For the Birds

Posted on by gayle

I think my muse has returned. Busyness is the enemy of creativity. After an extremely hectic summer and fall things have slowed down to where my mind wanders to making things. This week I saw a pile of wood scraps and a broken shutter as what they could become. So I made a birdhouse for a friend as a housewarming present. The roof is made of the shutter slats–which were the perfect size and shape for overlapping roofing. The sides are made from cedar siding scraps—this I like because it should help the birdies with their parasites. Bugs do not like cedar, nor does fungus. The shell adornment was a souvenir of a trip to the coast and the aluminum flashing used to seal the top was purchased from a home improvement store for a weather proofing project around the house. This was a pretty quick and easy project and it made a fine gift for my friend’s new home. I intend to make a couple more as gifts.

Green Birdhouse

Here is a second birdhouse I built as a gift. I am going to post a measured drawing here as well so you can knock one out at home. All you need is some wood, a saw, hammer, drill, and nails.

Birdhouse

If I could turn back time…

Posted on by gayle

My college friend Diann could do a mean Cher impression on this particular tune. Not me. But I wanted to post something about a functional piece of art done by my friend and colleague, Jason Burnett that does reverse time for abandoned objects. This piece, called “Steelmaster”, is only the second piece of legit art that I have purchased. I saw it at his first one-man show in Gadsden, AL. I loved it then and kept pestering him about it while I saved a few bucks.

He makes functional time pieces out of found items and random parts. Beautiful work. Jason tells me that the “ears” on this piece were at one time earrings–had to be a product of 80’s fashion. The recessed clock face was a sink strainer in a previous life. Recycled, renewed, and reclaimed resources–it is an example of “green” art. This piece is pretty mild compared to some of the larger pieces he has made. Very intricate and seemingly random, but held together by form and function. If you get a chance to see his work in person, you will see what I am saying.

Steemaster

Physics Rules

Posted on by gayle

I just returned from a trip to Corpus Christi, TX where I had the good fortune to meet Ed and Cornelia Gates of Aloe Tile Works. Walking into their shop was a totally random thing and so fortunate for me. They make custom tiles from red clay and paint them using a pigmented clay. Beautiful work that is garnering a lot of local interest in TX. They have done some very big tile mural projects for the state and schools and they do a lot of “ceramic certificate” work (plaques commemorating events). They also do custom tiles for home projects like backsplashes and bathrooms. They showed me beautiful crosses, Christmas ornaments, and mirrors they have custom made. Just beautiful!

Aloe Tile

Ed is the Potter there and Cornelia is an-ex lawyer turned artist/organizer of the place. (This is an over simplification, of course.) They were both so warm and generous with their time. They showed me around their Studebaker-garage-turned-pottery studio and the adjacent gallery which is housed in the showroom of the former dealership. Ed explained their processes and I asked a lot of questions. Both he and Cornelia were so generous with their time. I could have hung around for hours chatting and watching the processes.

Mugs

A light bulb came on as to another reason (besides the availability of clay in some locales) why many great Potters take up residence on the coast. [ Shearwater /The Andersons for example] Ed says it is the humidity. This allows the artists more time to work with the clay without it drying out. So it comes down, again, to physics. If only my physics classes had explained the effect of this most basic science on real life rather than focusing on equations and fuzzy math.

Thanks Ed and Cornelia! You remind me that there are cool people doing what they love and creating beautiful/meaningful things all over the country.

Fine Dining

Posted on by gayle
Dining table built for the '07 Coastal Living Idea House
Photo by Jean Allsopp

Some projects are too good to pass up, even if they are huge and you have a regular job. I finished one recently for a 7ft by 4 ft dining table custom built for the 10th Anniversary Coastal Living Idea House in River Dunes, NC. It was a lot of fun to build but a handle to get finished on time.

I was given two pictures by the designer who said “can you take this part of this picture and use that part of this other picture and make a table?” Well, yes. The wood came from Southern Accents in Cullman, AL and was reclaimed red oak timbers from a barn. Rustic as the day is long!

The challenge came in getting the joints to line up well. The wood was simply beautiful–loved it. [See pictures of it here] I made it in 5 pieces that connected using minimal hardware. Shipping it was a challenge, but upon arrival everyone was happy. It looked good in the house which was photographed in August and will appear in the November issue of Coastal Living. They did add a slight stain to the top to make it better match the wood flooring and lessen some of the redness of the wood. I liked the original penetrating oil finish, but I loved how the table looked in place with the chairs and settees.

This was a great project and I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to showcase how beautiful reclaimed wood can be. I hope to have additional challenges to make something old new again.

Grand Opening

Posted on by gayle

I went to the grand opening of Cahaba Clayworks this evening. What a fun and totally enjoyable evening. There was a great jazz band [Rhythms Band, 205/837-2269], a wine consultant [Foster Smith, 205/908-174] providing a bit of education with some wonderful affordable wines from The Vintage Wine Shoppe , and pottery glazing and firing. I tasted a great Reisling that I plan to purchase. It was so wonderful to have arts and culture going on locally. I loved seeing my teachers and a few fellow students. I will be taking more classes this fall and hopefully creating more “masterpieces”. I encourage anyone to try pottery. It is a blast!

Oh, and I bought my first piece of art. Great feeling! Any other art I own is strictly amateur–created by me.