Down to Bath and the Blackbirds leave the studio

All the painting, palladium leafing and gilding is complete on the blackbirds commission. Even the new webpage is poised for publishing, just awaiting the clients receipt of the weathervane.

The daffodils and the magnolia are ready to pop in the garden, so it feels like Spring is about to explode on the scene.

We are off down to the opening of the Compassionate Eye exhibition at Claverton Manor (the American Museum in Britain). Our trotting Morgan horse and Montagu's harrier hawk weathervanes have joined the exhibition, which is of some significance to the studio! Hopefully it will be a nice excursion, especially as driving over the bridge at Bristol always reminds me of crossing the Bourne bridge on the way to the ferry in Woods Hole (MA)...ferry boats make me homesick. And then there is nothing quite like driving South to see Springs progress.

If the arrival of winter is "the hawk has landed", what would the arrival of Spring be?

Three Little Pigs

Last Sunday we drove to Shropshire to pick out three pigs from a litter of Saddleback-cross-Tamworths . There were eight in the litter, and we picked the three "girls"...now named Sally "Sunshine", Trixie and Ginger Nut. It's your job to match each name to the pig, from the picture above.

The weekend was spent wrapping a goose weathervane for shipment to Scotland, priming the blackbirds weathervane for palladium leafing, and building a pigpen. Very happy pigs, dashing around in the green grass! Just as we were congratulating ourselves on a job well done, though, who should come wondering into the kitchen but the three little pigs. They must have followed their noses over the field, under the gate, across the lane, straight back into the yard, on in through the back door & into the kitchen. That'll teach us!

Pair of Blackbirds

We are working on a pair of blackbirds as a weathervane, as well as a goose in flight. Whilst the blackbirds are a totally bespoke design, the goose is numbered 5 in the series. I really like the goose, and have used it on the homepage of our current website, as well as having had postcards printed, and included it in the brochure. The first goose had a shorter neck and longer beak and sold from Cirencester market (8 years ago?). The the second one (with the beautiful long neck) sold to a diamond heir. Number three, well I would have to look in my files, but number  four found a semi-local home a few years back on a gorgeous garage with a bell tower. The Astin Martin convertible in the garage was pretty beautiful, too!

The realisation of every design begins with a full scale drawing. Below is a detail of the blackbird design, and next to the drawing is a big pile of (annealed) copper patterns ready to shape.



This is a tricky design, as the upper bird with it's wings outstretched is not facing into the wind. I have never seen or made a weathervane of a bird in flight with it's back to the wind...risky business! The ultimate reward will be if it's possible to do without reinforcing the edge of the feathers.