A Fungal Handle

I've been working on a handle for the lid of the vessel/pot. In keeping with the organic feel I'm going for, I thought I'd make it into a mushroom/toadstool

 I domed a small piece of silver and then stretched it into more of a mushroom shape by hammering it into a countersunk former.

The stalk is formed from a small strip of silver cut at an angle and then curved round to form a cone, I then cut off at both ends. The gap at the base will be filled with another piece of silver to give it more of a feel of an organic stalk.

In the Wake of the Christmas Project...

Well it must be clear to all that I seriously missed my self imposed target of completing a project over the Christmas holidays. However undaunted I'm pushing on to get in finished.

When we last saw the project I was mulling over the artistic merit of the copper tendrils and asked you, the legions of followers of this blog, for your input and advice. As always you responded in droves with suggestions... The net result is that I've abandoned the tendril idea and my thinking is now centering on a bug. The idea is to use repousee techniques to produce a small copper bug which will be fitted to the side of the jar to look as if all of the holes are the result of  the bug nibbling into the structure.

Here is a picture of the piece of copper with the outline of the bug hammered into it. The idea will be to progressively beat out a more rounded carapace shape by proressively working each side of the copper plate.

A Short Interlude - The Leaf Box

While I'm waiting for the muse to strike, I thought I'd put together another post today covering a project which I worked on a couple of months back. This post is also in part inspired by a request I had the other day to show someone repousse -  a metal working technique in which a malleable metal is ornamented or shaped by hammering from the reverse side to create a design in relief.

I was initially inspired by the onset of autumn and as a result of a little idle doodling during a rather boring meeting.

This resulted in the following concept sketch;

From this I developed a concept for a 'Leaf Box' made from copper and silver.

I formed the side of the box from copper, shaped to the outline of the leaf sketch. I decided to make each curve individually and then soldered them together to form the side. I then soldered this to a flat sheet of copper to form the main part of the box.

 I then worked on the top of the box whic incorporates the leaf pattern from the initial sketch. I used repousse to form the curve of the main boy of the leaf and the thin veins which extend to the edge.

 The following picture gives a better view of the low relief which can be achieved.

With the parts completed, I began the assembly stage. I decided to cut the lid from the body before soldering on the top as I wanted to make sure I matched the outline of the side of the box was well as possible. The following picture shows me midway through the cutting process to separate the lid.

 The finished box was completed with the addition of a bezel strip around the inside of the side of the lid.

Christmas Project - Day 6 and a bit

After making good progress over the first part of this project, I've hit a bit of a wall. Partly this is due to the Xmas and New Year holidays, partly due to the fact that I'm in an artistic part of the build - an area where I am more than aware of my shortcomings.

I'm now trying to fit the copper tendrils into the silver cutouts, technically fiddly, but for me the more troubling part is getting them to look right.

Here's where I've got to so far...

I'm not convinced that this conveys the full organic look I'm going for from the copper 'tendrils' (event though I've rounded and flattened the ends to make them look a bit less mechanical') so I'm going to continue to play with the layout. I'd also like to send out an appeal to my many followers...(you know who you are :) ) for some feedback and advice about how I could possibly improve on the 'artisitc' aspects of the copper.