D'Este Fresco Sparrows

Flappy sparrows 

enlivening the dark corners 

of the frescoed walls

 of Villa D'Este.

Somehow like Brancusi's birds;

not because they are also birds,

and even though they aren't monumental...

Ouch

Iron & Gold Ring- from a scythe.

I cut this ring from the chine of a 19th century scythe blade.
I cold forged this to the desired thickness. This kind of old iron blackens easily- a good contrast to the 18k gold ball.
My method for making the ball (you can just buy them):
-calculate volume of gold req'd
-melt gold into a round cavity in a charcoal block
-attach this resulting crude sphere to a brass rod
-fasten rod in drill (voila: rudimentary lathe)
-turn on drill and file the sphere to perfection as it spins. Then cut off the rod.
-It looks a bit 'hard' and 'perfect' at this stage. To soften the perfection, I then rolled the sphere round and round between two marble slabs imparting a nice stone texture.

Zigzag

Rietveld Zigzag chair in progress, Montepulciano

Lapis Lazuli Lesssons

Gold and lapis lazuli beads.

Ur, souther Iraq. c.2600-2400BC

British Museum

Diadem. Southern Italy. c.250-200 BC.

Gold with lapis lazuli.This diffusion-bonded ornamentation is very tiny!

Note twisty wires (stone rolled), granulation (little balls) and

 the mark-out scribe-lines on the substrate. A mix of crude and virtuoso!

British Museum.

Raymond Templier 1934

Brooch. White gold, glass, lapis lazuli. 

V&A Museum.

Marco Zanini, 1983

Ring. Gold, coral and lapis lazuli

V&A Museum.

                                                Plinth. Lapis lazuli. Musei Capitolini.

Roman(?) I assume gold and lapis lazuli (?)

Amazing flatness and patina to modulate the rich colours.

Musei Capitolini

Following the lessons;

Keep it simple, let the gold and lapis lazuli do the work...

 ~Here, little ring I made for someone (their design),

she has much daintier and better-looking fingers I'm sure!

Gold and lapis lazuli.

Me at Atelier Brancusi

I had only one destination in mind while in Paris (leaving the rest entirely up to Alice);

 Atelier Brancusi. This is all his stuff, just as it was in his studio- but moved into a reconstructed museum-space. Apart from the weirdness of that (the objects are in their original-ish context, but not wholly so; its kind-of clinical, and all behind glass. What would have been walls, are here replaced by glass- surely creating a weird perspective, not anticipated by Brancusi himself...) it is a really rich collection, and I got pretty carried away and took a hundred photos. 

Here the simple forms are bunched together- its very intense! And one sees all the tools as sculptural forms too. Its what you dream of in a studio. I was especially interested in the anvil. And the forge, and the plinths, and the... everything...

Brancusi stuff is not always just simple shiny forms- tho', I suppose the famous works are- and with that there are ideas of erasure of hand-gesture, symmetry, 'perfection'. But here are some rough-hewn works too; versions of The Kiss and Sleeping Head that may seem unfinished, but I reckon he just left like that- because the feeling of it, just dawning out of the stone, is enough. I had never seen this Kiss before so that was a real treat.

The architecture of the space is great too, I loved the simple fire-place with sculptural+clever heat-diffusing flue. (left, bit cropped out

There's a turquoise gleam right in the middle of this picture, in the shadows...

That Jug.
That Verticality of Files and Rasps.
Rasp In Space
But, there was no dust.

Furniture Pauvres

Some kind of cool pauvres furniture happening in Paris, on... Rue du Temple (I think?)... on the way back from Atelier Brancusi (many photos of that to follow)

Horse Netsuke

Funny inlaid teeth and eyes. Pocket humour!

Don't Tap

"Respect the silence... do not tapez (tap?) thanks"
A very unexpected habitation in Beynac, next to a graveyard and castle. Cool fish chimney completes
the whole aquarium vibe.

Cobblestone skatepark

Where can you skate in Lacoste, which is completely paved with cobblestone?
I don't know, but judging by the de-laminations on this board, there has been some shredding!

Quanto Costa Questa?

I love old jeweller's tools, especially hammers, and I hoped to find some in Italy somewhere!
At a huge flea market in Chiavari I asked a few vendors:
"Avete... strumenti di oreficeria?" ( have... tools of goldsmith?)
One gentleman mocked me;
"Che cosa!?? Ora?! Ora?! Ha ha ha! I no speak inglese!!!"
I guess my Italian is unintelligible!
He was adamant that this hammer was a only a cobbler's hammer, (but it is certainly a silversmithing hammer!) so he made it 13 Euro and threw the small one in free.
Ha ha HA!

Elevator Grilles

These grilles were designed by Louis Henry Sullivan in 1893, for the Chicago Stock Exchange Building. Sort of proto-proto-Modern, but embracing ornament? I think I have already mentioned these awhile back, but anyway, I was recently saw them 'for real' in the V&A Museum, and took my very own photos (crumby as they may be!). Its curious for a building to be demolished, then the bits end up in museums across the world. I like them. Perhaps I will make a version of my Ulno Bangle that 'tips the hat' to this design- the way the spheres join the strip.

Whale For Sale

Ive put Whale Ring up on The Golden Smith Shop, along with some other variants, such as Leaf Ring in platinum and fine silver. Enjoy!

My Italian Homework

Tools and their proper use

I spied these juicy beauties out the window of the villa, but they were just out of reach!

Always the man-of-action, I remembered seeing an ice-pick in the umbrella stand...

Snagged me some fine tangerine!

Coming Up

e

"Its driving me crackers- I cant get it out of my head"- John Lennon, about this song.
Me neither!
Its like... a flower...
Plus, Paul as younger self in this clip is awesome.

Rie

A pleasure to see these 'in the flesh'- there aren't too many where I come from.

As a teenager, I had picked out Rie as my favourite potter, after seeing the one in the NGV- it seemed so quiet and considered. The lines... the lines...