Cylinder Lamp

The cylinder lamp is made from salvaged copper, wine bottles and a piece of oak burr for the base. The glass insets are wine bottle bottoms with Harvey's sherry bottle chips fused onto them. 

Masque

Masque is an illuminated sculptural piece in copper and glass, which stands about 5'6" tall. The mask itself was fabricated from the top of a scrap copper hot water cylinder and sheet copper from the same cylinder. It was coloured using different patinas for the tribal markings and background. The blue glass visor is made from recycled wine bottles and was designed and produced by Barbara Coulam at www.clerestory.co.uk. Inside the mask are 50 medium intensity blue LED's, these can be powered either by the 3 AA batteries mounted inside the mask or from the mains supply using a 4.5V AC mains adaptor plugged into the DC socket fitted in the elm base. The copper coil used to mount the mask is, unfortunately, not recycled and has to be made up by a local company as I have yet to find a way of producing a consistent spiral from scrap copper tubing. So if anyone can suggest a reliable method of doing this, I would be very grateful. The base is the outside slice of an elm burr and has three circular oak feet fitted to the underside.
        




To purchase this piece or to have one made to order, please email me at alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk

Crescents

Crescents are made from two interlocking pieces of scrap copper sheet, clipped together and secured by a short length of 15mm copper tubing. The crescent shapes have a patina finish applied while the copper tubing is left as polished copper. The glass candle holders are wine bottle bottoms.




To purchase these or any other pieces please email me at: alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk

Spirals

Spirals are made from scrap 15mm copper tubing and oak flooring off-cuts. The copper spirals clip into the oak bases and a tealight clips into the top of the spiral. They are available either gas torched (as shown on the left) or with a patina finish.


Price: gas torched £4
patina finish £5

To purchase these please email me at: alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk

Vino

Vino is made from five slumped wine bottles, mounted on two lengths of scrap 28mm copper tubing. The copper tubes are a tight push fit into the oak base unit. This is made from a recycled oak post and houses the electrics for the 50 high intensity green LED's mounted behind the bottles. As with 'Masque', the LED's can be powered either by the 3 AA batteries in the base unit or from the mains supply using a 4.5V AC mains adapter plugged into the DC socket fitted to the base unit.

This example is a table top version, but a wall mounted one is underway in the workshop and will be available very soon, as will other variations of this piece. This piece can be made to order using any bottles of your choice.




To purchase this piece or to order one, please email me at: alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk

Dragon Moon

This bowl, like the Celtic Spiral one, was made from the bottom of a copper hot water cylinder. The Dragon Moon design and the background have been coloured by applying two different patina finishes. The underside of the bowl has been coloured using a gas torch. The stand is made from oak flooring off-cuts, finished with danish oil.

These can be made to order with a design of your choice.




To purchase this piece or to have one made with your own design on please email me at: alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk

Surf's Up!

This piece all came together around a curved piece of driftwood sourced from the R. Trent and because of the extremely unlikely event of finding another piece of driftwood with the same shape, it will remain a unique piece.

Surf's Up! It is typical of a lot of my work in that it slowly evolved over time. My first instinct was to fit a clock face to it, but clocks are boring so it had to be different, much different. So although it may look like a clock, it isn't, not really. It's a surf indicator. Yes there are clock hands on it but no numerals. There are two reasons for this. The first is that we've all had the image of a clock face imprinted inside our heads since we were about 5 years old so we should know where the numbers are. The second is that it's fitted with a time and tide movement, the long hand indicating high and low tide. And what's more important, the ticking of the clock, or knowing when surf's up?
Each individual element of the overall design is intended to pursue this theme within the recreated environment of a breakwater.
wave detail Originally the clock face was going to be a single wave, until a jewellery designer friend suggested I use multiple wave shapes. This worked far better, giving a view of waves increasing in height as high tide approaches. The wave shapes were cut from scrap copper sheet and soldered together, the wire stitches reinforce the joints and echo the ones on the posts and the two stones indicating high and low tide. The face was then sand blasted and coloured with a gas torch. A fine line of sand was glued to the leading edges of the waves to hide the solder and give a little depth.
seaweed detail The posts are pieces of gorse root sourced from Studland Bay in Dorset and, like the driftwood, have been left unfinished to keep the whole piece as natural as possible. The posts have been wired to the driftwood and tension applied by the insertion of thin slices of gorse root between the posts and the driftwood. Sand has been glued over these at the front to hide them and give the effect of sand blown up against the breakwater. The seaweed is real and was collected already dried out from the Linconshire coast some years ago.
lapis lazuli detail The stones used to represent high and low tide were sourced from a local craft shop which specialises in fossils, minerals and semi-precious stones. Their shapes and colours were chosen to echo waves and sand. High tide is indicated by the smooth piece of lapis lazuli, and low tide by a rough chunk of orange calcite. And that is 'Surf's Up!' Much more than just a clock.


To purchase this piece please email me at alkemyartanddesign@yahoo.co.uk