23 June 2008

It's been a while since I posted anything I've been up to artistically. Here are two metal pieces I've been working on in the past couple semesters.

I made these in Intermediate Metals 2 but they "let go" of Richard Prillaman, master silversmith, a week before classes began, so Bill Price, the replacement, barely had time to get moved let alone line out a lesson plan. So our first project (to research the history of tea and create a tea infuser based on that research) ended up being our only required project for the semester. I completed most of one other project, a sundial that my grandfather has been hounding me over since he saw the first one I made in Introduction to Metalsmithing my second semester. Twasn't Bill's fault our semester was so misguided. We ended up missing nearly a third of our classes due to holidays, advisory days, and a few sick days on his behalf. Regardless, Price has done more in renovating that metals studio in his short career at MCA than I have seen any department leader do. New cabinets, torches, and countertops.

Anyway. This is my tea infuser. The cap of the acorn is copper, the base is nickel, the branch is silver, and it's held together by small magnets.








Here is my sundial. It's 22g copper sheet, formed to hell, with lost wax cast bronze head, tail and feet, and an unintentional mix of silver and lead solder.



I made the sundial as a going-away present for my grandparents, who are moving to Florida tomorrow for their retirement. They both loved it, and I was pretty fucking proud I finally finished it.