Back at the bench

Ok, so I was a less than a diligent blogger in 2014 ... I guess I could declare my New Years Resolution to be to write more regularly but I am a bit sceptical about both Resolutions and my ability to stick to my good intentions ...

Let's just start and see where it leads us!

I recently had the pleasure of spending some teaching time with South Australian artist, JoJo Spook. JoJo loves making marks on metal and this inspired me to have a go at making some texture hammers.

I have a bunch of hammers gleaned from op shops, as well as a few cheapies that I was happy to sacrifice if the whole thing went pear-shaped!

This was my first victim. I cleaned up the surface, evened it out and gave it a polish. Then I took to it with a Deremel wheel and files, creating an abstract pattern across its face.

This is the pattern it created on a piece of metal.

This is what it looked like with a patina added and a bit of a polish. I like it!

Next I turned my attention to the narrow end of the hammer ...

Again I used the cut off wheel in my Dremel to make some random marks.

I like this result too! I had to go ahead and make a piece of jewellery with my 'new' tool ...

It's pretty simple but I think the organic nature of the marks makes it quite interesting. Next time I will have a go at making a more regular pattern on the hammer face - right now it is 41 degrees Celsius and I won't be using any tools that create a spark today!