Repurposing salvaged objects

 

Many moons ago I had removed the bowl sections off a few vintage champagne coupes - yes there are such things - certainly a thing in days gone by. They were wider and shallower goblets!!

Anyway I digress. I thought if hammered the bowls to create a deeper shape and planish the back surface, the coupe sections would make good deep ladle bowl sections.

As you can see from the opening photo I have made three deeper ladles. These can be used for ladling hot soup, or stews or ladling jams or sauces into jars - very versatile!!! The handles are a bit longer than usual so one can keep one's hands away from hot or boiling liquids.

A few of the process photos follow: forming handles, formed bowls before planishing, the planishing process and back and front of the bowls after planishing and polishing.

A few more images of the finished ladles. I have used 2mm thick copper rivets on these ladles - cut down copper nails.

These ladles have been put into my online shop under the Culinary Metal category 

Olive and other tiny ladles

 

I have had requests for more olive ladles - so over the last couple of days I have spent time in the workshop to make seven ladles - 3 olives, 3 tiny and 1 unique tiny one. The opening photo is of the seven on a black piece of ply on the workshop bench.

I often share some process photos - so some follow. Couple of the marked up metal silver-plated placemat; couple of the formed ladle bowls; and a few odds and ends.

To round things off there are a few more photos of the finished ladles on the black ply.

The olive and tiny ladles will make there way into the Culinary Metal category in my online shop.

Metal magic

 

Over the last week I have grabbed moments to make. As you can see in this blog the focus was on finishing some small pewter and copper boats - 8.5cm long; and some olive ladles - about 3cm in diameter.

The opening photo shows the finished boats; and the following couple of photos are process related.

I was asked to make three olive ladles for Christmas gifts; and then another person wanted to buy six ladles including two olive, two sauce and two larger ladles. Over the last couple of days Fiona and I were doing packing and posting to get the ladles and other metal pieces including stones, boats and wee metal cottages delivered before Christmas. The ladles are made from salvaged silver-plated copper or brass.

Our online shops are currently offline until we get the studio sorted and settled. However, if there is something you have seen on my blog or insta that you want to make enquiries about and/or buy simply email  me - info@barrysmithart.com. 

Culinary Metal and salvaged metal

 

I have a request to make a larger ladle (6-7cm in diameter) with drain holes and a shorter handle about 12.5 cm long). The ladle is to be used for straining off the spices that are used to make a mug of chai. The above photo shows the outcome from the work bench.

Following are some process photos - starting with a couple of silver plated brass disks cut from silver plated coasters. The positioning of the drain holes were carefully marked before punching the holes with a largish hand operated punching tool. I considered several options for the handles but finally settled on strips of salvaged 2mm thick brass. The brass was quite brittle and needed to be annealed well to enable me to bend the hook at the end of the handle.

The person who requested the chai strainer also wanted an olive strainer ladle. The photo below shows the three culinary functional items - though the person requesting the chai strainer will be given the choice between the 6cm and 7 cm strainer.

I had all but run out of pewter ingots so I did a bit of cutting and melting - so I now have a good stash for making hearts and stars.

A satisfactory couple of periods in the workshop.

Olive ladles

 

One of the designs I developed for my handmade ladles is a perforated tiny (3.5cm diameter) ladles with the handle bent at about 90 degrees to the bowl.  See a photo of the bowl section of three olive ladles in the opening photo. 

I refer to these ladles as Olive Ladles as initially I designed them being used to scoop olives out of a jar; and for the perforations (holes) to let the oil or vinegar flow back into the jar. 

People who have bought the ladles say they can use them for scooping out cocktail onions and capers.

Some process photos of the making of the ladles follow including - starting with disks of decorative silver-plated metal cut from salvaged silver-plated brass placemats; punching holes into the disks; planishing the backs of the bowls after they have been formed from the disks (see planishing hammer in the photo); and attaching the brass rod handles with copper or brass rivets (see the small riveting hammer in the photo).

In my last couple of making sessions I made seven of these olive ladles as you can  see from the photo below. Why 7? I like odd numbers; and also needed quite a stash as I had orders for four!!

Restoration and preparation

 

The photo above shows my electric furnace heated to 650 degrees - inside of the heating chamber.

A few days ago one of my graphite crucibles ruptured during a metal melt - see photo of the base of the ruptured crucible below. 

Unfortunately the hot metal just disappeared - I was not sure where it had gone and the furnace was too hot to deal with. So I just turned it all off and walked away.

This morning I investigated the furnace and found the metal had cooled into a blob at the base of the heating chamber - see photo below. However it could not be removed because the ceramic rim was quite a bit smaller in diameter than the base of the heating chamber.

Short restoration version - I managed to unscrew the metal frame holding the ceramic rim, removed the rim itself and was able to remove the metal blob (photo below) and put the furnace back together - photo below.

I tested the furnace with a replacement crucible and poured a few stars - below.

I gave the metal blob a grind - see below - grey and shiny and interesting texture . Not quite sure what I will do with this metal form.

I also cut salvaged silver plates placemats in preparation for making olive ladles and a few cone shaped bowls.

Good to be back in the shed using the tools.