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

Orchid kagamibuta

I completed this latest piece just before Christmas, you may have seen some of the images I posted on the forum showing the work in progress. As soon as we get the forum's problems sorted I'll write a little more about this work and end off that thread properly. In the meantime, if you're interested, you can see some preliminary photos by visiting my Picassa gallery here.

If you double click on any of the images you'll see a much larger image, and if you then use the magnifying feature, at top right ( you'll see a little magnifying glass icon ) you can use that to see the image full size...which is ridiculously bigger than the real thing! You can also chose to view the images as a slide show.

The bowl is raised out of a sheet of 1mm thick steel and the eyelet at the back is made in Japanese green gold ( Ao-kin ). The inset disc is also steel, with the flowers in silver, gold and brass. I braided the cord using some rattan-like cord Jo found in a bead shop. I used a Japanese kumihimo technique, which I quite enjoyed. I think I'll explore that process a bit more in the future. I wanted the cord to echo a woven basket, the sort I've seen orchids displayed in, in the East, as well as hint at jungle vines.

The whole idea behind the piece was to try and create a tightly framed nature scene that at the same time was both a painting and a sculpture. As always, the mood and atmosphere was of
most importance to me. I'm quite pleased with the result myself.
I was particularly happy with this close up and tightly cropped shot. Sort of reminds me of the sort of tones you often see in a Rembrandt. Of course, while he was probably the best handler of oil paint and could engrave copper plate quite well he was rubbish when it came to inlaying and carving steel....still, we can't expect him to have done everything, thank goodness! ;-)



As with most images on this blog, double clicking on any of them will give you a much bigger picture.

Peace and Goodwill to all...

Christmas morning, the most magical moment of the year for our little ones. Looking at this photo, from 1967, of my amazing little brother Clive ( the enfant terrible of the netsuke world) and me, I can only wonder at our innocence and our sense of expectation. Jo and I have just enjoyed watching Joel, who's all of 7 now, discover all the treasures that some anonymous bloke in a beard and red suit left under the tree. It's amazing how up to date Santa's elves are though, they make very nice PSP's these days...no more wooden trains and building blocks! Today, our children are far more savvey about what's out there and naturally enough they expect to have access to all the really good stuff. Who can blame them?...and don't we all?

I hope you all have a wonderful, gentle day today. I hope you're with the people you care for the most and that being together is the most precious gift you all receive today. My christmas wish is that some small part of the specialness and togetherness that today brings will last until next time. That we can remember a little of what's really important...as far as I'm concerned, this is all we get in this life and I want to savour each and every moment, I don't want to miss a second. We just don't know when the game's over, so for the love of all that precious in your life, live...live now!, like it's the last thing you'll ever do.

Being alive, here and now, is the most amazing thing. What an incredible gift?...and you get to unwrap that one every morning when you wake up!

Jo, Joel, Kyle and I wish you all the most wonderful year ahead and hope we can all keep a bit of todays magic with us each day.

Namaste.
Ford

Where's the forum gone?

If you've been trying to access the followingtheironbrush forum and been getting an error message you'll be pleased to know that the intrepid admin team of Amati and Hallam are on the case. Of course we have no idea what we're doing but we remain optimistic that eventually we'll do something helpful and restore everything to what we like to call "normality"

Please bear with us, we'll get normal service resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime spend some quality time with your families... or maybe even read a book ;-)

Namaste, Ford

My Orchid Tsuba

Here it is, I completed it shortly before I left for Japan at the end of October. I think the influence of Kano Natsuo is very clear but I think my treatment of the ground is becoming more my own intuitive process now. I've been quite unconventional in the placement of the leaves and flowers on the back but it didn't raise any comment or negative critique so I imagine it worked.


The flowers are inlaid in a pale gold alloy I made up and enabled me to develop something of an oxide/patina layer to help create a shaded and modulated tone. It was really important to me to get away from the shiny appearance of gold and to use it purely for the colour I wanted to show.
You can follow most of the creation of this piece on the iron brush forum, here's a link to that thread

...and here's a link to some more images of the completed tsuba.