MICHAEL'S JOURNEY

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE IT ENLARGED.

Recently my dear friend, Kerry, journeyed from her home in Australia to Port Townsend, WA to visit friends and old haunts. She brought with her an envelope of precious photos that her friend, Michael, sent along with the hope of having one of my skimmer boats made. I've never met Michael but after sorting through the images....scanning....resizing...printing....glueing....I feel as though I now know at least part of his story. We all have a story, unique to us....the checker at the grocery store....the woman who walks her dog everyday at 3pm....the man in the red shirt in the sailboat on the bay. Making this boat was a reminder to me to consider the people around me....the ones I don't know....the ones who I only glance in their direction....and to remember that they, too, have a story....and it is as valid and worthy as my own.

The frame of this skimmer is hammered copper.... I used waxed linen thread to connect the ribs. Using archival inks I printed the photos on gampi paper (a very thin but strong Japanese paper). The paper is glued to the boat frame using an acid free book binders glue. This skimmer measures (with the stand) approximately 9.5" x 4.5" x 2.5". The stand is cherry with copper uprights.

A big thanks to Kerry for hand carrying the boat on the airplane back to Australia and to Michael for the opportunity of making his skimmer.

Here is a portion of a note I included with the boat.
I call this style boat a skimmer. It reminds me of a curled leaf on a pond riding light and high on the water....just skimming the surface. To me a “boat” is a metaphor for our life’s journey...swift water...placid water...a few white caps...the occasional tsunami...we are carried along. I’ve titled this skimmer “Michael’s Journey”. I’m hoping the rest of your journey will be amazing and filled with wonder and that your boat will ride high and dry.

ALL THAT REMAINS

Just recently I learned a new jewelry technique called FOLD FORMING. This method of working with metal was invented by Charles Lewton-Brain in the late 1980's and is recognized the world over as the only new original innovation in metal working in a millennia. By using fingers...hammers...mallets...anvil...vice and /or rolling mill one can achieve wonderful organic shapes from a single piece of metal with no soldering. Usually when working with metal one insists their will upon it making the metal 'behave' to achieve an expected result. In form folding the beauty comes from allowing the metal to follow natural laws without exerting a will over it. I think that is the reason that the end result looks so organic.

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT.

I call this neckpiece ALL THAT REMAINS. It so reminds me of a sea creature who has left it's exoskeleton behind or of a spent seed pod....not unlike a milkweed pod. The truth is, as a jeweler/metal worker, I hardly ever wear any of my own jewelry... except for the occasional gallery opening. Since making this piece I find that I wear it most all of the time and constantly get comments about it. ALL THAT REMAINS is made of 26 gauge sterling silver and though it looks delicate, it is quite tough.

This small sterling silver boat, which I call WHAT THE TIDE BROUGHT IN, is less than 3" long and is made using the same technique and the same size and gauge metal. If I had continued to hammer and thin the bottom edge, the bow and stern ends would have continued to curl towards each other making another piece more like the ALL THAT REMAINS neckpiece.

I look forward to exploring the new territory that fold forming provides me....stay tuned...I think I see a rolling mill in my future.

MARK'S FARM POND SKIMMER

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION.

Over Christmas I visited my sister, Mary, and her family in Tennessee. They live on a gorgeous piece of rural property with an amazing 3/4 acre farm pond behind the house. This pond has been the source of much entertainment over many years including ... fishing ...kayaking ...skating (when the pond freezes over) ... watching wild and domestic ducks with their soap opera-ish relationships...and observing a lone heron fishing for breakfast. Even it's perimeter creates a great walking loop for clearing one's head or exercising the dogs. You can never tell what you might find on an adventure around the pond...a large snapping turtle...feathers left from the kestrel's kill...or a baby bird fallen from it's nest. My favorite thing about the pond is the bullfrogs. In the coolness of a spring evening the big bullfrogs call to each other from each end of the pond.....looking for mates or just a good time. It is loud and booming and I can't get enough of that sound. You can feel it reverberating in your inner chambers.

Mary wanted to surprise her husband, Mark, with one of my pond skimmers as a Christmas gift. I mailed my tools to TN and hand carried the boat frame on the airplane. In the evening after Mark went to bed I worked on the skimmer.


I chose this photograph of the pond and dock where so many memories have happened. I took this photo last spring when the trees were leafed out. I love how the reflections look abstract on Mark's skimmer.


Here is Mary having a conversation with one of her domestic muscovy ducks. Her ducks are all characters and could have their own version of a comedy show or sitcom.



This is Jack, one of Mary's King Charles Cavalier Spaniels, just about to get too close to a snapping turtle.


The pellucid skimmer is about 15" long and is made from archival inkjet printed gampi paper and copper. The ribs are attached with waxed linen string.

NAVIGATING THE PAST

This is another one of my pellucid skimmer boats called NAVIGATING THE PAST. I chose vintage images that all related to the beach and to water...two of my favorite themes when it comes to vintage photographs. The images are printed on thin gampi paper and attached to a frame work of hammered copper. The copper frame is held together with waxed linen thread. The overall look is of an ancient skin boat held together with sinew. the stand is made of cherry with copper uprights. Unfortunately I forgot to measure this piece before it sold but it was approximately 9 inches long.


The other side of the boat. Remember that you can click on a photo to see a larger version.

ANNIVERSARY SKIMMER

Recently, two major life events happened to my dear friend, Kristi. In addition to celebrating 20 years of marriage, her only child, Katie, graduated from high school. Both events were emotional and markers of life's march through time. What Kristi didn't know is that her husband, Tim, chose to surprise her with one of my skimmers for her anniversary. The real trick was in keeping the secret since Kristi and I are in touch almost every day....and from what I hear, Tim, isn't always the best at keeping secrets either. From another project I already had some wonderful photos of Katie from toddler age up through graduation. These images seemed perfect to me to mark these two occasions and a boat was the natural metaphor for life's journey.


This skimmer is made of beaten copper wire and thin japanese paper (gampi) that has been ink jet printed with archival ink. I love that the paper is thin enough to allow light through it....making it very translucent. Looking into the boat, the backside of the images are almost as clear as the printed side. The overall length of the boat is just over 12 inches and it is about 2.25 inches at it's widest point. Remember that you can click on an image to see it larger.

It means a lot to me that via my art I had a hand in helping mark this place in time for dear friends....their lives shared and the launching of Katie's boat into bigger water.

POND SKIMMER

This is my second attempt to make a boat. This POND SKIMMER measures 15.5 inches overall with the boat opening being about 10 inches. It is made of flattened copper wire and thin japanese paper (Gampi). The image of the lily pads is from a photo that I tweaked a bit in photoshop to make it appear less photographic and more painterly. The stand is made of cherry with copper uprights.


Looking down into the boat.

Is there anything more fun than gazing into a still pond and wondering what lies beneath the murky water....tadpoles....a snapping turtle....someone's lost wrist watch....? I remember lying flat on my stomach at the waters edge and watching water striders...also called jesus bugs because they walk on water. They weigh next to nothing because with no effort at all they seem to skate or glide across the surface. I read recently that they can carry up to 15 times their weight and still stay afloat... they must have a little magic in their pocket. The striders remind me of my POND SKIMMER. It's not actually made to go into water but if it was I'm sure it would ride high and be moved around by the slightest breeze.



Remember that you can see a larger image by clicking on the photo.

PELLUCID SKIMMER

I have always been drawn to boats. Growing up in Arkansas near three lakes, there was always a boat in the backyard.....you see, my dad loved boats, too. There was an aluminum fishing boat with sweeping curved lines and at one time a large wooden boat big enough to sleep several people and later, once the kids were mostly grown and water skiing was out of the question, a party barge or two. I have wonderful memories of fishing for crappie, bass, and bluegill with my dad on Lake Hamilton. If I close my eyes I can still remember the smell of my dad's tackle box and the peculiar odor of the rubber purple worms. He used to tell a story of having me out in the boat with him when I was only 3 or 4 years old. A storm blew in and there was thunder and lightening in the distance. He said every time it lightened my fine red hair would stand straight up from static electricity. My dad kept trying to smooth my hair down afraid that I would draw the lightening to us. Needless to say, we did make it off the lake unscathed.

When I was about 12 years old I wanted a kayak so bad. Mom and dad bought me a kit for my birthday and dad and I worked on the wooden kayak with a cloth skin for months in the unfinished living room addition of our house. We had a pulley system rigged so that at night, or if company came, we could pull the boat up out of the way. Later in life I worked as a kayak guide in Baja...again being drawn to the pod like shape of kayaks.

Maybe it's all this early boat memory in my cells that joined forces a few days ago and led me to make a small sculpture of a boat. I'm calling this style boat a SKIMMER (thanks to my dear friend, Kristi, for helping me come up with this name.) To me a SKIMMER denotes light weight and a hull that barely touches the water. PELLUCID is a word that means translucent. A PELLUCID SKIMMER is the perfect description of this style boat.


The frame of my first skimmer is made of copper wire and just like the skin boats of early arctic people, it, too, has a skin. A very thin Japanese paper (gampi) that has been printed with vintage imagery covers the boat. I purposely chose imagery from old photographs that showed people enjoying the beach or water in general. I glue the paper on while it is damp and as it dries it shrinks slightly and really does resemble a stretched skin.


On this particular boat I used waxed linen thread to attach the ribs. The linen thread reminds me of sinew that was used in traditional skin boats. Eventually this 7 inch skimmer will have a stand. Next I want to try a slightly larger skimmer....maybe 12 inches....and then maybe 20 inches.....stay tuned!!

Remember that you can click on a photo to see an enlarged version.


I really love this organic shape that is both pod and boat at the same time. There is a beautiful translucency when the SKIMMER is slightly backlit.




This photo is looking down into the SKIMMER.