Home

In Memoriam : Pendulum for my father

(Architect by trade, artist by desire, craftsman by inclination)

Meccano, brass, wood, string and straw

Wave-Plate

III(I) / III(II) & V:

Three silver rings

Vasiform

I & II:

Two silver

rings

(2020.06.02) It's been a while... but I fell down some boiler house steps and ruptured my Achilles tendon. Very boring. Couldn't get to my bench with my leg plastered and/or booted for some time... and then Covid 19 popped up from somewhere to hamper all our lives. Such is the interesting nature of mankind's existence. What next I wonder? Anyhow I'm back at it now and have a few rings to flaunt for your entertainment.

I've been playing with tube again and also been mucking about with corrugating silver sheet. My first experiments in copper were pretty much a failure, but slowly I have got the hang of it. I have found it to be somewhat unpredictable, which can be tricky when one has a precise plan but I am grasping what it is to be more adaptable. I'm sure there's much more to learn, especially at the folding/corrugating end of things. This could run and run.

(2019.12.10 again) For your continued delectation, please observe the completed brooch of which I wrote on 08.31. It turns out that there is a weight of silver in it but I am quite pleased with the results. It took a deal of negotiation to solder the damn thing together, that aside it was a reasonably straightforward build. Made some earrings to match. I feel a suite coming on, so there may be a ring to follow.

There are more tubiform rings (of different design), awaiting completion at the moment and then I think I might turn to something a little Egyptian... along the lines of a scarab, incorporating some of the techniques I have 'worked-up' of late.

I wish you all a sombre Advent and a joyous Christmas. Over and out... for the present.

Ambit : Silver tubular

form brooch

Orbit : Silver tubular

form earrings

(below)

(2019.12.10) Well, here we are again. Has it really been four months since I last bored my one interested observer with something new? And what day do I unwittingly pick? Otis Redding's Years Mind, God rest his soul. How much has his music moved me over the years. Does anyone remember that wonderful split-sided Monterey Festival LP on the Reprise label, with Hendrix on one side and Otis on the other? I played my copy to destruction. Bought it from a long-gone 'Black Country' record shop, alongside (at the time), a notorious red-vinyl 12" Rolling Stones bootleg single, with a version of 'Brown Sugar' including Eric Clapton on one side, recorded at Keith Richard's birthday party (now available officially) and 'Cocksucker Blues' on the other. Then I was an aspiring art student with the world at my feet, or so I thought. Now I am a sad old git banging away at bits of silver in my shed.

I completed the tubular wire rings (after hallmarking), at the end of October (see below) and moved on to a couple of other things, which I finished last month (see above). So you might, if you are feeling generous, observe that I have not been entirely idle... just moving real slow.

Cannular: Three

silver tubiform rings

(2019.08.31) More work in progress (see immediately below)… can't do anymore with this lot until I've got their bits hallmarked. Have begun to play about with tubing of late - I guess we all come to it in the end. I'm finding it more difficult to work than wire, far less forgiving - but there are some interesting effects that might be had (I hope), in the fullness of time. Whilst waiting, just to buck the trend, I'm working on a holey (not be confused with holy), brooch (i.e. a brooch full of holes), made from yet more silver tubing. 'Don't make brooches' all the hip dudes say: 'they ain't cool. No one buys brooches anymore.' Who cares. Let's make them cool and desirable again say I. Digressing entirely, I've recently realised how few of my metallic meanderings I have posted. I shall have to make an effort to splash more of them about the place. TTFN.

Blaed : silver wire ring(s)

(2019.06.01) At last. It's taken a little while to finish but Spring has been diverting. Holy Week, Easter, Our Lady of the Isles (look her up, she's inspiring, poignant and quite beautiful), walking deserted beaches on the west coast of Berneray (next stop America) and the death of a very old Lancaster crewman have intervened. An occasional equilibrium restored however and here we are again, a pair of wire rings finally completed (see 2019.03). They are designed to be worn simultaneously on the second and forth fingers, the long 'tails' lying parallel with each other over the third finger.

Volute : silver and ammonite ring

(2019.03.31) I've allowed myself to get side-tracked. 'You can't make a mistake when you improvise.' quoth Patti Smith. I came across this ammonite and was encouraged to do something with it. Ammonites were marine animals present between 240 and 65 million years ago and are related to living coleoids, like octopuses (they start out as monopuses; honest... and grow into duopuses etc. etc. etc. Thankyou Gerrard), squid, and cuttlefish - yum. I went through my scrap box and came up with this. I completed it on Mothering Sunday afternoon. Not yet sure what I think about it but my 'finishing' might be improving. Now, where was I?

(2019.03) On the way now... but still work to do

(2019.02) Work in progress... a pair of silver rings to be worn simultaneously on the second and fourth fingers... currently on the bench.

(2019.01) Finished this one recently...Inflorescence : silver ring

(2019.01) Might do something with this watercolour some time.

Made on an Inner Hebridean island... it feels like a doo-dad to me.

Cristolbalite : silver wire and opal ring

(2018... sometime towards the end of the year - I can't really remember when) I've been meaning to add this one for some time but haven't got round to it before. This was my second experiment using silver wire as the main constituent part of an item. I had some kicking about in my scrap box, and an opal I didn't know what to do with. (I've never been very good with stones, can't seem to figure them out - there must be something more entertaining to do with the little blighters than unceremoniously plonking 'em - as we invariably seem to do - atop a dollop of miscellaneous metal. I shall have a think about it). Anyhow I rescued my errant odds and ends (I hesitate to call them flotsam and lagan, and jetsam and derelict, it just wouldn't do), and made this one up freestyle as I went along.