Starry night

Tea and vinegar soaked organza 

wrapped with purple waxed linen, 

now rusting snugly in a bag.

Star - a happy accident,

a pleasant surprise.

Good night all.

Experimenting with rust - part 2

Before going to bed last night, I checked on the rusting white tunic and was pleased to see the process working. This morning, very curious yet showing restraint, I waited until my daughters were at school before opening the bundle which showed far more rust than white.

Since this is an experiment, I decided to add a few smaller elements to the mix and wrap it all back up, until tonight or maybe even tomorrow morning, depending on how patient I can be.

My experimental cairn

Here are a few photos of the cairn. It's about 2 feet high but has aspirations of reaching a stately 6 feet. If an inanimate object can have aspirations, that is. Actually, I'm the one with the dreams of the cairn being 6 feet tall with another at 4 feet or so and yet another a bit smaller. So...maybe cairn 1 is the smallest.

Truthfully, I'm not sure I can manage to stack wrapped metal objects to the 6 feet level and have the cairn be interesting. It was difficult enough to stack this little fellow given the bundled up cotton and waxed linen thread tied around the various pieces. Still...

By the way, the two little urchins visible in the left of the above photo are my 3 year old twin daughters who keep me very busy and could be said to be the main culprits in the conspiracy to keep me out of the studio. Hopefully, the cairn will slip their attention and no toes will be crushed if they decide to unstack it. I'll let you know how it goes.

In a funk

It's been a while since my last post. I'd like to say that it's because I've been jet setting around the world, but the truth is that I've been in a bit of funk lately and my funkness has kept me out of the studio...even though spending some quality time in the studio is exactly what the doctor would order as a cure for my state of mind.


Well, the doctor would have been proud of me today. I made my first visit ever to a junkyard - scrap metal yard, actually. Oh! The treats that awaited and cried out to be taken home. My love of rust has previously been confessed so it should come as no surprise that rusted elements were the focus of my treasure hunt. Just look at what I found.

In case you're wondering what is in store for these lovely hunks of rust and metal, think no more. The plan is to wrap as many as possible in white cotton and waxed linen thread, stack them into a cairn somewhere in my yard and let Mother Nature do whatever she pleases for a month or so...well, at least for a week while we're on vacation.


A few were wrapped and stacked tonight, but I ran out of white cotton and darkness set in. I'll take a shot of the cairn tomorrow and post it. Can't wait to see what happens!