the leafless tree at the top of our drive - in its dark glory; but also lit bay a car driving down our road and by the lights of our car as Fiona headed up the drive off to her exercise group.

©2019 Barry Smith
©2019 Barry Smith 
©2019 Barry Smith
A few fragments; but all part of the changes that are seasons and the weather.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Progressing product and giveaway draw

©2019 Barry Smith - Leaf Pate Knives and Leafspoons ready for the final polish and tweaking
I managed to get back on track with silver-plated product production over the weekend. As you can see from the photo above I managed to get 15 items to the ground and wire brush polished stage. Now I need to do the final polish before adding swing tags and sending them off to Maleny Additions.

A few process photos follow.

©2019 Barry Smith - Gorgeous detail on this metal cut from a huge heavy silver-plated nickel silver - pieces will become Leaf Pate Knives - pattern will be on the reverse side
©2019 Barry Smith - Pate knives hammered and ready for bending and twisting
©2019 Barry Smith - Metal trimmed from the leaf spoon blanks.
©2019 Barry Smith - On the work bench
I also committed to drawing the recipient of the giveaway today. I did it the old fashioned way - put 9 names in a bowl and draw out the winner - and the winner is Bridgette - so a set of Daily Leaf Words will be packed and sent to her in the next couple of days.

©2019 Barry Smith - And the recipient of the giveaway is Bridgette G-M
Thanks to all the who checked out the post on ten years of blogging. Thanks also to people who still visit and leave comments - that takes time in this click and swipe age - so the effort and support is appreciated.

Friday, June 21, 2019

The metal dictated the final design

©2019 Barry Smith - Patina, rust stainless wire, afternoon sun and the mountains
I really was meant to be working on product today; but got sidetracked by rust. I have quite a stash of rusted circular saw blades which I had planned to turn into a large sculptural piece about the sun. I knew I would only get about 4 hours in the studio-garage today so I decided to indulge myself and make a piece using a rusty saw blade. The metal in the blade was so hard, which makes sense, that I burnt out and broke several bits before giving up. I also tested drilling the rim of steel I was going to use as the outside of the piece - 'hard as' - so more broken bits.

©2019 Barry Smith - You can see the drill bits barely scratched the metal

I decided to use an old copper perforated circle from a vintage shower head; and to suspend it in the circle using stainless steel wire.
©2019 Barry Smith - Perorated copper circle and rim
Process photos follow.

©2019 Barry Smith - Front of the piece with wires in place 
©2019 Barry Smith - Back of piece with wires before tensioning and trimming and hammering down
And the finished piece.

©2019 Barry Smith - Afternoon sun and shadows - the piece on logs
©2019 Barry Smith - The piece raised on a cog on the rust table
©2019 Barry Smith - Hanger on the back of the piece in case somebody wants to hang it on a wall
As one does I decided to use the last cap from an old gas hob and turn it into one of my stapled  pieces. It turned out that this metal was as hard as and resulted in broken bits lodged in the metal.

©2019 Barry Smith - A keen eye will see a couple of spots where bits have broken off in the metal
But I persisted and managed to make another small stitched piece on hairy oak.

©2019 Barry Smith - This ceramic coated cap has had a hard life 
©2019 Barry Smith - Stitched disk on rough cut hairy oak
Frustration as the start of the day; but satisfaction at the end.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The moon and the mountains

©2019 Barry Smith - Setting moon  - iPhone  telephoto - wild shot!!
Some of the photos of the moon in this post are not a crisp as I have done on the past. The reason being is that my old Canon PowerShot failed because an internal date stamp battery went flat and can old be replaced by a technician pulling the camera apart and putting in a new battery. A costly exercise so we decided to buy a later model PowerShot - but is is not up to the standard of the old one - makes one a little sad.

First I'll share moon and mountain photos taken with the iPhone; and then the Canon photos.

©2019 Barry Smith - Reflections of a setting morning moon on clouds 
©2019 Barry Smith - Love the graininess of this setting moon shot 
©2019 Barry Smith - Next day - later setting moon in a pink and blue sky
©2019 Barry Smith - You might be able to make out the setting moon about 25% in from the left - a spec
©2019 Barry Smith - Early sun shining on a glass building in the Brisbane CBD - 80klms away!!!
Moon shots using the new Canon PowerShot.

©2019 Barry Smith
©2019 Barry Smith - Setting morning moon
©2019 Barry Smith - Setting morning moon 
©2019 Barry Smith - Setting morning moon - sinking fast
©2019 Barry Smith - Setting morning moon - a sliver
©2019 Barry Smith - Setting morning moon - like flame in the trees
©2019 Barry Smith - Evening moon 
©2019 Barry Smith - Morning moon 
©2019 Barry Smith - Morning moon changing colour as it gets closer to the horizon
The moon still has its mystery.