and another one...

sorry about the music stopping so abruptly, but redoing this is taking too much time right now :-)

Lights, camera, action...

...well nearly! No this isn't the big secret I've been hinting at...I'm still working on a little essay and some nice piccies to illustrate what's going on.

I've been playing with Picasa, which I use to maintain a number of on-line image collections. It's really very handy and quite versatile. I put these little slide shows together in a matter of minutes and then added the soundtrack from my music collection on one of them. The other two had their sound tracks taken from the pre-licenced material on you tube...I've got a channel of my own there too now. Look for Iron Brush.

I've got to redo the Ginko one as the images don't loop throughout the song which was sort of the whole point.

Oh...and please choose the HQ ( high quality) option to get the most pleasing images.

It's finished...Ginko Vortex

I put the final touches to the latest piece last Thursday afternoon. I didn't look at it at all on Friday and Gavin came over today to make the sexy pictures. We're now enjoying a lovely red wine while waiting for my Malay chicken curry to mature. So...you'll forgive me not saying much about the finished work right now, I'll do that tomorrow sometime. For now though, here's a glimpse of part of it...and a link to a few more images.


It's becoming more important to actually give these little sculptures names now because I'll be doing similar subjects in the future and labelling them in this way will make it easier to identify them. Jo, my lovely wife, just suggested "Ginko Vortex"...I like it, so that's what it's called.

This is how I ended up chiselling those silver Ginko leaves.

After much experimentation on some of the trial leaves I made as to a convincing skin that captured something of the feel of the real leaves I finally settled on this finely chiselled effect. I used a tiny half round gouge shape about 0.3 mm across the cutting face...that'll give you an idea of the size of the lines. The whole assembly is just under 4 cm wide and is in fine silver.

I should also acknowledge a source of inspiration for this effect. I was browsing the net for images of ginko leaves when I stumbled on the blog of a young lady, designer jeweller called Abigail A. Percy. It was some of her beautiful, and delicate, drawings of leaves that had caught my attention. The slightly abstract treatment she had developed perfectly reflected where I was looking to go with this piece. So, thank you Abigail...you inspired me!

If you'd like to see some of Abigail's lovely jewellery creations as well as her drawings you find links to it all, here on her blog.

Now I want to add some tiny spots of gold "foxing" around the edges using fire gilding and will finish off with some sort of toning of the silver. I'm trying to get some sort of blue/green tarnish but it's been a bit elusive thus far...something will work out, eventually ;-)

You can see some more of these sorts of close-up, detail shots here

In case you were wondering what I've been up to...

I've been working on a new piece that features ginko leaves. I've used the leaves in a very sculptural way and have been experimenting ways of creating a convincing texture that is both delicate and emphasises the form. Ultimately, the best result came from some very demanding, and very fine engraving. I'm quite chuffed with the effect, I'll get some images up shortly. The image above is a greatly enlarged close-up of one of the leaves prior to the texture being engraved. It's carved fine silver. If you click on the image you can see it even bigger. That section is probably only 7mm across.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and rather than lie awake in bed I got up and did some calligraphy ( shodo ) practice. I don't usually show my brush work but I was quite pleased with this little bit because it's so idiosyncatic. It's just the name I sign on my tsuba.



While I'm here I thought I'd also plug a website that markets some pretty cool music. A strong emphasis on acoustic guitar with a bit of singer/songwriter/folk/blues is what you'll be able to sample at Candyrat.com

"Following the iron brush" is back!

Thanks to the untiring efforts of Lorenzo Amati, my faithful hatamoto, the forum is back on-line. Sorry for the long delay...but you only really realise how much you love something when it's gone...;-)

Lorenzo has managed to recreate accounts for all members who have ever posted on the forum...what you now need to do is email admin for your password to get in. Once inside you can change your settings to suit.

If you were previously registered but didn't ever post then I'm afraid you'll have to re-register.
It's not a big job...and then you can introduce yourself to us too ;-)...and get involved...c'mon, don't be shy. We're quite welcoming really.

See you there, Namaste

Ford

Nearly there....

Some of you might have noticed that the forum is looking normal again. At this stage Lorenzo is heroically re-establishing every member registration individually...he tells me he's down to the last 20! Please don't try to log in or register yet...as he's had to assign new passwords ( your original ones are unknown to us ) and we'll let you know how to get in and change them once everything is ship shape.

By doing this the hard way Lorenzo has managed to keep all the posts so we owe him a huge debt of gratitude for all his efforts.

thanks.

Ford

Just a brief update. All is looking good. We've still got everything in the forum but to ensure everyone's posts are visible Lorenzo still has to assign another 80 members. This will be completed by tomorrow evening. At this point you will need to contact admin to get a password so that you can access your account. You can then change it to what ever you want so we can't spy on you ;-)
Unfortunately, if you'd previously registered but never posted you'll have to re-register...sorry, but we have no way of finding you.

Hopefully we'll see you all inside within 24 hours....lets have a party!

If you're registered you can now email Lorenzo for your password ( log in and change it to suit )
Here's his address: amati.lorenzo AT tin.it

Ox kagamibuta

I found this little chap this morning while digging around in my studio. As it's the year of the ox I thought I post an image. It's shakudo with silver eyes and shibuichi horns. The disc is steel and measures about 28mm across. I made this about 15 years ago...but he still appeals to me :-)

If you double click the image you can view it as a much bigger picture.

a new year, a new idea for the next piece...

I've been toying with some ideas for the next piece and am still intrigued with long expressive leaves like those on the orchid tsuba and kagamibuta. I'm really enjoying developing a more direct sort of carving technique whereby the actual chisel marks are left to articulate the surface. I also love the juxtaposition of very refined and delicate inlay with these very immediate marks as left by the chisel face.

I found a beautiful piece of cloudy white mother of pearl in my scrap box, actually an old button, that just screamed "moon" at me. So I want to try and use this, set flush in a steel ground, to represent to moon seen through some grasses. I'm also going to try and develop the basic idea of how kagamibuta are made. I don't think any real exploration of the format took place in the past so I'll give it a go ;-) Basically exploring the way a metalworker can produce an artistic work that is still light enough to function as a netsuke and yet also make use of the full potential of our materials and processes.

I went out walking our dog yesterday and collected some various grasses. I've just been playing at minimalist ikebana. Here's one of the compositions I photographed...you might get some ideas for working out designs like this too, it trains your senses and eyes and it's good fun too.

Here's a link to some of the other images I took of grasses. Feel free to comment on them and if they're of any use to you please feel free...

It's 2009..

...and apparently the year of the bull! No doubt we'll get a fair amount of that from our glorious leaders, assorted economic egg heads and the media in general...so, it'll be business as usual then ;-)

But in a more humorous vein here's a link to a brilliant classic. May Warden ( then in her 70's) and Freddie Frinton. They'd been performing the sketch in Blackpool, England, during the summer of 1962 and were invited to perform it in Germany. As a result of it's very positive reception it was subsequently filmed in Hamburg the following year, a month before I was born!

Remarkably it went on to become a new years eve institution in Germany! and is an essential part of tv viewing each years end....so who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour?

Einen guten rutsch ins neuyahr! to all my German freinds and everyone else, too.

Another odd custom from that part of the world is called; "das Bleigießen". This involves melting a small amount of lead in a teaspoon and pouring it into a cup of water. The resulting shapes are interpreted as omens of the forthcoming year. I might try that...but use pure gold, you never know, it may help improve finances ;-)

All the very best to you all and Namaste,

Ford