Rust and words

Every now and then a theme emerges from photo taking. A couple of months ago on a bush-walk at Rainbow Beach Fiona and I encountered the following rusted words that were part of a sign about a great coastal walk.

Barry Smith © Rusted word 1 - Rainbow Beach

Barry Smith © Rusted word 2 - Rainbow Beach

When we were in Perth a couple of weeks ago we came upon a fairly formal bronze statue but the base was a magical combination of reconstituted stone and rusted Corten steel. Messages about the progress of WA under the esteemed leader were spelt out in cutout words. I selected a few.

Barry Smith © Rusted word 3 - Perth

Barry Smith © Rusted word 4 - Perth

Barry Smith © Rusted word 5 - Perth

Barry Smith © Rusted word 6 - Perth

Barry Smith © Rusted word with shoe print - Perth

Barry Smith © Rusted word 7 - Perth

All photos were taken with iPhone - I never cease to be amazed that some different colours appear without manipulation. But I do find that rust and cutouts and edges make for some good iPhonegraphy manipulation. So I couldn't resist sharing a few of the photos that have been given different treatments.

Barry Smith © Manipulating words 1

Barry Smith © Manipulating words 2

Barry Smith © Manipulating words 3

Barry Smith © Manipulating words 4

Barry Smith © Manipulating words 5

Usually I try a few approaches before I save the changes I want - the pattern and colour etc of the original dictates what works best.

Metal letters

The garage sale went well yesterday - though people started turning up in the dark - 45 minutes before the advertised start time. But the good news is that we worked at selling for 6 hours and managed to move almost everything - so we now have a clear shed and in the next couple of weeks it will be turned into a print studio and teaching venue.

So today we rewarded ourselves with time in the studio. I used it to finish my ALAW 2011 black and white letters; and also turned the letters into a 3d presentation. I will post on the work on the ALAW 2011 blog but thought I'd share a few of the images here as well given the letters have been created from rusted metal straps; recycled tin (painted white); recycled bits from anodised canisters; recycled wire coat-hangers; and pop-rivets - a bit 'Rustnsfuffish' really.

Barry Smith © ALAW - Q 

Barry Smith © ALAW - black and white with a touch of colour

Barry Smith © ALAW - detail - B&W alphabet

Working out how to get the sequence right on the coat-hanger wire rods was a bit of a challenge. Fiona and I talked through and drew five options before settling on the one I used - always good to have another supporting artist on hand.

Barry Smith © ALAW - 3D B&W alphabet

The piece still needs a bit of finessing.

Chunky-bum beaten metal letter R

As you may be aware that Fiona is the calligrapher in our household not me - so my letters for the A Letter a Week 2010 challenge are often a bit odd in the proportion and form departments. So maybe Fiona's comment about my letter R being a bit of a "chunky-bum" could, and I only suggest this is a possiblity, could be correct.

Anyway, what I was attempting to do with the R was practice using the same hammer to beat the metal from both sides to create the reverse effect. The background was to have the indents and the letter itself would be in relief from the background.

The photos show that I have achieved this in a rudimentary way. And I was able to use the $8 hammer that I bought from the community market to do the work.

Back to beating - letters that is

This past week has been a bit too full of computer work and not enough art. I didn't get down to the studio-garage to do a little bit of Friday afternoon art therapy. Anyway enough of the moans I hear you say.

Well today after talking to a couple of fellow ALaWers I was energised to do an I and J. I was experimenting with a couple of things.

With the I the folds have to be made so that they do not go right to the edge each time. You can see I was partially successful - with the centre fold I was able to get a nice crisp fold that had a beginning and an end away from the edge - not so good with the cross bars - more practice.

With the J I wanted to get a raised J form by marking the front and then beating the letter from the back. This worked reasonably well - a bright and joyful J stands out.

‘G’ is for glitter - stamped metal letter

With my first A Letter a Week letter G I have used the heavier gauge brass from the side of an old heavy pot plant holder. The metal is a bit too brittle for foldforming and given that G has curves I have gone for stamping the metal.





Stamping the background with a plumber’s hardened G stamp has enabled the G to stand out and polishing the whole piece with steel wool just makes the G shine. And as is the case with this particular brass if you work it on one particular side you do get a nice curve happening.

Letter ‘B’ and Bowl Bits

There is nothing better for the creative spirit than to have a few things on the go at once. I still haven’t finished the Spiky bowl yet but because I was in the garage hammering out a ‘B’ for the ALaW challenge. Whilst there I thought I might as well make a start on a second bowl that might end up in the Super Bowl 2010 challenge.

It all did get a bit exciting at one point. Noela had given me the workings of a largish wind up clock and I was keen to get a few parts out of it for my next bowl – well after removing a few screws the whole thing just let go and shot springs and gear wheels all over the bench. The noise was such that Fiona came down stairs to insure I had not done myself a bit of damage – but no it was all good – just found a quick way to dismantle the beast.

The ‘B’ was hammered out of a piece waste brass. I used a delicate little hammer I made out of a hand held chisel. It required hundreds of hammer strokes to create the contrast and get the frayed edges.

I thought I would also just post a couple of photos of the bits that will be used in the next bowl including some of the exploding clock parts. The basic bowl shape of the larger bowl element has been beaten into shape.

Metal pages

The pressure is on to get the artists’ book completed in the next few days. Fortunately straining a few muscles in my back has meant that I can’t get outside and haul gravel and do other landscaping jobs on the block – so the art work for Mackay and COMA have got a bit of a move along.

I finished the metal pages for my artists' book today – I think the shape and some of the patina looks great. The poem I am using is stamped on the pages – takes quite a long time and accuracy to get the words into the metal so to speak - but I like the combination of the three dimensional work and the written word.