whimsy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, well not much like the Iowa Christmases I remember. This is Florida after all. Mostly it's the calendar that's reminding me of the season. Once again I've left the making of the wife's present to the last possible days. Well not really I have done most of the form exploration all ready. It's that I didn't make up my mind what to make until
yesterday. I wasn't positive about it until this morning. The first two courses of raising are done on this piece. I type as I anneal, both the body and the metal that will become the spout. I've a general form in mind, Short and stout, some of the detail, here is the handle here is the spout. I think this teapot should have a lid. I'm not sure of a whistle, we'll see. For this piece I've produced a 16 gauge pure copper 7" disk.. The plan is to incorporate some fold forming into this raised form... Much more later.. Boy do I have some work to do! It'll be fun, a bit of whimsy, I say confidently as I head back to the stake.

I got a new hammer!

In so many ways my new hammer is just another hammer. Yup a wooden handle with a metal head, two faces to keep polished. It's a Peddington, made in Germany. It's a #375 46 to be exact. I only mention this because some of my friends are hammer elitists. I confess to being somewhat of a tool collector, snob myself so I fit right in. What impressed me greatly was that the local jewelry supply store had my hammer, right on the dusty shelf hidden amongst a bunch of stuff I'd never look twice at. I'll never want a case opening pliers, a crystal press or a mechanical watch cleaning machine. There seemed to be a spotlight on that hammer coming from an invisible source. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe it was just the flicker from the fluorescent lights. I picked it up said, " Mine." Well the store didn't have the saw blades I came in for, were out of the drill bits I needed, no longer stocked silver solder, and didn't carry Batterns flux. None of that seemed to matter, much. Did you know liver of sulphur is a controlled item, requires hazardous shipping? I held my new hammer proudly, as I accepted the news that I wasn't going to find any of this product either. No problem. They didn't have any of the things I needed, just a hammer that I wanted. Needs and wants get confusing anyway. I get amused sometimes by stores offering employment as mystery shoppers, for me shopping for tools in the local shops is mystery shopping. Sure I know what I need to shop for but it will be a mystery what I get back to the bench with! Back at the bench it was time to celebrate. Much like the time I went shopping for a new crucible and came home with a new rolling mill. The above are the result of the celebration. " Five small copper bowls"