Quit Swanning Around

Just wanted to share some of the picture inspiration we are using to create our current commission,  a standing Swan. 

This new weathervane design is already on the workbench and the dramatically outstretched wings are full of promise! We have done swans before, my favourite being our swan in flight sculpture, but it is great to have a different version to sink our teeth into. Aside from picture inspiration (see our Swan Pinterest board), we looked at a lot of text as well. It's always nice to have a story lingering in you mind while you are working on the copper and trying to build the character of the piece. For a swan this might be re-reading the Swan Maiden or watching the ballet Swan Lake. This time, I was more taken by the idea of the chained swan featured in the Flag of Buckinghamshire, which appears was inspired by the medieval tale of the Knight of the Swan. The idea of that beautiful elegant (even delicate) neck, bound by a heavy cuff and chain, is such a powerfully haunting image. 

"Cynge" by Melanie Bourlon  http://www.melaniebourlon.com/

"Swan, Rush & Iris". Walter Crane. Painted 1875. Design for wallpaper 

Design for the Flag of Buckinghamshire

On your Bike!

Our newest weathervane, created for Oxford University's  Harris Manchester College, is one of our most elaborate weathervanes to date. Originally the architect's drawings for the tower indicated only a large simple arrow, but clearly something with more character was in order. Oxford is home to the wonderful Elephant weathervane on Broad Street...an arrow was not enough. The concept had been upgraded to a bicycle by the time Greens Weathervanes got involved, but there were issues with surface area. Working collaboratively with the architect & the school's Principal, this was finally amended to...a Professor riding a bicycle (inspired by the logo for "the Oxford Experience"...and by all the cycling Professors in Oxford!).

early concept design for Harris Manchester University weathervane

This vane required a complex infrastructure, and the full-scale drawing allowed an opportunity to fine tune not just the character of the cyclist, but to decide the most sympathetic way of introducing the mainshaft and create support for details like the "spoke-less" wheels and the flying gown.

laying out copper, brass & bronze elements on the full-scale drawing.

The full weathervane took just over 6 weeks to construct, and totally dominated the studio. Like our Liberty vane, we  did much of the final brazing either off a stepladder, or on our knees. The hardest part was adding the arrow at the end...maybe we will do that first next time!

Obviously, getting the figure just right was a huge focus in the latter stages, but there were some fun details along the way; creating elements like his book, shoes, cap with tassel & of course the gown.

small brass "Oxford" tag with copper rivets

"Harris Manchester College" stamped onto the chain wheel. Shoe lace detail.

The final hurdle was the photo shoot. The vane was actually too big for a photo shoot anywhere in or around the studio, so even the client had to wait until the vane arrived to see the finished product. Some pictures of  the components where emailed to tantalise them, but of course the weather took a turn for the worse in the final days, so only indoor shots were possible.

The cycling Professor!

Cardinal letters with 8 inch spun copper ball.

Luckily (as planned) the sun showed it's beautiful face en route to Oxford. We didn't want to cause an accident, but the first available lay-by proved our only choice for a few final reference shots. Ta-dah!

Full Cyclist weathervane including the book in his right hand.

...and then one for scale.

Gordon Green holds the Oxford vane assembled!

A Maker's Mark

Banner Weathervane, repaired

A break in the clouds allowed a last shot of the repaired copper weathervane. The copper rivets, used to restore the pointer to it's original position, can clearly be seen.

Brass plate with hand-hammered copper rivets

The original signature on the antique weathervane for the local church was probably the nicest "find". We stamp all our work with "GREEN" and the date and number (if the design has been repeated). In the case of the repair above (note the original patina on the copper...beautiful!) Gordon stamped his initials and "2013". Loving the hand-hammered copper rivets, allowing the repair to be undertaken without the use of the torches. I assume the original maker's mark is from 1880, but what if it's 1720!

Original Maker's Mark:
 W.H. GINHAM
HEREFORD

The Elephant in the room

New! Elephant Weathervane

Our newest copper weathervane is just complete; a young elephant playing ball. The design was created with lots of input from the client as a special 80th birthday present to her husband.

Also in the studio is the banner weathervane from our village church, needing some attention. The oak timber which had been holding the heavy wrought iron mainshaft, had rotted out leaving the vane to list. Once a weathervane is no longer plumb, the wind can do considerable damage. Luckily the parish raised the money for scaffold and the banner was saved. This antique copper weathervane, which has a beautiful verde gris, has been repaired a few times over the years, giving it a great deal of history, and should probably have been retired and displayed for all to enjoy, a replica produced to go up on the church roof. In this case however the parish wished to put the original back on it's perch. The pierced inscription reads:

1720
RESTORED
1880  

as part of Herefordshire art week, GREENS is hosting 9 days of art
OPEN STUDIO

come see our new stable gallery,

see demonstrations & tour the studio

10:30- 5pm daily, Sept. 7^th – 15^th
PRIVATE VIEW
SEPT 6^TH

5:30 – 8 PM

drinks, nibbles & live music

 

Pheasant Weathervane

Copper Pheasant Weathervane

 Many of our weathervanes are commissioned as gifts to commemorate the end of a build,  a wedding, or a big birthday (as is the case with the pheasant weathervane pictured above). He's a reworking of a classic design from the portfolio, with ornately chiseled plumage and bronzed legs.

Peacock Weathervane

We were recently commissioned to remake our peacock weathervane with an upgraded mainshaft and more robust tail feathers. This new design is hot off the workbench.

Peacock Weathervane

Themes in Art: (Modern sculpture) The Hare

 Barry Flanagan RA OBE - 'Nijinski Hare' 

Beth Cavener Stichter - Husk, stoneware based mixed media sculpture

Nouveau Lapin de Victoire (grand) by Claude Lalanne

Francois-Xavier & Claude Lalanne

Themes in Art: Horse & Riders

Susan Halls 'Horse and Jockey', wheel thrown and altered paperclay. Raku fired with colloidal slips.

Marino Marini, b. 1901

'Lucerne' by Croatian photographer Stanko Abadžić (b. 1952). The sculpture is Svaty Vaclav (Saint Wenceslas) by Czech sculptor David Cerny. It is located at the Lucerna Palace, Switzerland.

antique copper Horse & Rider weathervane  c. 1860 by J. Howard & Co.
Sold at Sotheby's in 1990 for $770,000.

from the collection of the late Bernard M. Barenholtz

Save that Date: Art in Action 2013

Everyone who enjoys watching artists and craftspeople at work, won't want to miss Art in Action  at Waterperry House, Oxfordshire  this year (July 18th- 21st). 


Once again we will be transporting our workshop to the Metalwork and Jewellery section of the event, and hope old clients and new will visit and watch us "in action". Both Gordon and I will be on hand to explain our techniques, talk about possible commissions, and show off new work from the studio.

Come say hello!

Over the Moon!

Swan in Flight

We couldn't resist getting our most recent design out in the sun for a photo shoot. This swan in flight is a reworking of an earlier design from the portfolio, and will be available for purchase soon. We started this design at "Art in Action" last year, so only 6 months from start to completion! I love it in silhouette over the moon cardinals. It reminds me of the Felix Neck t-shirt I had in the 70's (did we have the bumper sticker too?)...I am sure their logo used to be a swan silhouetted over the sun. Anyone remember?

More pictures to come!

Flight of the Hare

A popular weathervane from the portfolio, this version of the stylized hare is the fifth in the series.  And it's off to new it's home in New York!

The hare is photographed over the pine trees of the Duchy of Cornwall's Guy's Estate.  These managed woodlands boast dramatic views of the Golden Valley and are home to deer and pheasant. To get this view, we pulled on our wellies and tromped over a few fields dotted with hay bales. We could still see bits of snow on the Black Mountains.

The hare measures 28 inches long, and is designed to rotate over a fixed crescent moon. The overall design measures 31 inches tall. 

Squirrel Weathervane

A few weathervanes went out just before Christmas with designs based on previous commissions. The first was based on our green woodpecker weathervane, replacing the shunya yantra with the client's house name. Then another based on the same design, instead using a grey squirrel and a pierced Canadian maple leaf. And finally a smaller version of our hovering kestrel weathervane. 

But the breaking news is our new wood stove  (installed last week).   After much research we decided on a Relax wood stove. The guy who did the flue had never seen one before and neither had we actually, until we opened the box! It is top loading and we can pack it full of large logs, offcuts and even sawdust and it pelts out heat. Brilliant. A friend has just built a rocket stove for his workshop, so it will be interesting to compare the two as winter progresses.

Artist's Bowtop Gypsy Caravan

Openlot bowtop caravan

A beautiful original wagon in lovely condition with professionally hand painted exterior.

Good wheels & tyres, and working brakes. Includes stove, large kettle box, good canvas sheet, rear window, new steps and bent shafts. Pull-out double bed with plenty of cupboard space. Has been dry stored in winter.

Reluctant sale :(

Our full advert should be  here within the next week.

Poetry

We spent some time in Pembrokeshire last week, mostly around the cathedral city of St. David's. I love the sea, so for me it felt like coming home. Having bumped into illustrator Jackie Morris on the beach, we had a long chat about the direction of our work...I have so many sketches dreaming of becoming weathervanes, so I can't wait for the new gallery & studio to be back in order. I also seem to have adopted a new obsession with wild flowers after strolling the coast path with the dogs. Most people come back from Pembrokeshire in love with seals, dolphins & puffins...

The charming little rabbit weathervane has now left for Virginia, and the apple shipped off to Norway as well, so the studio is all but empty as we finish building work. Spending days in the office where I found an old poem of mine:

oh the winds they are so great
rattling at the garden gate
knocking at my kitchen door
as they blow across the moor
whistling through the trees so high
pushing clouds across the sky
spinning round the weathervane
I hope these are the winds of change

Okay,okay slightly simplistic & the first line is even a bit Monty Python ("oh Lord you are so great, so absolutely huge"...wasn't Eric Idle great in the closing ceremony of the Olympics!), but the Dartmoor days were when our kids were small. Surely I was reading Maurice Sendak's
Chicken Soup with Rice: A book of Months:

"in March the wind blows down the door
and spills my soup upon the floor
it laps it up and roars for more.
Blowing once, blowing twice
Blowing chicken soup with rice."

hear Carol King singing it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syAtmgKqc9c

Cardinal Letters

The extra-large apple weathervane is now nearing completion, with the leaf and stem fixed in place, and only the arrow left to attach. We starting assembling the cardinal letters (N,E,S, & W) yesterday, finishing this morning & then headed into Hereford to collect the last bits of kit for next weeks demonstration. The city was considerably quieter today than yesterday when the Queen paid a visit!

We are also looking at woodstoves for the studio and are interested in the Relax range of workshop stoves. I guess it all started with looking at Deom Turbos mentioned on a French blog...I think the Deom is from the Netherlands. I would love to hear from anyone who has used one.

Layers

The first two layers of the apple's core are now fixed to the brass mainshaft of the weathervane. There is still quite a lot of work to be done, like filling the large gap which can be seen down the left side. Once closed however, the copper parts should assemble quite quickly...all in time for Art in Action in 10 days time? So much to do! 
The weekend was a frenzy of activity, moving the office into it's new space. Went to hear Finn Mackay at the Globe in Hay-on-Wye, and then visited painter James Ursell at his new studio/home in the Golden Valley with it's sweeping views over the Black Mountains.

We are still working hard planning our metalsmithing courses for the fall. In anticipation we are finishing insulating the studio &  rendering walls. Bits of of plaster and dust keep showering down on me today as "Gordon & son" get cracking on the upstairs. This evening we have a big packing job, as the Montagu's Harrier Hawk is back from the museum and off to it's new home. The Trotting Horse will follow on Thursday. 

Working on the Core

The apple weathervane is chugging along! The "body" is now primarily smoothed, although it is never easy to know when to stop and just be happy. The two halves of the large three-dimensional leaf are brazed together with a "rough" edging, giving the leaf a ragged, chunky outline. The leaf has been designed to be smooth and rounded on one side (the side depicting the core of the apple) and deeply veined on the side with the whole apple, creating a striking contrast between the two sides.
 All our attention is now geared toward the apple's core, and trying to get the chisel detail of each layer to emanate it's own character. The first layer is being developed with a ball-pean "ding" pattern which should shimmer in the light. This seemed to be a nice reference to the inside of the apple being white. The ball-peaning stretches the copper, causing it to curl (which can be seen in the picture). This will be flattened out once the texturing is complete.

We have never made an fruit-themed weathervane before, so it was very strange today to receive an enquiry for the (possible) commission of an apple and pear! As I sat hammering I started to imagine making a giant strawberry, which led of course to thinking of one of my very favourite children's books James and the Giant Peach...Roald Dahl is brilliant!

An Apple

The studio is currently working on two new weathervanes, with a big push last week to get both sketches enlarged & finalized as full scale drawings. Great for the current apprentice to see the whole process from concept-to-copper.

The extra-large apple weathervane should be fun, as the idea is to have one side of the vane showing a "whole" apple, and the other side showing a "half" apple. We have been looking at retro apple patterns to come up with a "punchy", layered design for the apple's core. It's amazing how much character the inside of an apple can have! Because the design is large, the focus on achieving robust volume from the "whole" apple has meant some very aggressive, prolonged blows with a ball-pean hammer (I have the blisters to prove it).The result is a rounded & deeply dimpled shape. Creating this shape required two full annealings (and two spot annealings) to soften the copper and coax it into shape. The surface will now be smoothed over the course of the next few days using synthetic mallets. Creating the layers on the opposite side will be interesting, as each layer will need to be braced to the mainshaft and reinforced for strength. Hopefully the two little seeds will appear like gems suspended within these layers. It all proves some of the simplest ideas can be the most challenging!

A Surprise in the Field

Considering that none of the sheep were supposed to be pregnant, it was with great delight that we looked out the window to see this. Although miraculous to see new life, sometimes the countryside can make me feel like I am suffocating. We went to an art opening last night hoping to see some youth and vibrancy...instead it was all very dogmatic and lacked any form of poetry or poignancy. Am I cynical or just too naive?

I came home (thanks to Google Chrome) to muse over pictures of Boris Lovet-Lorski's Venus, and visit the Hirshhorn to see the sculpture Garden, and track down the goat sign we saw at the inn in Bedgellert. Then sat down to re-read the Little Prince. Thinking about bronzes and plaster casting and texture and money and mortality...