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Big news: Two of our weathervanes have been selected to compliment The American Museum in Britain's opening of "The Compassionate Eye: Birds and Beasts from the American Museum’s Print Collection". This exhibition will feature works by some of the great American artists from the mid-20th century. The show will run from 10th March - 1st of July 2012. See the museum's website for more details about the exhibition. This is a great excuse to visit Bath, see Claverton Manor and view our monumental weathervane of Liberty, commissioned last year by the Museum to celebrate the opening of the new Folk Art Gallery.
We have 3 weathervanes in the studio on the go ( as well as several spec peices in preparation for Art in Action): a goose in flight, a barn owl and a quintessential English weathercock.
Speaking of weathercocks, here's an antique English one that I adore...look at the true patina on it, and the wonderful rivets & bullet holes in the tail.
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.
