LOGO experiment

So, I was at work and doing some cold enamelling (resin) on one of them F1 trophies, and thought about my logo. So with help of work colleague, I machine engraved the logo on to a little copper coin, which I then filled with black coloured resin. I quite like it. Perhaps I could try another colour, something that would compliment the colour of copper better.

I guess the next step would be to start using these badges once again. Need to brainstorm... do some sketches and start making again! Yalla yalla Saana!

Acrylic lacquering practises

I have been thinking what I should do with the copper surface, what kind of finish I should aim for. 

Copper oxidises naturally, depending of the environment, it darkens, patina, over the time. I am between letting the copper on its natural stage after polishing or lacquering it with acrylic - which would prevent it from oxidising and it would stay patina-free. Also, the acrylic would protect the metal from getting scratched.

I went to my helpful friend Carl's house, who has an airbrushing studio. I had test samples, with different kinds of finishes on them. 

Here's some of the samples. Two half domes, the other one highly polished, and the other naturally oxidised one. The disc has been roughly scratched and the rectangular piece was polished with metal wheel.  The test pieces have one layer of acrylic lacquer airbrushed on.

This rim is in three differently polished sections - linear sand polish surface, two different grades and one part has been left to oxidise for about a month. After lacquering the surface, the metal will stay in that colour, which I find fascinating. But what I am not so keen about is the shiny surface, film that the spraying creates. It can be seen clearly - it looks artificial to me.

Being true to the material. The material should celebrate the medium it is made of.

Tinning

Okay, as you may know, copper is not suitable to be used with foodstuffs unless lined, usually with stainless steel (industrial process) or tinned (by hand, or hot dip-tinned industrially). I contacted few manufacturers, but, because these companies concentrate on big orders, I was not able to get it done, well I would have to wait for three months... So for the assessment, I wanted to give a hand tinning a try. I didn't know what to expect...

Here I got standard plumbers flux, tin, leather cloth and a test piece.
The flux is brushed on to the metal - tin melted and carefully pored on to heated surface. It was a bit hard to do it by myself, as I had to keep the torch in one hand, the ladle with the tin in other, and somehow use the cloth too. Also, I realised that I had to somehow rotate the metal, to try to get the tin to spread on to the surface. 

Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought. The test piece surface is convex, which obviously makes it harder to handle. But still, the tin just stayed in a liquid lump, like mercury, and just dropped from the surface on to the brick and set. No signs of trying to take its place on surface. 

This test piece was little more realistic. Again, poured the molten metal in and tried to move the tin around and then wipe the excess off. NO, it just didn't want to do it. Stayed in a molten lump and then just set. It seemed that the flux just kept evaporating too fast, which meant that the tin wasn't able to run well. 

Michael Rowe - Conditions for Ornament no 30

I was feeling frustrated after the failed attempt to do tinning. I contacted Michael Rowe, the  Senior tutor of Metalwork programme in RCA. Some of his work is tin-lined. Mr. Rowe was very kind and emailed me back explaining how I could get better results. He told me about this particular tin, that I should use. I am not sure if it is a secret, so I won't tell what it is, but I can say that it works!! 

tinning samples. Look at the amazing bubbly surface!! It looks like the surface is sweating.

Already much better result!

And here, I have tried on another test piece, this time, inside the vessel, the kind of surface that I would need to do the tinning. I ended up with burns and not still very satisfactory surface... I would need more and more practice in order to master tinning.

I decided not to tin the double walled surface myself. Too big risk of ruining the whole piece. Back to square one. Time to contact hot-dip tinning manufacturers.  

Working on plywood

Layers of roughly cut plywood glued together. Ready to be milled

I have learned, that when milling, the chuck (the base disc that is attached to the lathe) and the rest of the milled body has to align or otherwise the work won't level. 

Milling in process

The metal did not meet the wood exactly, as my cylinder is handmade and the plywood part is machine operated. I had to take the whole piece back on the lathe to even it out. 

Finnish Inspiration

I went to Finland during the Easter break to get some inspiration for my project. Here's my main observations:

My father had made this beautiful little bell. The purpose, according to him, is to ring the bell, to get my mother's attention, and to get her to bring a beer on his hand (apparently he is working hard in the garden, doing some diy or perhaps refurbishing the house!). He told this to us, just to annoy my mother, as she can be sometimes little stiff with jokes.. We all had good laugh! 

The shape of the bell appealed me. It is in the end very traditional shape, but the  way it was made on the lathe inspired me. My father is a lathe/milling machine professional for over 30 years, mainly making parts for big forestry machines, but sometimes he surprises my family with these beautiful little objects. I wanted to learn how to mill in the way, that the surface is curvy and how the inside is milled to follow the same shape. I really like the wooden handle he had carefully carved to fit the bell.
It was time to visit his workshop.  

:)

Inspirational steel cylinders in rundown wooden pallet. 

Galvanised steel. Industrial oil jug

Sketching ideas

Storage vessels, jars, for kitchen use, domestic environment to hold dry foodstuffs.

Aiming for three to five objects... keeping the same characters on each piece, making collection. 

Let's see what happens1

Looking at proportions

Sketching away

I think it is too much, if there is two rings of copper in one object...

two rings of copper. Bottom one oxidised naturally, top ring has just been pickled in acid solution to clean off the oxidising from annealing. 

Re-evaluating the form

    Raw simplicity - visually and physically

    Subtle proportions

    What is the ideal relation between the metal and the wood?

    Focusing more on the metal than on the wood

hmmm...

Back on to the drawing board!

Truncated cone practise

Hammered the gilding metal against the stake. Too much and too hard blows will leave visible dents that are difficult and very time consuming to remove. If the ends don't meet, the cone won't be true. Found it quite hard to work on even such a simple shape. And it made me realise that cone shape is not something that interests me. 

Experimenting: Model making

My early experiments on cardboard before moving into metal sheet. I found it hard to think of ways to join two differently cut cylinders or cones. How to calculate the exactly right circumference, and what if the rim needed be oval shape?? Realised that it had become quite mathematical for me.. spent hours on online forums, where math experts explains formula's that aren't so easy to figure out, especially if it has been 15 years since the last time calculating complex formula's in secondary school! Needed to cogitate something more straightforward. These shapes has become too complex for my taste, I have realised that what I am after, is more ascetic.  

Cylinder with oblique rim and edge 

Hybrid cylinder. The main vessel carries smaller one on its side. 

Low cylinder with oblique rim

    Oblique truncated cylinder