With the spoon lashed firmly in place inside the mold, I start working on other areas. I'd like to trap a bead behind the spiralled wire here, so I tuck the spirals out of the way so I can make a recessed area at the base of the handle.
Drilled and waiting.
On to getting some paper onto the structure. I'd like to encase the metal in some beautiful distressed paper. This is about as lovely a distressing as possible - a vintage Japanese book that is laced with borer holes and tracks.
Each spread reveals a new and exhilarating Rorschach of spontaneous design.
Selected.
The silhouette is coaxed out...
...and applied.
Another piece is used for the back as well. Now to let it dry so that rust will work its way into the paper.
Set aside to dry overnight, and rust appearing.
Now I'm ready to squirrel out a title for the forming piece. Into my library of titles I go. This is always a great part of the process, where a certain title will ring true to the fledgling piece - the next found object to join the crew.
Perfect.
Because so much paper is already shrouding the piece, I decide instead to etch it and make a metal plate to mount. The lettering is hand-engraved into the ground and then etched and now sawn out.
The wire tails I'd left long before are perfect as attachment devices for the title plate.
Now I can snip them down and form them to the plate.
Hooked into place, this allows a little bit of movement to the plate, which I like.
I turn my focus to the broad end of the spoon handle. I'm going to bend it around front to allow the lovely hallmarks to read, but I'd like to cut a window away to suspend a small object.
The shape drawn.
And cut.
A wire fitting will mount into the holes and create a hanging loop in the top center.
A gorgeous little Victorian boot button takes the place of prominence.
Ready to install.
And set in place.
The chain/cord is all that remains now. I used some square steel-wire chain I made for a previous piece and joined it to leather to complete the piece.
Which you can view, at long last, HERE.
Or, if you happen to be in Providence, Rhode Island you can see it in person for the next few days (until the 19th of June), as it's in the tail end of an exhibition I have a handful of works in - more info here.
Thanks for bearing with my tardiness!
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