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Yesterday I set myself the goal of carving three vases from salvaged timber. One of the possible downsides of using the salvaged timber is you need to be willing to accept the cracks and old inactive wood borer holes. Still as you can see from the photo above the end result can be beautiful.
Following are some process photos including cutting a log into pieces and enjoying the bark that was removed.
Ending with another photo of there trio of carved timber vases.
I was given a small stash of old and neglected silver-plated metal in case I could use it. I always ask to see if the person gifting the metal wanted to retain some connection with the pieces. In this case I agreed to make earrings for three family members if I could find metal that was still ok to use.
As you can see from the opening photo I have made five pair of earrings - I always like to give myself choice. I have made these earrings with the texture of the tray to the front.
The process photos start with blanks cut out of one of the trays. I also gave a piece of the metal the bend test to see that it could handle being folded - which it did - it was silver-plated brass. The photos also show that there are quite a number of steps involved in making leaf earrings.
The following photo is after I had added jump rings and earwigs to the ground, drilled and polished leaves.
And I took time to give my 'love' and 'joy' stamped earrings (see below) for Scotland a final grind and polish on the wheel.
I get a good vibe when I can gift back to people who give me material in a way that gives them a piece of their history but with a new purpose to create new memories.
Fiona makes it a habit to have a few flowers about in the house. Most often these are flowers picked from the gardens around our home. This blog post simply celebrates the beauty of these ordinary flowers.
I also celebrate the beauty of some of the orchids that are in bloom in G's orchid house at the moment.
The flowers about the house make me smile.
I think I have finished a couple more Scotland inspired watercolours. I say I think because it may be that I add a bit at some point!!! As you can see above I'm continuing the boat and building themes. The boat is a wreck on Talmine Beach and the building is a blue painted ruin from Tongue way.
Following are some process photos.
Finishing the blog post with a couple of photos of the completed works - they have not photographed as clearly as I would like - but here they are.
The number of completed works are beginning to grow and I'm still enjoying doing them and developing my technique.
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Given that my September 2023 exhibition in the Annex Gallery at Strathnaver Museum was my response to the injustice of clearing folk from their traditional farms and forcing them to become fishers; I thought it could be useful to make a record of the exhibition and its background. I have decided to self publish a book on the exhibition and the making of the public art piece - Fishers Post.
The opening image shows 4 pages of photos that might make it into the book. The image below show the layout I have decided on, the photos and the words written to accompany the photos.
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Images of the layout and words follow.
Quite a boring bit of creativity and hence a boring blog post; but as Fiona and I often say art is not always about the making.
The morning started deep dark but that allowed the sun to create an amazing light-show. Opening photo is from our carport door.
Just beautiful how the sun lit the clouds; and some amazing different clouds and colours as well.
I loved the little butcher bird sitting on a flagpole watching the sun, sun reflecting on its breast and warbling away.
We were away from home for a few days last week. We tend to stay in the same accommodation as it allows us to watch the river, the sea and the sunrises. One morning the light show was all about reflections as you can see below.
Both the light show at home and away were very restorative.
It was a bit of a rush job - but I managed to cut, stamp, form, grind and polish 8 pair of small leaves (25mm -60mm) for 8 pair of earrings. Four pair of love and four pair of joy - although they could be mixed.
The 16 leaves are in the opening photo - still need to be given a twist and earwigs added. Process photos follow. The metal was cut from two good quality Strachan drink coasters. The strips of metal were about 8-10mm wide.
Making tiny leaves has the added challenge of being a bit hard to hold when cutting and grinding-polishing. These earrings are destined for Scotland. The finished earrings will be shiny, light and strong.
