Rustnstuff: Feathers

Showing posts with label Feathers. Show all posts

Friday, December 1, 2017

Of birds and bowls

I had a few requests for work during the week including: 100 flat leaves; a set of Fungi Form vessels; and a hand formed metal feather.

The photo above shows one of two 'feathers' I made. It is about 5cm long including the quill section (the image is a bit out of focus - rushing at the end of the day).

Yesterday I cut and roughly formed metal to make 3-4 sets of Fungi Form vessels. I also cut the metal for the 100 leaf forms.

Today I managed to complete two sets. One set is about 5-6cm across and the other about 7cm.

A solid Friday in the studio garage; and good to be back to a bit of hammering.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Mist, moon and moulting

This post is quite eclectic.

We have had some misty mornings of late - this soft mist tends to collect beautifully on tiny spiders' webs that cling to the underside of the deck railings. I captured some shots (with the iPhone) of these delicate structures on Monday.

The moon of course always captivates me - so a few photos taken with the Canon Powershot. Some photos taken early through the bushes, power lines and clouds in the evening a couple of nights ago; and a couple of shots very early in the morning.

And on my walk this morning my eye was drawn to a number of tiny feathers that were stuck to the damp roadway and dew covered grass - a little be or preening or jolting going on - but whatever lovely treasures to be seen in the fine detail.

Sometimes it is the tiny things that offer so much beauty - the eye can hardly see the details at time - but macro shots give another view of the micro world.

The valley this morning

Friday, July 31, 2015

Finishing feathers on Friday

More recently quite a lot of my creative time has gone into bigger art works - community and commission. However in an earlier post I indicated I was quietly making a few metal feathers.

I have managed to finish four pendant feathers; and three sets of earring feathers. All the feather forms were hand hammered on my smaller anvil. Recently in a 'collectables' shop I bought four older silver chains - I have used these on the feather pendants - another bit of recycling and reuse. The pendant feathers are about 6cm long. The chains are all about 50cm long.

The earring feathers are about 2.5-3cm long.

A small creative task but quite a nice sense to complete a task. Friday - hmm - off to have a quiet drink or two and some zuchini slice.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Friends of the feathers etc

A friend and fellow artist bought a pair of my metal feather earrings and wanted a feather for a pendant. And of course with these things though I had been given width and length you are never sure just what the person is looking for. So in the end I made 5 feather forms; 3 for her to choose from; and she was delighted with one.

The beaten feather forms look as follows…

I had a request to make a couple of ladles for another artist friend. So I thought I would make four so I could offer her the best options. The first stage of ladle making is to create exquisite small bowls - in this instance one small deeper bowl and three shallower bowl forms.

Blogger is playing up and I can't load many photos - so will need to give an update another time. Now I need to bring the bowls and handles together - a little riveting to happen - maybe tomorrow.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Inspired by feathers

We are in the midst of a heat wave. This is quite unusual on the mountain where it is often cooler than on the lower lands. On our morning walks Fiona and I have noticed many more feathers on the road and beside the road.

We wondered if the birds were feeling the heat to such an extent that they were shedding some of their plumage. We hope they are coping OK; and that this heatwave passes through in the next couple of days.

We were intrigued by the colour and delicacy of some of the feathers so collected a few to photograph at home as you can see below.

And of course nature is a great inspirer. It is too hot to do too much work in the garage-studio - but I felt the creation of a small pair of feather forms for earrings would not be too great an exertion. The feathers below are made from a scrap of recycled silver-plated EPNS that was lying on the bench. The feather forms are about 4cm long and 1cm wide.

Fiona said that though she loved these feather forms - maybe they could go into the shop.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

iPhoneography and Fantasy Feathers

As well as finishing off the jewellery bits and earrings for Fiona's cousin I gave the prototypes of the 'little blue metal feathers' a light polish to take off the rough edges. As you can see from the photo below the polishing has resulted in creating some silver highlights; bringing out some of the texture; and muting the blue slightly.

In her comment on Bits in the rough Carol brought my attention to an iPhoneography opportunity. Whilst I'm not sure I will get time to make all the connections and requirements to be part of this activity it did encourage me to take the photos of a real feather and the 'little blue metal feather' with the iPhone and give a couple of the photos the treatment with the FX app.

One of the things I enjoy about the naked iPhone close-up photos is that you can often create some interesting effects by how the colours of the objects and light bounces back. This provides some interesting opportunities for modification with the apps.

I have found that not all photos lend themselves to startling modifications; but I knew that the light and texture of the naked shots would produce some interesting variations. Just love how the shadow under both the real and metal feather just glow as if lit from below when modified using the iPhone app.