m.o.u.s

We were given this embroidery- it came from Christchurch, New Zealand.
They have Monkeys Of Unusual Size, I gather!

Die Zwitscher-Maschine

Eine andere Zwitscher-Maschine, es ist gemütlich!

Twittering Machine

This is a weird object. Spectacular!
The symbology is baffling- a gun that 'shoots' a bird- is this old time irony?
I would like to acknowledge Jesse for bringing this to my attention!

Monzo | Tokyo

Brooches and earrings by Marc Monzo.
Got an invitation to Marc's show; 18kt Drawings at Gallery Deux Poissons, Tokyo.
Would love to be there, but alas, not this time.
Opens June 3rd.

Missing Jewellery

Im pretty disappointed that I missed bidding on this print- Umetaro Azechi- one of my favorite Japanese printmakers- and it was passed in, reserve of $50!

The subject is unusual ( mountaineers are more typical) 

But would have been perfect for me.

Nuts!

Good Hooks

Grotesque

I made this grotesque head when I was about 12, sometime before The Sardine. I modelled it out of wet concrete- I remember this was very difficult because of this medium being very saggy. No wonder he looks punch drunk. What a biffer! Dad set him into the wall, as one would. (?!) And here I am sticking him up on my blog- even worse. So I guess we're all stuck with him.

Even The Sweepings Look Good Here

Wherein Esmé and I Make Lime Cordial

Ingredients:

Limes- picked and juiced by E
Dad's Honey
Rainwater

Today was a good day.

The Lounge Room

And while Alice and I were swapping the engines on the EH, her Grandpa let us drive his Mark X Jag.
We called this car The Lounge Room, because it was basically two leather couches inside a walnut-paneled speed boat on wheels-(with pull-out picnic tables). You had to put fuel in it like, every day, and it had two tanks.

One time I was approaching a busy intersection and the brakes totally failed. And the hand-brake; useless. I slammed it into a low gear, sailed through the red light - a wordless prayer on my lips- and didn't hit anyone. It rolled to a stop up the next hill. I got out, and never got in The Lounge Room again.

Emily

Saw one of these on the road and remembered my Emily.
Air conditioning: open the quarter-pane right out and air rushes in!
Actually, Alice and I did an engine transplant when we were newly weds.
We got the new heart out of my Grandad's old Kingswood.
After that, we sold her, regretfully. I think she ended up in the Variety Bash?
(ie covered in stickers and driven across Oz!)

Quasi-review: Tut's Tote

Tutankhamun. Some of his stuff is at the Melbourne Museum at the moment.
Did I say stuff? - sorry,  I meant treasure.
Egyptian metalwork is especially interesting to me, so of course I took the family along to see.
"No Photos allowed."
Well there goes that blog post.

Still, let's press on bravely, using wall paintings and old photos that are public domain.

To put it in a technical perspective, Egyptian metalworkers didnt use steel tools*.
 (Tut was from the late bronze age).
Almost every tool in the workshop of today's goldsmith has steel parts.

Here is a wall painting of an Egyptian goldsmith working at a small furnace, possibly soldering- using a blow pipe to make the fire hotter, and using tongs- probably of copper or bronze.

Again, more detail this time, ancient goldsmiths at work; weighing ingots of gold ( dig the bull's head weight)- and various manual tasks; scribing,  chiseling, adzing. ( I think those black objets they are working on are carved wooden forms that are then overlaid with gold sheet.) The guys on the bottom left are bearing finished items- I see a beaded neck-piece.

Carter brushing dust of Tut's sarcophagus. The outer one here is wood overlaid with gold sheet (thicker than gold leaf)- very skillfully applied, such continuous sheet ( seams are not visible anyway)

These were very intersting objects in the exhibition; a horn and its last; an insert to protect the form- (not a mute for Egyptian Jazz??) This was of very thin sheet metal, quite finely smitten.

Love a bit of bad conservatorial practice- someone actually played this horn to see what it would sound like!

(He's probably from the Peabody?)

And here is the back of Tut's mask. For once. There he goes...

My little Joe made up a song about Tutankhamun:

"Toooot-n-car-min! doot-n-doo-doo!"

Its catchy.


*well, if you want to be pettyfogging, there were some iron tools and weapons in Egypt as early as 4000BC, made from a iron-nickel alloy found in meteors- which was rare and probably more highly prized than gold at the time, and therefore probably only for ceremonial use...but I digress.

Cue Jonathan Richman, and I'm out.

Sphere of Thought

Having sorted out their need for food and shelter, and maybe love, some folks think about some very obscure stuff. 

*(^.^)*

Gold Aster studs...
Vermeil in the shop, or solid 22k yellow gold by by request

Baby Spoon

Pure silver baby spoon.

Perfect for mushed-up gloop!

Coming soon to the Golden Smith Shop...

Inner Beauty

pic:svrad.com

Update:
I saw my surgeon last week.
We looked at the latest x-ray of my lungs.
He said: Ahh... beautiful! Looks beaut-i-ful. Couldn't be a better result.
So I'm beautiful on the inside (?)
I was so cheered-up by this, Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet were dancing in my mind!
(and that maid and the gypsy! And the baby elephant!)




Thanks for all your nice comments everyone, I really appreciated them!