Blacksmithing
Left: bowl blank with holes for rivets. Right: surface texture detail.
I appreciate functional objects and like to make simple bowls from blanks cut from sheet steel. I am particularly fascinated by the variety of surfaces, colors, and textures that can be developed on steel surfaces in the forge. I love the texture that forms under thick, uneven sheets of surface oxides. This can be achieved by holding the piece at high temperatures for long periods of time and letting the thick oxide surface continue to form. The uneven heat of the lumps of burning coke gives me intentionally uneven heat, which favors oxidation in some areas more than in others, yielding a surface with variety.
Left: begining to heat the blank. Right: the resulting surface.
Left: another surface that I am interested in. Right: more details of the tesxture.
Right: a finished bowl. Right: a bowl with rivets.
I also love the contrast of the richness of copper with the mottled steel and often use copper rivets in bowls like these.
Left: rivets before being secured in the bowl. Right: final rivet job.
Copper counter-weights on a steel mobile.
I am also very interested in mobiles and design strategies for balancing their members. I spend a lot of time experimenting with the math governing the balancing and with wire mock-ups. This was the first large steel mobile I made.
