CANTO I. In-Progress - Part 2.

Welcome back! Work continues on this unusual structure, which as you can see, now sports a name...

To mount an attachment to the left side of my scissor handle, I need to anneal the steel first, as it is quite hardened tool steel.

 This beautiful and very old glass-topped pin is chosen as my attachment. I've owned this little object for twenty-five years. Feels nice to bring it to bear now.

Drilled through and inserted into the scissor. I love the angle.
 

The pin is curled around very slowly and is now a useable connection to the pendant.
 

 To make tiny eye-pins to attach chains to my mirror structure, I carve little 'hand-wrought' style nails.

Chains are added and the general form works for me. It has a great movement.
Attention turns now to the wooden mirror itself.

The silvered backing is selectively removed to allow my imagery to be framed by the mirror surface.

The 'paddle' end is pierced to allow a two-sided visual. 

  

I select as a facial image an engraving of 19th-century British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. A fascinating man in his own right, but memorable for many years to me for his request that his body be dissected and then presented as an 'Auto-Icon', where it sits today. You can read all about him here and see an interactive 360˚ view of the Auto-Icon here.
 

If I've been able to lure you back from your macabre detour, the mirror is prepped.
 

The title for the piece is now chosen, as I've got a pretty rounded-out vision of what is coming together. 'CANTO I.'

 

Preparing the back of the mirror 'stack', here choosing an early 19th-century patent-application engraving and adding my signature to be seen from the back of the piece.

Mica is cut as the back window of the stack.

 

As the stack of glass, image and mica come together, I make one of those wild-card decisions that make me trust my intuition.

 

 The mirror is lightly scored and cracked in two places. To my delight, the tiny fragments of silver dot the area under the eye like tears.

Time to drop the mirror structure into the bezel of brass.

The tabs are delicately pushed over the wood, with a thick pad of felt underneath to protect the glass elements as well as the wood, which is quite brittle with age.

The pendant portion of the piece is now, except for one detail I'm about to add, complete.

Join me one more time as I work out a typically unorthodox method for hanging the pendant. Thanks for joining me!

CANTO I. In-Progress, Part 1

Hello and glad to be back in the step-by-step mode of bringing you with me into a new piece.

The kick-off is this miniscule Victorian wooden hand mirror, most likely made as a doll's accessory. I've been nurturing this object for a long time and its time has finally come.

I love the upside-down orientation, so that's where my instinct starts me.

Time to remove the mirror.

 Now I'm setting about cutting a small hole in the bottom of the handle and making a glass lens to fit.

This glass was melted in my kiln and will now be used as the lens.

 Cut down, tapered...

...and polished.

My next major element is brought in - a 1940's brass coaster with the glass center removed. I cut the ring to enable me to shape it.

After deciding to form-fit the coaster brass to the mirror, I set to work.

So far, so good. Slow work.

 

The forming finished and soldered together, I can now turn to working out how to further modify and join them.

I'm going to make tabs that will fold around the wooden mirror, which will also serve to greatly reduce the depth of the piece.

 

Roughed out and ready to be finessed. At this point I'm thinking about hanging possibilities, while it's still in a rough state.

 

This fantastic steel-and-brass scissor handle is cut down and will make a perfect asymmetrical top to the pendant.

 

The right side chain is anchored to the brass body. The form is really taking discernable shape.

Join me next week to see where I'll take it. Comments are welcome!

Ciao!

Keith

 

Happy 6th Birthday, Folio!

Here's a spiffy new video teaser to celebrate the first published catalog survey of my artwork.
Keith Lo Bue's Folio Edition documents work from each year of making, from 1989 to 2006, In 24 full-color plates. Lavishly packaged in a sleek matte-black embossed folio case. Measuring 6" x 8.25" (21 x 14.8cm), each plate has a postcard back listing information about the work.

Rounding out the publication is an eight page booklet of notes and anecdotes about the selected pieces, providing a rich perspective on the artist's creative methods and thought processes.

The folio in addition is equally at home on your shelf of art books, for giving as a gift, or for sending individually as large postcards.

On this, the sixth anniversary of the folio's publication, the price has been cut in half from $50 to $24.99. To order:

http://www.lobue-art.com/books_dvds.html

Music in this trailer generously provided by Akira Rabelais: http://www.akirarabelais.com/

The Story Without End, In-Progress - Part Three

Here we are to see The Story Without End, um.... End.

 Small brass bails are made to attach the clay pipe to the back of the piece.

A bail, patinated and attached to a leather cord.

Threaded through the hole in the copper name plate...

 

...and capped with the second. This will leave some options to attach on the outside loops. It's also a very gentle and supple way to attach a fairly fragile material - in this case, the clay pipe piece seen in last installment.

 The large slotted bolt is too harsh and sterile for the piece, and I decide to alter it.

Ready to work on it.

 To a grinder first.
 

 Then shaped with files...
 

 ..and on to the sandpaper.

 Polished and ready to replace.

I'll be looking to patina all the bright metalwork, but at this point I'm pleased with the revision.

 A beautiful little pearl is chosen to hang inside the steel blade, so wire is worked to make this happen.

 The pearl is far too large, so a tiny pearl will take its place...

 I love how the pearl rests on two points of metal below it, echoing the open circle below it.

 Now I'm hunting for an eye engraving to mount in the blade recess I've made, and this stunning steel engraving is perfect.

It needs to be soaked off of a scrapbook page, where it has been glued for 150 years.

In place. To those who noticed a small hole in the recessed area where the engraving lays now, a miniscule opal is mounted to peer out from the back side of the blade.

 Moving on now to the chamber in the heart of the piece. First, a panel of 16th-century book paper is carefully laid in place.

 Now a spray of sea urchin spines are attached, along with a tiny starfish, both of which will not be immediately viewable when looking into the lens, but around the periphery, offering furtive glimpses rather than a quick read.

 The inside of the lens housing is first painted off-white, to allow maximum light inside.

Now with paper affixed, the amount of light surfaces will negate the need for direct frontal lighting to make the interior visible.

 At long last, I can attach the lens assembly to the front of the neckpiece.

 Now I'll find an element to hang from the bottom loops by the name plate.

 Beautiful old copper-plated steel chain with a shoe button works well here.

 Really bothered by the tangle of chain on the upper part of the pendant - so the solution comes after fiddling with it for a while - the little chains are dropped down alongside the handle, rather than drooping upward. The balance immediately rights itself visually, and frames the whole piece.
 

Now I can patinate the metal and take beauty shots - we're done.


Come see it looking its Sunday Best:
http://www.lobue-art.com/story_without_end.html


And for all of the above plus purchasing information:
http://www.lobue-art.com/story-s.html


Thanks for taking the trip with me.  Next week I'll be showing a major commission taking shape - one that is emotionally loaded and quite an experience.


Keith