toadchain

in

Sitting here, in the DerbzChair in The Paintshop, drunk-bought creeper light-up Santa flashing his devilish look – out of the cold and out of The Shed (solar panels have iced over and the snow isn’t budging so I’m letting the battery take a snow day too). Two metal projects wrapped this week (0076 & 0077, the latter being an impromptu usage of cast-aside metal-bending experiments and a chance to play with the low-odor red spray paint – great stuff, takes forever to dry); decision made to not add a base to 0072; and a hardware-store-bought chain affixed to Lyle, K’s new Windy Willow toad purse. This post being a further testing of occasional (or perhaps regular) writing return that fits with my grid homepage which I’ve come to love. Might be a bit more trouble than I’d like, but I’ll eventually get it down to a relatively frictionless workflow.

metal_0070

in

Finished this project a few weeks ago, but with these Christmas spiders now in familial hands, I can share. Crafted them from a rust-eaten carriage wheel that spent most of its life leaning against the woodshed at my grandparents’ place as a memento of ye olde homestead; the eyes are from hex nuts found in their basement. My grandfather was a biology professor and spider expert/otaku, hence the arachnid final form. Wanted to add turquoise, as my grandmother was an insanely brilliant silversmith, but I, alas, am not.

metal_0069 :: scribble01

in

First in a new series of experiments, merging Ivan Brunetti and Lynda Barry cartooning scribble exercises with metal work. First, I take 30 seconds and draw a scribble on an index card; I then spend the next however long it takes turning it into metal sculpture. Only two rules: one, I can’t deviate too much from the scribble; and two, it has to be freestanding without any additions. Digging this first go - and will definitely do more of these.