Random beauty

A realy tough day today, so i typed 'random beauty' into google and the first thing to catch my eye was this bloghttp://halftheunknownworld.blogspot.com/2008/04/totally-random-beauty.html
so in the spirit of randomness to keep the invisable chain, i posted my own.

A Ghost in the House

Today has been spent modifiying a commisioned piece from several years ago.
A useful experince, if only to remind me that I was right to step off that path and begin the search for a new one.

We Seek it Here

Above, pages of a sketch book from few years back.

Transfiguration

So again the theme of transfiguration, so much a part of casting wax into metal. Melting a material in one form, maybe an ingot and casting it into another to give form to an idea - artistic alchemy.

Shown above is the athame mentioned previously and I was initially very happy with it. However I had designed it without a full understanding of its utility. As my understanding of its intended owner deepens, I was no longer satisfied that it would fulfil the criteria for the function asked of it. I am actually excited by this - this project is evolving - the object itself can be more fit for purpose as well as being a thing of beauty. So much of me has been poured into this form I don't want to lose it all, so transfiguration - it will be melted down re-cast. Energy and matter recycled, re-incarnated. The bold law of conservation - energy cannot be created nor destroyed still remains resolute even in the face of modern quantum theory!

In our search for meaning, connectivity and fulfillment, sacred objects can be used to gather and store energy, becoming attuned with us, vibrational.

A life without meaning is not life.
If we search for our own personal truth we will find it.
We do need it.

The Discipline of Repetition

Been making yet more master moulds for the pebble divinities. Dotty has been road testing one and, using her feed back and also having found a weakness in the hinge design, I am working on the MK2 versions. Unfortunately it doesn't make for interesting photographs in the vein of those posted on the MK1. So instead, a lichen growing on a moss covered branch. I love the shape and colour, from bronze to heavy verdigris and cupric nitrates.
It is all there, such simple beauty lying by the side of the road, brought down by the recent storm.

Sacred Objects

"he had a vision as a sculptor, creating this object of sacred artistic integrity"
Bambi on the late Indian Larry's philosophy for building choppers

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

So - Robert.M.Pirsig, philosopher of quality and value believed that the study of a motorcycle was as valid a route to enlightenment as the study of a cherry tree.
Do objects have intrinsic quality or do they embody only the values we project upon them?
I certainly do not believe there are any rules about routes to the divine. Some paths are well trodden but carry with them the risk of dogma or mediated experience. However other routes are fresh and new, alive with direct experience albeit strewn with rocks and unmarked hazards.

Re-filling The Well

Some days inspiration strikes, but not necessarily in the direction you were 'supposed' to be working in.
But the muse must not be denied!
So today I was working on a commission for an athame - a symbolic dagger used to cast protective circles during pagan rituals.
I got to the 'full-on-creative-buzz' phase, when you just know that you are in the process of creating something good and worthwhile. Experiencing that feeling that accompanies taking a shape out of your head and making it real. That moment when the final piece of the jigsaw leaves your mind and you perceive how the object in your hand can fit back into your original vision.

Fragment faces

Small bronze faces from a few years back, steps on the path towards here

Crow Box Video

A Murder of Crows

The first completed Crow Box pocket divinity.

A Bird in The Hand

Piece from 5 years go, hinting at the direction my work would take though I didnt know it at the time!

Emergent Flock

transfigured wax to pewter

A Tiny Flock

In the wake of all that raven reaserch - a tiny flock of wax crows, soon to be metal crows!

Pocket Sculptures

To recap, the original Pocket Divinities are small sculptures to carry with you, to remind you of your own connection with the divine within us all. A talisman, an amulet, a meditative friend.
Tiny sculptures which are as much about touch as they are about sight, Something I think is so often lost. Sculptures are not paintings, they are not illusions - they share space with us. They invite touch to understand, to connect and enjoy a simple sensual pleasure.

Catching My Eye

......Or as they used to call it at art school - visual research! These power poles found by the side of the road on my daily walks about the country side - I love the stark lines drawn against the sky, the glittering jewellery of the glass insulators, and the insect legs of the circuit breakers. I don't know if this takes me anywhere yet, but it feeds into the visual language of my work and its just something i enjoy looking at. Do we need to understand the reasons for everything? Is not finding pleasure in the seemingly mundane not reason enough?

A Bigger Boat

So here they are 2 deeper boxes, with the original slim box. Not as deep as I thought, it turns out and adequately spacious to fit the small crows.

But what size the crows in our hearts? Their harsh wooden cries punctuate a brittle winter's morning. A murder of crows inspired by the Girl with her Ravens. The crows reside in the box, the box is in your pocket. Open the box and set them free. Open your heart and release your own ravens.

Iteration

Today I have been working on the deeper boxes - making moulds as well as casting and investing the waxes. In lost wax casting, the piece you want to produce in metal initially has to be cast in wax. Investing is the term used for the refractory mould that will then be cast around the waxes. It is into this investment mould that the molten metal is poured once the wax has been burnt out, leaving a cavity in the exact shape of the finished metal casting.

A Deeper Box

After the first prototype, two things became clear. This can work, but not in the way I was anticipating. To fit the crows into such a small box would take a folding mechanism in the form that I had originally imagined. While this is certainly possible, it will add to the complexity and ultimately price of the finished piece. This is an issue as one of primary objectives of the pocket divinity was to make it affordable and so I feel that I need a simpler solution. So a deeper box is required! There is a trade off here, between the depth of the box and the size of the crows and this is in turn is influenced by the limit to the size of a piece if it is to be portable.

What I haven't ascertained is the effect of scale on the crows - is bigger necessarily better? This would certainly be easier to make, but will they add or distract from the effect of the finished work? I do not have a definitive answer to this at this point in time - more experimental work is required.

Further Study of Crows

There is, I think, a myth that art comes easily to talented artists, implying an effortless process. Yet, in opposition to this, is the portrayal of the tortured artist which is so beloved of Hollywood. The truth is so often closer to monotonous and seemingly endless study and iteration, in search of those sainted moments. Inspiration and a satisfying articulation of my thoughts and feelings and quite often my dreams.

So today it is yet more crows, seeking an image that says all that I need to say within the shape of it's flight, truth and beauty.

The Problems of Crows

Whilst studying crows in order to identify their defining characteristics, it becomes very clear that learning to draw/sculpt is about learning to see. So in order to reproduce an authentic crow in metal, I have had to remind myself to look closer and look again.

We all have an idea of what crow looks like, but this is simply a symbolic imagining. In reality these birds very rarely bear any resemblence to the symbolism created by our minds. This is almost certainly true of everything tangible in the world, but made especially acute by the very dynamic nature of birds and their occupation of 3-dimensional space.

Raven Reaserch

Been a very busy day today just lapping up the beauty in the world! Oh and what beauty, so just time for some visual research. My thanks to Dotty for finding the raven website.

Take Flight

The first flight of crows looks promising but does not fit into the box, the lofting springs pushing it open. Mechanical sculpture takes development so I'm very pleased with where it's going - the vision coming to life. Like all the best things in life, it just takes time.
Next step is to make and cast more crows, experiment with hinges so they can be folded flat or consider a deeper box. Bearing in mind the need for pocket divinty to fit in a pocket, this could be a challenge!

Crow Box

The completed protoype box for the murder of crows pocket sculpture. It is hinged with a simple magnetic catch and paternated useing nitric acid. The next step is to make the crows and lofting mechanisim.

As If By Magic

The wax is exchanged for metal, shown here straight from the mould with some of the investment still stuck to the cast. The sprues, now also cast in metal, will be cut off and the remaining metal finished with sanding and polishing. This process is called 'chasing'. The two halves will then be hinged, ready to have the crows fitted.
The process of lost wax casting, also known as 'Cire Perdue' (or as it is now called in industry 'Investment Casting') is at least 4000years old, which makes my work part of a continuum that is difficult to grasp but feels important to be part of.

Investing the waxes

Here are the waxes for 2 boxes, sprued and part invested. Investing is the sacrificial mould made around the wax - it needs to be made of a refractory material that can withstand the temperatures involved in the casting process. As these pieces will be cast in pewter, plain Plaster of Paris is sufficent, For bronze, however, I would use ceramic shell, a much more exotic material but one that can withstand the thermal shock of molten iron at around 1500c.
Once the waxes have been fully invested, they will have the wax melted out prior to being baked for 8 hours to burn out the residue and dry the moulds. They will then be ready for casting tomorow.

A flock of Crow waxes

Here are the completed waxes for the murder of crows boxes. These are to prototype the new simpler crow lofting mechanism. They just need to be sprued and then they are ready for investing, prior to de-waxing and casting in pewter.
A flock of crows in a box the size of an expensive mobile phone!

Nothing to Show For it

Some days go better than others, surely a universal truth? Though experience has taught me that it is often on the days when no real progress is observed that the real work is done. The rest of the journey towards the glittering prize comprises merely the 'sweeping up'.
Spent a long morning struggling with the technicalities of the crow lofting mechanism, only to have my muse (yes she's back) tap me on the shoulder and all became clear in a flash of embarrassing simplicity the solution was so clear.
Suffice to say, none of this produced much to photograph so today another page from the sketch book.

Great Artists Steal

To paraphrase Picasso. Apologies for the lack of a post yesterday - sometimes the muse just is not with me. So today - a fairly random sketch book page of visual research a lot of which came from a book of contemporay illustration. Personally, I believe that this is on of the most exciting and inspiring areas of the visual arts. It appears that the artists involved in this media have not forgotten that seemingly essential element of visual art - that which captivates the eye. Subliminal meaning and expression are clearly important, but without drawing the observer closer, one cannot deliver the underlying message.

Begining The murder of crows

Today's post is the plaster mould, taken from a clay master, of the box for the murder of crows.
This mould will then be used to cast the box in wax, which will be used to cast the finished box in pewter or bronze.

Divinity in action

A short video to show a prototype pocket sculpture and the element of play. There's something very compelling about using our hands, they are such an essential part of being human. Building a relationship with an object with out the need to 'see' in the traditional sense.
It contains elements of sight, sound and touch.

A Sculpture for the Hand

The first prototype pocket divinity, A sensual pebble to keep in your pocket. A medititive friend. Lost wax cast from pewter and paternated black.

A Murder of Crows

Today another page from the pocket divinity sketch book. Crows have long since held a place in my heart and recent reaserch has shown higher inteligence than certain primates - 'tool making' as well as 'use of tools' skill sets.

A box for the hand, inside a flock of crows.

With elements of sculpture, automata, devotional object but with the simple tactile plesure of a cigarette case or 35mm camera.

Serendipity the Art of Chance

Following the qustion asked by Becky in the last post, I have included a piece which exemplifies flashing. It can be seen running from the top of the head down through the nose. I value chance events such as these as I feel they lend a reality to the work that can be missing when a piece is controlled. Life is rarely like that so why should art be different? I do not try to erase the 'past' of each piece - I like it to bear witness to all the steps of its creation.
What does 'visual perfection' mean? Does it mean polished and flawless and showing no sign of ever being touched by a human hand? Because as you have observed - these works are all about touch, about the sensual connection with the work as much as the visual.
I dont have all the answers but I wish to create objects that others can form a sensory connection with. Something which looks as if it has never been touched and shows no marks of its creation surely exudes a quality of Don't Touch! This is they last thing I wish my work to convey, it is to be looked at and caressed - understood by hand and eye and heart.

Fresh Pewter Castings

Shown above are 3 castings of prototypes for the pocket divinity, 2 of which have 'flashing'.
This is a casting fault which is caused by cracking of the mould and subsequent molten metal running into those cracks. On occasion this can produce striking serendipitous effects but, as can be seen in prototype on the left of the photograph, at other times the effect is less desirable. In this case, the metal will be melted and recycled.

Lost Wax Casting

Before a sculpture can be created in metal, it has to be cast initially in wax. An example of this is seen above in a photograph of 3 waxes from the Fragile Sculpture Series.

Prototype Pocket Divinities

The photograph today is, i will admit, rather unprepossessing. However, the three objects in the foreground are plaster moulds containg the wax originals of three prototype pocket sculptures. Currently, they are in an oven for removal of the wax, leaving voids which tomorrow morning will be filled with molten pewter. This will result in a more interesting photograph.

Pocket Divinity Sketch Book

Today, for interest's sake, I have posted a page from the pocket divinity sketch book, Pocket Sculptures, Amulets for a modern age. Talismans of sensuality. I believe that as humans we contain an element of the divine within us, and connecting with this will enrich our lives immeasurably. Small, human scale, no monuments to the ego here, sculpture for the hand, to touch.

Fragile Series

Development of the pocket divinity small sculptures is proceeding well. Today I am posting another example of my larger creations. This piece, Frag.2, is part of the 'Fragile' series. The piece was first cast whole in wax (part of the 'Lost Wax' process) then smashed and reassembled.

Creative process

As this blog progresses and, because it will be a sculpture a day, I will document the creative method. This will inform the reader of the process involved in taking an idea and turning that into a piece of metal art. It is a long and involved process and I consider my approach, with respect to other sculptors, as unusual in that I actually carry out each step my self. I have my own foundry and so am able to cast my own work, resulting in a sense of artistic control at each point. Today's image is of me pouring molten bronze at around 1200 centigrade.

The Occidental Buddha

Whilst I'm still developing the daily sculptures, I thought it would be of interest to begin by posting some of my larger pieces. This piece, titled The Occidental Buddha, is cast in pewter and is part of a continuing series.

starting point

I am starting a 'Sculpture a day' blog as a twist on the 'Painting a Day' phenomena, started by Duane Keiser. I will be posting a new pocket sized sculpture daily, with each sculpture being a unique piece, but part of a continuing series based around cast parts. This is necessary to ensure that it is possible to produce a small affordable sculpture in cast metal each and every day.
I am currently developing the first of these series and will be posting daily sculptures thereafter.