Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Monday, 29 June 2009

Neglected Cinema: I Start Counting






Endearing scene from David Greene's great 1969 coming-of-age study/thriller:



Wednesday, 24 June 2009

Per Kirkeby









































...at Tate modern! I really think rail travel should be free.

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Latest rings



Fine silver hand made wedding rings; made using silverclay.
This can be worked with like clay and when fired it sinters into
fine (.999) silver.
The top ring has been formed using silver wire as an armature;
I then work silver clay paste in and around this structure and torch fire it.
Then a shorter length of wire is twisted around the top part of the ring;
this is then filled in, shaped and worked over again with more silver clay paste.

The larger ring in the foreground is made using a syringe to pipe clay slip over a dry base.
Multiple firings with a torch and much shaping and refining follows;
("oil paste type" is used over fired silver). The rings are kiln-fired for strength
and then burnished using hand tools; the larger ring is also oxidized
with liver of sulphur solution to bring the contours
of the upper part of the ring into greater relief.

More photos of my jewellery work here:

More information about metal clay here:

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Neglected cinema: Unman, Wittering and Zigo

















Here's a brief review from Channel Four's website:

Not so much a whodunnit as a 'did they actually do it?', this posh school chiller is full of intriguing twists and turns.

Unfairly neglected British psychological horror, in which Hemmings' jittery schoolteacher is informed by his new charges that they killed his predecessor - and that he'll suffer the same fate if he doesn't dole out the right kind of marks.

It's Anderson's 
If... retold from the point of view of the masters, with a gaggle of stuffy character actors in the staff-room roles (Lott, Wilmer) and a register-full of potentially murderous schoolboys - with absurd names like Blisterine, Bungabine, Cloistermouth and Cuthbun. You may have to wait until after the closing credits to find out who-what-if theydunit.

I'd love to see this film get the proper release it deserves. It's (temporarily, no doubt) viewable in episodes here:


Vintage Find: 1920s Woollen Swimming Costume

















 


from Uniquely Vintage (ebay):



 That's right. A woolly swimsuit.

The current local weather may be confusing me...




...and "dancercise"!
















http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4ZWsGHb2gU


























Glad to see that the
Shirley Jackson
Book Cover Project
is still out there!



Salon.com article on the author:



The New Copper Metal Clay





Hadar Jacobson's metal clay powders:
http://store.artinsilver.com/coclpo1.html




flickr copper clay photostream:




Cheesecake of the Hour




Cheesecake with Strawberries and Balsamic Vinegar


Art by Andrea Schumacher

Friday, 5 June 2009

Vintage Find:





http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23073635


I'm surprised that this coat from Faithfull Vintage


http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6430488


hasn't been snapped up yet! It's "L/XL" too, which seems a bit of a rarity in the vintage world (grump!) V frustrating for us not-so-little birds :-)