All but completed

 

The traditional fishing boat being built by volunteers in partnership with the Strathnaver Museum is all but complete - see above. Fiona and I visited the building workshop (poly tunnel - Borgie) twelve months ago when it was in its early stages. The floor, painting and or making were in progress this morning. The volunteers are aiming to launch the boat on 28 September; and Fiona and I plan to be at the launching event.

The boat is based on the traditional shape, building techniques and structure of the boat displayed in the SNM Annex.

The boat is painted white as you can see from the photo below; but the poly tunnel cladding makes it look pale green.

The shape of the boat is gorgeous as you can see from the photos in this blog.

A few other progress-production photos follow.

This has been a truly amazing feat by the volunteers; and what a gorgeous gift to the community and the story of the local fishing industry.

The big cleanup

 

As part of our ongoing tradition, Fiona and I have been doing a bit of sorting, gifting and disposing of stuff as part of the end-beginning of year. We have been in our current home for just over two years now so we felt it was time to review what we had in my work shed and stored downstairs in the store room. We thought we might have a small garage sale.

We had talked to a few folk in our village and the resident's committee decided that we would have a village wide garage sale; and also order in a largish skip bin to dispose of rubbish.

I did no art work over the last few days as our time was given over to: transporting goods including stuff from my and other folk's work spaces as seen in the ute in the first photo; sorting; categorising; pricing; making signs; putting signs out; taking signs in  etc etc.

As a combined group we had a pretty huge array of and quantity of stuff. A few photos follow that don't do justice to the range and quantity. As well as the indoor space shown in the final photo we had two large outdoor display areas as well - big!!!!

We failed to take photos of the selling frenzy and post sale clean up; but suffice to say the outcome of a few days work was very good including a ute load taken to the local resource centre. Funds raised will go to improving the village community centre amenities and functioning.

This week I will oversee the collection of stuff for the skip; and the packing of the bin to maximise its capacity. In all of that Fiona and I did achieve our goal of moving stuff on that we were no longer using or in love with.

All but ready

 

I received a message that said the group behind the development of the community grief garden-journey of life garden want to install 5 posts and the 'rest, reflect, renew' bench seat next week. That means I needed to have the bench seat finished this weekend. Yesterday afternoon was dedicated to glueing and screwing the bits together as you can see from the photos below.

Today was all about routing the words "rest - reflect - renew" into the front edge of the bench. I got up to the stage of inking the routed words as you can see in the opening photo. A light sand tomorrow to get rid of excess ink stain and the seat is ready for pick up and installation.

Fiona prepared a template of the words for me to copy onto the timber and then rout. Photos of the words, carbon paper etc follow.

And then it was on to the routing - not a professional job - still I think the slightly freehand  look might add to the experience of those using the seat. Pretty cute ink pot???

All a bit of a rush but we are getting there.

Pause and remember bench seat

Over the last couple of days I have completed the cutting, sanding and oiling timber for a bench seat that might go into a grief garden - if the garden gets approval from the local authorities. The photo above is Fiona testing the bench for height in her sartorial yard splendour.

Yesterday I cut the supports in three graduated lengths to give a stepped look; but Fiona and I felt that it detracted from the simplicity of the bench. So today I recut the supports to the width of the seat. I think it is a better look.

A few process photos follow. The timber is very hard and heavy hard wood - first life as fence posts for a horse property - hence the holes etc in the timber. The cut ends of the timber have been sealed with timber wax.

While I had the sander on the go I gave the base for my negative space leaf sculpture a sand and oil - really brought out the grain.

If the bench seat eventually goes into the garden I will need to bolt it together and cement it into the ground. It will be raised about 50mm on a cement base. And Fiona and I will rout the words pause and remember on the front edge of the seat.

What will emerge

©2020 Barry Smith - Micro poster (post card size) - blue ink on black Arches Velin

Fiona, her dad (G) and I have been having a few yarns lately about what our world might look like when we emerge from the pandemic - however long that takes.

Fiona has ferreted out articles that have helped us to think a bit about questions like: what do we want to keep from this time of pandemic; and what do we want to see removed?

I have been particularly taken by Rebecca Solnit's article in the The Guardian on 7 April 2020 (The impossible has already happened: what coronavirus can teach us about hope).

I have printed a micro poster (really a post card on its vertical axis) with a quote from the article.

I was printing with a strong blue - it looks good on the grey; but Fiona suggested we try the black as well - looks gorgeous - almost shines.

A few process images follow.

©2020 Barry Smith - Locking up the type - attribution to Solnit yet to be added

©2020 Barry Smith - Many proofs - trying to get the ink and damaged type to work

©2020 Barry Smith - Blue on grey - not looking too bad

©2020 Barry Smith - Rack of micro posters drying - F has added the Deckled Edge Press chop 

We had a few issues with the printing  - it turned out that the tray of old font I was using (Plackard bold condensed 30pt) had quite a few letters that had been damaged and were printing a bit patchy; and the white ink I was using as a base for the blue was very dry and therefore was not taking up and transferring as well as I would like. That of course is part of the process - always learning.

I think Solnit's words challenge us to begin the process of thinking about: what is important to us; and to begin to take action now to see if we can encourage our politicians, community and business folk to hold on to some of the good things that have emerged in this time.

©2020 Barry Smith

Starting and continuing

©2019 Barry Smith - Stamped star and tiny lowers

There was not a lot of time available to get into the garage-studio over the weekend - plenty of things to do on the block and in the neighbourhood.

I had a plan in my mind about what I would do this year as tokens to recognise the work of some of our local volunteers. I need to keep it simple as I need to make about 40 of these tokens of appreciation. I have decided on a concave triangle that has a star (volunteers are stars) and small flowers The photo above shows a bit of the detail of the stamped star; and the photos below just a couple of photos of the process.

©2019 Barry Smith - Deciding on the size of the metal triangles  - marking up rough silver-plated metal

©2019 Barry Smith - Comparison of smaller and larger triangles of metal

©2019 Barry Smith - Stamped concave triangles - about 60mm from top to bottom and 40mm across the bottom - hole in the top in case some want to turn them into pendants of for a keyring - still in need of grinding and polishing

I think this design will work so I will now make about 40 of them.

I used a bit of time to progress the word-leaves. The bigger ones are now ready for grinding and polishing. The smaller ones have been hammered but need opening before grinding and polishing.

©2019 Barry Smith - Small word-leaves hammered ready for opening

©2019 Barry Smith - Larger word-leaves opened and ready for grinding and polishing

Progress on multiples can seem slow - but that is just because of the numbers. Hopeful;l;y they will be done during the week.

More metal with a message

©2017 Barry Smith - Curled over stems of peace leaf bookmarks

Today was given over to work on the block - getting jobs done while the weather was fine - including oiling 5 decks. My art post today is about peace leaf bookmarks I have been working on during the week.

Last Thursday I was asked by our local Maleny Neighbourhood Centre if I could make 100 small simple peace leaves. These leaves are to be given away by the Centre volunteers at our local Christmas Festival (tonight - and it is raining) to say thanks to members of our community for support during the past year. The Centre also asked that the leaves be stamped with a peace symbol - peace at Christmas.

The photo below shows over 100 cut and stamped leaves in the rough - cut from various bits of recycled brass and copper - before grinding and polishing.

©2017 Barry Smith

I turned the stems of the leaf forms so that they can be used as book marks or a pendant. So this is what a box of 109 peace leaf bookmarks looked like - delivered yesterday (Thursday)

©2017 Barry Smith - A box of peace leaf bookmarks

And a couple of photos of the finished leaves.

©2017 Barry Smith

©2017 Barry Smith

I think it is almost time for a red wine!!!