Thursday: Velo

Daily posting on The Gold on Smith is a challenge!

So, Im going to schedule the topics for each day of the week.

we'll see.

I thought:

Thursday, Bicycle day? maybe...

Fri can be Other Artists,

Mon can be My Stuff,

Tue can be Historical Artefacts,

Wednesdays could be Motif day

... hope this blows your hair back. I think the most successful blogs tend to

have a large proportion of self-generated content, yes, but I also like to post

things from elsewhere that are interesting to me... I think it all relates somehow

1. Columbus tubing stamp. Good bikes are made from special tubing- lighter,

stronger steel alloys- and are sometimes 'butted'- not the same wall thickness

throughout. Columbus is still a leading manufacturer, the motif is a dove-

('columba' signifies a dove) these days you'll only see a sticker rather than a

stamp.

2.Gettin' around...

3.Peugeot Fool. from the owner's manual I think! Ha! well, I put this up because

its funny, and also because I recently scored an old Peugeot with nervex lugs

( very fancy). Will show you the restoration...

4. beauties from collectvelo. really like the old bidons ( drink bottles) and

good colours. Natural or white tyres.

Difficult Motif: Spiral

(can anyone set me straight on the plural of 'motif'?)

Anyway- some motifs /emblems etc are difficult- too many associations,

 some are irredemable.

(is that a word? my spell check doesn't like it)

So, Im going to present a series of Difficult Motifs.

Spirals. 

If you can pull off a spiral,

 -a non-ironic, non-cynical one-

 well,  you've really got some élan, some éclat, some chutzpah.

1. roman? bronze

2.Calder. the model is great. Are the earrings good?  Im not sure. 

They are gutsy, and playful, yes- but maybe too much? please opine.

3. Jensen. Scando-folk vibe. Note reluctance to just have a spiral alone;

 evidently it was felt that balls were needed. 

4. (?) ancient... dynamic line is effective, (thick to thin) and the 

square profile too. as I understand it, ancient wire was not extruded

 through steel drawplates as it is today, but chiselled out of sheet as a 

strip that was then rolled between stone plates to round. This might

 explain the square profile? but then, it looks so laterally neat, extrudey.

Rigg Revisit

(click pic to embiggen)

These works appeared in the Rigg award at the National Gallery of Victoria 

a few years ago.  Im revisiting. It was a privilege to have been included.

I thought quite carefully about this grouping- it is difficult to compose 

a coherent group of objects that have a strong 'solved' identity of their own.

Certain people (mainly Family: the toughest critics!) wondered about the

 logic of the set; how did they relate?

I thought I might explain some of it now.

What strikes me immediately about this group is how disparate and various it is.

Similar subjects are treated quite differently from one piece to the next, 

but I intended a balance and logic to this. There is a spectrum of realism/ abstraction, 

which I built into a linear 'sentence'. (sadly, the display of my linear arrangement 

was broken around the ridiculously obtuse corner of an ngv cabinet. 

I was very dissapointed, because the logic of my set was confused and veiwers

 literally had to walk around the back of someone else's display to see the rest of mine.) 

The large black plant brooch is very realistic; simulacra. 

It references Greek and Roman gold work. The ring with a tiny ploughman

 atop and the red white and blue flower brooch have more stylised execution, 

both in colour and form, not quite real.

The gold pendants have enscribed wheat motifs, so these are really drawings-

  another step toward abstracted representation.

The gold horse brooch and the bone flower earrings are flattened,

 cut-out graphic representations, becoming simpler and simpler.

 ( referencing metalwork from the Americas.) 

Finally, the wooden hair comb is completely abstract, just made up of coloured strips.

 (riffing on Pacific-culture combs, woven from plant material)

Im changing gears a lot here- some wouldnt like this- but Im inspired by

 ancient artefacts- where such contrasts are often effortlessly combined.

 Im following an instinct to mix it up, create tensions.

 I said in the statement that mystery is an important ingredient for creating 

preciousness- you've got to put in a pinch of wonder- a slight question; 

what is it made of? how was that done? make it slightly unfamiliar, 

without being alienating. Its a tricky but fun game. 

 the jeweller's raison d'etre is to make treasures, after all.

Free Wheelin' Biro

Biro, sheathed in silver.

Sometimes Biro is good.

(I wont fool myself that its always good)

For a while there I was quite taken by it, filling whole canvasses with blue.

you can see, if you peer closely, how the ball point is kind of just smearing the goopy blue ink around. Rolling along the paper terrain, free wheelin'

its a good blue though...

Torun again

torun again... modelling her own jewells, always with an expression that seems to say

"yeah , Ive got it and I know it"- yes, even when soldering- look, its there...

(except for that Picasso incident?)

Beez Kneez

mixed beez kneez

-stay right where you are; at The Gold and Smith!

- Suze made a pixel portrait of us, which Ive updated; Esmé has grown , Joseph appeared!

-Oamaru- a strange town in New Zealand with an amazing victorian-era ghost-town bit. Id like to make some stuff here...

-a reminder to make tea for my wife...

-Fabergé. The Bolshevics came and he said "Ill just get my hat..."

-Bubo, the animate metal owl, from Clash of the Titans

-Lalique, my grandma has one of these- its a strange object...pretty big, like you could almost put your head in it.  In fact, Grandpa kept buying Lalique for her, so she has a collection. Once I put a 'cristal' Bic pen amongst them as a cheeky but earnest statement. I quite like the Bic. 

-Dutch obliqueness. note clogs (from...)

-Morris Louis.

Torun fibula

A Jensen / Torun favourite.  I think I like the back best, with the hallmarks...

Still Peel Again

Oh yeah, Ricky Swallow did include the peely-lemon symbol-motif-emblem-subject after all.

History of Holding

Killing Time - on the far right, dangling down over the table. ( and lobster too. Dutch status much!)

At Work

1&2. Picasso and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe (designer and maker made famous by Georg Jensen- no wonder she shortened it to just "Torun") 

This scene kind of makes me uncomfortable. Is Pablo judging the work? Giving condescending advice? What does Vivianna's body language suggest? she's holding her tummy... is that protective? (or does she totally fancy him? and she's wearing about 5 pieces of her own jewellery)

3. How about this guy's Gaulish face? Almost Obelix. However, I think this Silversmithing workshop is totally staged- Can any of you young smiths tell me why you wouldnt put sheets of lead anywhere near your silverware? ( they've put it as interfacing on the vice)via christophle

4. A bike frame-builder, the late McLean Fonvielle. I thought he looked a lot like me, (in this pic anyway) and I really dig the butcher's block with massive granite alignment slab atop.

  via classicrendezvous

5. Le Corb. and his Modular. more on that soon. I think Mr.Modular must be an epic cyclist- check the calves!

6.Martin Puryear. a fairly awesome sculptor; strong carpentry-craftsmanship vibe.

Munari

Munari:

"complicare e facile
semplificare e difficile"

complicated is easy

simple is difficult.

I thought these jackets looked good from afar, too. 

great composition.

Makes me want to illustrate what I do, not just record it...

from the Munari archive. 

Atelier

Desury Atelier

previously I posted some of the Desury hammers

these are the workshops...

tres bon!

note massive bench top

lobster with lemon?

I like Dutch still lifes (or is that 'lives'?)

what do the lobsters and peeled lemons mean?

Is it a symbol?

anyone who was anyone, back in the day, had to have a peeled lemon and a lobster.

If you didnt have a peeled lemon and a lobster perched on your couch, well...

you were just existing really. barely there.

Im pretty sure that Ricky Swallow included a peely lemon in his carved still life of fish on a table... Maybe he knows?

Sea of Galilee

no the me he re

No theme here!

just scroungings. 'pan scrapings' as my little sister would say.

1. Yabbies and embroidery?! russian-folk.

2. Remember how I used to make those little sheep- about 10 years ago? ha.

   today I made a funny version with a magnet and steel filings!

3.  this is a-maz-ing...

 pin-screen animation of Alexandre Alexeiffe. youtube this, then watch the animations...

4. Yes I fixed the harp... its not as clear a twang now... 

a dirty E- hey, maybe its better?

5. Japanese smithy. essential equipment: 

a nicely dressed woman to bring you wagashi?

note very long hammers, with bias-weighted heads.

 and count them, 3 strikers!

cracked stripes

 Stripes and cracks:

saw this pot, American Indian, 

and remembered this one by me.

theirs is definately better.

The Old Man and the Sea

I was idly flipping through this, a very old favourite of mine, 

then got hooked and read all of it. 

"But it is good that we do not have to try to kill 

the sun or the moon or the stars. 

It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers. "

to have this book is as good as having my jew's harp... maybe better.

 I wouldnt carry it around though...

For the Hunter, Cacciatore, Caçador, Jäger

You :David have you gone soft? what are all these handbags?

Me:Well, actually they are rifleman's bags- to keep your 

lead shot in- for muzzle-loading blackpowder and ball type stuff.
pretty amazing. I found this blog; Contemporary Makers 

which is very narrow in its subject- but de-heep! 

Handmade Kentucky long rifles and accoutrements.
You: I dont really care for guns. Or hunting.
Me: mmm. Well Ive never fired one. The craft is amazing though!
You:

Yabbies a la Huckleberry Finn!

here's a pic of the coffee I drank today--NOT! .

its cherax destructor!!-

Australian fresh water crayfish- or 'Yabby'.

We spied them creeping along the river bed and so, wanting to impress my friends, I rolled up my jeans a la Huckleberry Finn, and deftly grabbed them just behind the claws. Still, these beasties have spines all over and it was a painful grab!

We bagged four- dutifully dispatched by Jesse and effortlessly pan-fried by Micah.

Magnifique!

(thanks Jesse for the pics)

eight bright night lights

1. at the netsuke museum

2.Auboch

3.Neales

4.

5.shaker tinkery

6. franz rickert

7.

8.

Eye Shields

My eyes see goodly. No need for spectacles.

But, Ive been to the Eye Hospital more than once with eye injuries.

So.

I wear eye protection. Which has got me interested in spectacle design...