messing about

[beth]

so here ive been messing around with some shapes, for some things i want to make for a garden sale, ive done the edges on the p hammer, but instead of finishing the tapers at the ends i experimented with leaving them rough and ready. usually i smooth everything right out, but it felt quite good to hurry, and focus less on the finish, and i thought it may have given a more expressive appearance. the problem that i did not think of ( having not tried that before) is forming spirals, you lose a lot of the beauty or rather the rythym of the shape if the material is not uniform, or i did anyway. there are flats and kinks which ruin the flow. i expect i could find a way to exploit the rougher look, but not like this... it would have to be far more calculated i think. so i thought i would post for interest sake - i will probably do a smooth one tomo and show you the difference and see if you agree :) thanks for looking..

maybe a larger more open shape would work better....

[Randy]

Beth, I love what you did! You have a power hammer? Only thing I would like is a curve line right to the very end. Looks like you really had fun! You can still have texture and flowing lines. Just hit it harder to scroll it. Way to go!!!

[ironclad]

very nice!

[macbruce]

They should look nice in the garden, and don't be afraid go a little crazy with em, have fun! Nature takes all the artistic licence it pleases so the spirals are cool. One thing about those, if you want em to wind up nice and even under the hammer then that's the way your tapers have to be, no thick and thin spots. That's what causes em to kink.

[Sask Mark]

I really like those Beth. MacBruce is right on the money. Nature is inconsistent and doesn't care. If it looks too 'perfect' it doesn't look natural to me.

[CurlyGeorge]

I agree about the natural look. They are "Hand forged", not machine made. I think that they look great. Thanks for sharing them with us. :)

[beth]

thankyou guys, i know what you all mean about nature isnt even etc etc, which is why i wanted a rougher freer texture, but i just thought the flats and inconsistencies did not work well with a shape like a spiral.. you really want that shape to flow smooth if your going to use it? either that or they have to be MORE rougher, and kink up more obvious, or else they just look like a badly drawn spiral... which loses its visual energy for me anyway. found the same today punching some marks on some very small 5mm round, it flattened the other side enough (only a tiny bit) that when curved into a handle it too ruined the line..i Like nice lines....

[pkrankow]

Like fish scales, or stegosaurus plates, or a ragged flag,or a banner, or a string of signal flags, or maybe the tail of a seahorse....

Have you tried hammering in bevels like for a knife? The metal can go quite a ways as the thinned area is spread and the spine is stable It seems that is the type of thing you are trying to do here, but with discrete sections instead of a continuous edge.

Every try to uncoil cucumber tendrils from tomato plants? The slight irregularity of the top feels that way to me.

Phil

[tzonoqua]

They're good Beth, like has been said above, nature doesn't seem to be too consistent, I'd just keep going with it, go with each variant, smaller to bigger scrolls, then see what looks best. Or maybe pair up some small ones with bigger ones. have a whole variety. Be good fun squishing all that metal anyway!!!

[Randy]

]Do a google for Karl Blossfeldt . He did b&w photos of nature back in the 1920's. His books are reprinted with great pics!

[macbruce]

https://fbcdn-sphoto...4_8384418_n.jpg Saw this mucking about on facebook...........and a few of my distressed garden odd bits....Sorry,the dreaded error 500 is back.......................

[iron woodrow]

wonderful. Like the wings of a dryad. :)

[ThomasPowers]

Take a look at how the tips of sprouting ferns look with both a spiral part and an "unfurling part"









You're closer than you thought! Bracken has spirals too but tend to be "harrier".

[Dillon Sculpture]

Just need 100 more before lunch tomorrow :P Good show Beth!

[beth]

randy - can you possibley tell me how you made that gorgeous looking spoon like thing at the front on that vase full of stuff you posted earlier?? i love it and keep thinking about it!

[Francis Trez Cole]

Randy I have a copy of his book and have used it for years Nature is a wonderful thing to imitate

[female_blacksmith]

Randy, I have a copy of that book too, must refer to it more often. And Beth, I love what you have done so far. Very jealous you have a power hammer !

[Wayne]

Lovely work Beth,
I once heard a qoute to the effect that ''if you are trying to copy nature then you have to have it totaly spot on or it will look off but styallised plants no matter how extreme seem to work'' if you get what I mean.
With scrolls and twists like that do you want them to look like something particular or do you want the client to use their imagination?
Looking at the picture I can see ferns, exotic grass, sea weed or turn them upside down tentacles for kids.

[beth]

thanks guys and gals have looked at the book, it looks absolutley wonderful - i mighty have to find a copy.... . :) fantastic photos.... thanks too female smith and wayne for your encouragement - female smith i know - im too lucky to have that tool, i am finding new ways to make marks at the moment which is so much fun, and it means i can use much larger stock and draw it down easily.

[Thomas Dean]

Cool Beth! I like the way you are working the edge of the stock.

Randy, I just got that book last month at the Lee Brothers little shindig in Bryan, TX. They did an auction with donated items, both BS related and non. This book came up and I liked the cover, seemed interesting to me and started bidding...got it $67.50 later! the back shows it at $14.95 at the 1985 prices. I figure inflation and all I got a good deal. Very interesting book, no text, just photos of plants with the name of each plant!

For those interested; ISBN 0-486-24990-5 copyright 1985 Dover Publishing, Inc. amazon.com has 1 copy at $10.21

[Wayne]

Beth,
If you go on to ABEbooks.co.uk and type in Karl Blossfeldt into the search parameter there is a whole load of his books starting about £5.00.

For anyone else just google ABEbooks and you should find the one for your country, its a massive book search engine for new and second hand books all over the world.

[beth]

wayne thanks for that - ive never heard of it... i actually ordered one of f the dreaded amazon.. could not resist after googling the images a bit more - what a wonderful photographer! im sure it will be a great reference book and an inspiration :) im going to have a look at that ABE though, thanks for the tip :)