Bits and bowls

If I had to describe the weekend I would say it was 'a rainy people weekend' in that we have had about 100mm of rain and much of our time was given to people activities and events. Still slices of time were found for other activities including a little creativity.

Recently Noela M had given me copper shim and indicated that maybe I could use some to create rippled bits for her to use in Bazola jewellery. Well if you going to do bits for Bazola you might as well do a stash. So as you can see from the photos below that is what I did with some slices of time.

©2012 Barry Smith - Rippled copper for Bazola

©2012 Barry Smith - Foldformed reticulated zinc on brass  for Bazola (former life - weed pump-pack)

©2012 Barry Smith - Foldformed ENPNS - inspired by Japanese folded paper - for Bazola (former life cake-biscuit tray)

©2012 Barry Smith - Stash of Bazola bits - (recycled trays and jardinieres)

But I thought I would see how the copper shim worked in my punched-bowl form. I wanted to create a bowl that had multiple sheets - almost like sheets of paper formed into the bowl. I like the way the three layered bowl worked - ragged and layers.

©2012 Barry Smith - Three layered copper bowl (Noela's shim)

©2012 Barry Smith - Three layered copper bowl (Noela's shim)

©2012 Barry Smith - Three layered copper bowl plus stash of Bazola bits

Recently I purchased a steel form for beating small bowls - so I also gave that a go and made a small EPNS bowl - about 90mm in diameter and about 25mm deep. I had cut the circle of ENPS out of a small old cake-biscuit tray with a cut-off blade in my angle-grinder - this left a ragged edge to the circle. I left it just as it was a I felt it gave the bowl a little more organic look.

©2012 Barry Smith - Simple beaten EPNS bowl - top (former life cake-biscuit tray) 

©2012 Barry Smith - Simple beaten EPNS bowl - bottom

So in the end all the people stuff got done; and I am now in a position to deliver a stash of Bazola bits to Noela in the near future.

BTW - the clock does actually work; and keeps good time - so form and function!!!

Fruits of collaboration

I have been able to get into the studio this afternoon for a couple of hours. I used the time to finished five small bowls I have been working on; words on metal for my Word-a-Day bowls; and Inspirations in the Pocket pieces. But because Noela delivered a stash of completed Bazola I thought I'd share what we have achieved through our collaborative efforts.

Most of the pieces are earrings and the set below are one of my favourites out of this lot. I love the simple design and how the pitted corrosion of the metal and the form marks from a 'previous life' show on the finished product.  I will show photos of other pieces and you will probably have a different opinion to me.

Barry Smith © Brass Bazola earrings - foldformed with silver wire

But I thought I'd show the three stages before Noela creates the jewellery. The first stage is harvesting recycled metal from collected EPNS, brass and copper objects such as the spirit stoves cut up below.

Barry Smith © Harvesting metal from obsolete spirit stoves

Then of course annealing a heap of cut up bits.

Barry Smith © Brass, copper and ENPNS - harvested, chopped and annealed

Creating a stash of "Bazola bits" to deliver to Noela.

Barry Smith © Bazola bits emerge from the annealed metal

And then Noela responds to the "Bazola bits", creates a design, adds elements and assembles the pieces into wearable art jewellery below.

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - decorative EPNS serving tray

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - spirit stove 

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life silver-plated copper goblet

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - EPNS serving tray

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - decorative EPNS serving tray

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - spirit stove

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - spirit stove

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - copper tank

Barry Smith © Bazola - former life - EPNS serving tray

Barry Smith © Bazola pendant - former life - EPNS serving tray

And hopefully people will continue to be intrigued by the harvested, unique foldformed, hand-beaten and handmade nature of the pieces; and of course buy them. 

A 'Burst' of Bazola bits

We had Fiona's best friend Sue visiting last weekend - it is always a good to have her visit - amongst other things she helps us to see our world in refreshed or new ways including spending more time on the southern deck watching the sun go down with a glass of white wine in the hand.

But Sue is also an admirer and buyer of Bazola jewellery. Noela had dropped off a few pieces she had 'in stock' for Sue to check out. She bought a few sets of earrings - so it made me realise I needed to make Noela another stash. So the burst of Bazola bits below was beaten and polished.

Barry Smith © Burst of Bazola bits

Just for fun and friendship I made the simple copper earrings below for Sue as she had admired the forms. They are very light - almost like stiff old crinkled copper paper.

Barry Smith © For Sue

Below are some shots of some of the Bazola burst bits up closer.

Barry Smith © Silver plated Bazola bits

Barry Smith © Copper Bazola bits

Barry Smith © Brass Bazola bits

Barry Smith © Yet more EPNS Bazola bits

Barry Smith © Burnt copper Bazola bit

Barry Smith © Copper fan Bazola bit

Barry Smith © Copper double foldformed Bazola bit

I never tire of what I can make from the scraps of recycled metal. The red colour on the silver plate was a reflection of my t-shirt - indicates the high polish on the bits.  I delivered the bits to Noela on Monday when we hung the COMA exhibition in a local coffee shop. So I guess we will await some more finished Bazola creations.

Bazola earrings bits; and photos of the moth

I asked Noela if she could create a stash of Bazola earrings and a couple of brooches for me to take to Melbourne when we go down next week to set up the Light and Lines exhibition in Handheld Gallery. I thought some of our friends down there could be interested in purchasing a piece or two of Bazola bling.

Noela suggested that I make a few more of my beaten, foldformed and stamped bits for her to choose from to create a selection. Last night we had a dinner party of fellow artists including our friend Noela so I handed the stash below over to her for the next part of the creative Bazola collaboration. In all, there are 14 pairs of bits - silverplated brass, brass and copper.

Barry Smith © Bazola silver-plated earring bits

Barry Smith © Bazola earring bits

Barry Smith © Bazola earring bits

Barry Smith © Bazola brass and copper earring bits

During the night I discovered a coloured moth on one of our privacy doors and couldn't resist taking a couple of photos with my iPhone - with and without flash.

Barry Smith © Moth through a glass darkly - no flash

Barry Smith © Moth through a glass darkly - with flash

And then of course I needed to play with the originals.

Barry Smith © Moth through a glass darkly -  flash - altered

Barry Smith © Moth through a glass darkly - no flash - altered

Barry Smith © Moth through a glass darkly - with flash - altered

Bit of fun and interesting outcomes.

And the dinner party was a bit of a hoot - good food, good friends, good wine, great art discussions and great laughs.

Library plus Bazola

About 3-4 weeks ago I posted on the fact that Noela and I were creating more Bazola jewellery as it was selling steadily and that Noela was particularly interested in foldformed corrugated bits. We were offered the opportunity to show some of our collaborative work in the public glass display cabinets at the entrance to our local library. Noela was into using the corrugated bits so I made a stash more for her to play with.

Barry Smith © Stash of ripple bits for Bazola

If you check out Noela's recent post she turned heaps of bits into beautiful Bazola; and we have set up the display in the library. We filled both cabinets; and by way of education-explanation also displayed our tools etc. Noela's tool collection is very tidy and dainty - lots of small pliers etc; mine tends to a bit messy with metal offcuts and mainly hammers - different tools of trade applied to the collaborative effort.

Barry Smith © Bazola plus Barry's tools 

Barry Smith © Bazola plus Noela's tools

Barry Smith © Detail of a Bazola pendant 1

Barry Smith © Detail of a Bazola pendant 1

Barry Smith © Business cards in old silverware

The display will be in place for a couple of weeks. This is an amazing giving service by the staff of our local Maleny Library. They offer artists both the display cases and one of the walls inside for hanging works - free of charge; and they maintain the booking register - great people.

Any chance of corrugated Bazola bits?

Recently Noela and I have had a reasonable number of sales from our collaborative Bazola jewellery range that is sold through Main Street Gallery in Montville.

Now that Noela has recovered and come back down to earth after her wanderings in Morocco and other exotic places, we thought it was time to create more Bazola pieces. We agreed that I would make some foldformed bits this weekend for her to use in her designs - she asked if I could make a few mini corrugated bits.

Barry Smith © Corrugated Bazola bits

Barry Smith © Corrugated bit from jardiniere before polishing

Barry Smith © Corrugated bit from jardiniere after polishing

In the photos above you can see a few corrugated bits to test the idea - different size corrugations and different metal including recycled thin brass from the base of a pot, heavier brass from the side of a jardiniere and some silver-plate from an old sugar bowl.

Barry Smith © Bazola bits from old tray

Barry Smith © Bazola bits from old tray

I also made some Bazola bits from an old serving tray.

Barry Smith © Bazola bits from old silver-plated fruit platter

And some other silver-plate bits from the rim of a heavy fruit platter.

Most of the pieces are in sets so Noela can use them to create earrings and pendant sets; or can just use them as individual pieces. Guess we will wait to see what becomes of the corrugations and other bits.

Barry Smith © Metal scraps

I always enjoy making the Bazola bits because I can take unsightly scraps such as the above I used today - and with a little cutting, beating, folding, marking and polishing I can change them so they are ready to be given a new life in something of beauty.