And now for my studio update...

Last year my intentions were to finish sculptures that had been started but put aside for some reason or other. I want to complete those unfinished sculptures as well as work on some new pieces.

The last six months, waiting for surgery and then recuperating, is all in the past, HOORAY! Working in my studio is so much fun!

Last Spring I mentioned my GRAND INTENTIONS in this blog post. This sculpture was put aside until early September, to be completed by late October or early November. That was the plan, but we all know what happened in early September. I want to finish this sculpture!

These great metal frames...

have been turned into shadow boxes.

One frame, mentioned in this post, will have the fireworks, pictured below, attached to the outside. A bust portrait of the founder of the "Oh My Stars Fireworks Manufacturing Company" will be in the interior.

This blog post showed the making of the massive amount of fireworks for the shadow box. I'm looking forward to finishing this piece.

This metal lamp base was going to be turned into...

 a tufted bench somewhat like this settee, it didn't come to pass as you can read here. I want to revisit that bench and create the prop that is still sitting in my mind.

These amazingly detailed small carpets are waiting to be used; one will be turned into a flying carpet. Have a look at the original blog post here to get a better look at the size of the carpets.

In this blog post I mention the carpets and also that I was collecting items for the flying carpet. I have been collecting "treasures" to go on the flying carpet over the last few years and finally I have enough to choose from. I am very particular about size and detail in the items that I purchase which means the treasures take a while to come together.

I have kept these small cakes to use in a sculpture and that is all that I want to say about them as it is still percolating in the brain. They were originally used in a Christmas display along with some very over the top Christmas presents that have since been dismantled, I can't keep all of the props or I would need a warehouse! Check out the post about those presents and cakes here.

So, there we have it, good intentions that will finally be finished.

Hallowe'en Mantle 2015 - I almost didn't do it.

Since last mid September I have been dealing with prostate issues; surgery will be happening in a couple of months. I also had a hernia occur at the same time and the surgery for that will happen after the other surgery, unless God heals those two areas like He healed my back almost two years ago. Needless to say I am moving around at a somewhat slower pace.

All of this makes me sound like a total wreck! I'm not, life happens!

I was so late this year with taking down Thanksgiving that I almost didn't put up any of my Hallowe'en decorations. I did put up decorations but it happened in three seperate stages, each time saying, "Well, that is all I am going to do".

This year's Hallowe'en display is slimmer and very different. I began taking down the Thanksgiving items five days before Hallowe'en. As I was doing this I decided I would do a token display.

I left the wooden stool and all of the leaves and flowers in place. Canadian Thanksgiving is two weeks before Hallowe'en so October 31 for me has included coloured leaves, flowers, berries as well as pumpkins and squash of all sorts.

Fireworks were definitely a part of Hallowe'en growing up in Victoria. More and more people are setting them off in their yards again. I love it!

I went into the garage and brought out the prop fireworks that I made many years ago for a Hallowe'en window display.

These were arranged on the hearth section and on the mantle. The raku pots were added and that was all that I was going to do. I was exhausted.

The raku pots are always on the hearth, the colours are muted and autumnal, that is the only reason that they were included in the display.

This metal tambourine was a gift from a friend for repair work done on some of her vintage Christmas items; I am glad that she had doubles of it. Thank-you Karen, I love it. It was added later along with the other Hallowe'en collectables.

A day or two later I was in the garage and remembered the ebony vanity set that I had bought at Salvation Army for about $8.00 and a turned ebony/teak candlestick that I had bought for about $4.00; out they came and were arranged on the marble side table, $15.00 from Sally Ann. I love shopping at Salvation Army!

My bottle of Carter's mucilage, an old oil can, a vintage marble, a piece of a broken saucer found in the garden, and feathers were added. Two purple and one orange candle finished off the vignette.

I was done.

When the few Hallowe'en items were introduced to the merry mix I added this wonderful Japanese ceramic pumpkin candy dish.

right click for a larger view

Two days before Hallowe'en I decided that I would put out the few items that were in an antique cupboard in the garage; everything else is packed in boxes and stored away.

The hand-carved farmer and the squirrel nodder were part of the Thanksgiving display, two of my favourite pieces. Those two pieces and the fireworks were all that going to be in this years "sort of" Hallowe'en display;  and then the few Hallowe'en items were brought out.

right click for a larger view

These were the fortunate items to be displayed this year.

Here is a close-up of some of my owls. The egg cup is Japanese. I picked it up at Salvation Army about two months ago, I have never seen this design before. The owl beside the eggcup is a tape measure. His head, wings, feet, and branch that he is standing on are brass and his body I think is bakelite.

The little pumpkin head in behind is a stickpin.

The chenille witch is sitting in front a burgundy fez so she is a little difficult to see clearly.

right click for a larger view

The rest of this year's display; party hats, Gurley candles, a fairly new plastic pumpkin whistle, a celluloid witch lantern, a wind-up black cat, and three pumpkin cups each with different glaze combinations. The pale peach pumpkin cup I picked up in a thrift shop in Sydney, a town about thirty minutes drive from us.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the pins that you see marching along the front of the mantle were supposed to hold lights in place with some sort of garland or leaves to disguise the wires. That never happened, I was just to tired and busy to do it or even care about doing it!

Bonfire Night...

Or Guys Fawkes Day... Or Fireworks Night... No matter what you call it; to all of my British friends, I hope that you had a lot of fun.

This photograph and the one following are from George Plimton's book "Fireworks - a History and Celebration" published in 1984 by Doubleday.

Children, some wearing masks, parading their Guy collecting money to buy fireworks. There are more images in this blog post.

This poster advertising Standard Fireworks is from Mark Fleming's book, "Firework Art". Go here to see some great firework art from vintage firework casings and as well as posters.

This Brock's Fireworks poster is from Mark Fleming's second fireworks book "Fire - Fascination, Firework, and Festival"; a companion book to "Firework Art". There are more posters and firework art to see here.

Go to my Etsy shop to purchase, "Fireworks for the party... and some apples". 

From my reference library - "Fire - Fascination, Firework, and Festival"

Last October I did a post about Mark Fleming's book, "Firework Art". Don't go there yet! That book was a celebration of the artwork that decorated the old British firework casings.

Mark Fleming published "Fire - Fascination, Firework, and Festival" last October 2013; a companion book to "Firework Art". Unfortunately it is only available in the UK. I do know people in the UK and managed to obtain a copy. It is available as a free PDF eBook. I will give the link at the end of this post.

Guy Fawkes Day, also called Guy Fawkes Night, and Bonfire Night is also referred to as Fireworks Night.

This is definitely a British holiday but I love the graphics and imaginative lettering used to convey the fun and excitement of the night.

Mark Fleming goes into the history of the large and small fireworks manufacturers, almost all of them now no longer in business. Fireworks are now imported from China.

The graphics for Well's Crown Brand Fireworks are an absolute delight, show and tell at its best.

Original Well's artwork by Fred Holman, 1930.

The old 4 colour printing process lends a charm to this image of the Chrysanthemum Fountain.

A family box of Brock's fireworks.

Dancing around the Guy as he perishes in the bonfire, the fireworks pocketed in his clothing igniting sporadicly. It is a rather gruesome celebration when you think about it.

A window display of this sort would never happen nowadays due to fire regulations, and for good reason, but I am glad that this photograph was kept showing more innocent and care free times.

My Hallowe'ens in Victoria were ones of trick or treating and fireworks afterwards. Here is a link to another post I did about fireworks and Hallowe'en. We would buy the fireworks and firecrackers several days before Hallowe'en and store them carefully in our bedroom. I would take them out and admire the Japanese labels on the firecrackers and the designs on the firework casings.

At the end of the book Mark wonders what the future of Guy Fawkes Night will be with the emergence of the North American Hallowe'en  gaining popularity. I can tell him from my stand point that our Hallowe'en in Victoria, B.C., Canada was one that was definitely influenced by Guy Fawkes Night. This blog post is about Hallowe'en in Victoria as a child.

A large portion of Mark's book is available to download. Click here to go to Rumble Books to download the PDF version of most of the book.

I have been away from my blog but look at what I am working on!

I have some very large vintage Italian metal frames. The only rectangular frame was used to create "The Magic Shop". The other three oval frames have been sitting in my studio with the sides and back attached, each ready to house the next creation.

This antique engraving as well as some other examples posted here have been the inspiration for the shadow boxes. I like the idea of a 3D portrait that spills out of the frame.

Last October I did a blog post about fireworks and Hallowe'en. Growing up in Victoria, B.C. on the West Coast of Canada, fireworks were Hallowe'en, as well as trick or treating.

 

I then followed it with a review about Mark Flemings wonderful book "Firework Art", and saw the above advertisement for Well's fireworks. A wreath of fireworks around the outside of the frame would be wonderful. The interior would house the founder of the fireworks company, to be called the "Oh My Stars Fireworks Manufacturing Company".

Many years ago I created some fireworks for a Hallowe'en window. I was so pleased with the end product that I kept them. They have been used in displays in the last few years; I have also used them at home mixed in with my vintage Hallowe'en items. These fireworks were the inspiration for the smaller versions. Mark Fleming's book "Firework Art" was also invaluable.

My wife, Trish, went to Toronto for 5 weeks to help our daughter before and after she had their second child, a baby boy. I moved all of the materials to make the fireworks down to the dining room table. I had figured that this would be a relatively quick project, it wasn't, but it was certainly a lot of fun, sometimes a little tedious but fun none the less.

Three different sizes of tubes were made from paper, some would be used for a Roman candle style of firework and some would be cut to smaller lengths to create other styles of firework such as pinwheels.

My stash of cardboard tubes and the smaller cylinders that I had made were turned into fancy fireworks. Cones of various sizes became fountains. Card was used to make box shaped fireworks.

Hand marbled papers, vintage wallpapers, vintage wrapping papers, antique paper tapes, hand-painted papers, as well as contemporary Japanese papers were used to cover the outsides of the fireworks. I did not want to create labels for them with names but suggest an idea as to the effects that each firework would produce.

A small sample of some finished fireworks; pinwheels, sky rockets, Roman candles and fountains.

These firecrackers took quite a while to build.  Once I started to build them I decided to make two other sizes, each size was a different colour of patterned paper. In the picture below you can see the finished hank. Creating the hank of firecrackers was a feat in itself. As I wrapped the firecracker wicks together to create the hank they would start to unravel as it got longer. The same thing happened with the second different wrapping attempt. The third time was much better but I did decide to use glue to make certain that the little darling would not try and spite me again!

Here are the finished fireworks. I have made, I hope, more than I will need as this will allow me to pick and choose shapes and colours. I want a very full wreath of fireworks around the frame, after all this is advertising the "Oh My Stars Fireworks Manufacturing Company" located on the outskirts of Jollity Village.

A collector friend saw the fireworks and wants buy some for her Hallowe'en collection, so any unused fireworks may find a home with her.

And just in case you weren't aware that I LOVE fireworks and the old graphics here is one last blog post to have a look at.

firework art

I promised in the blog post "Hallowe'en and Fireworks" that I would show images of vintage firework labels from the book "Firework Art" by Mark Fleming. Firework Art was published in 2005 but he still has a few available if you are interested.

Zandra Rhodes, a British fashion designer, was inspired by fireworks graphics and created a line of textiles for Osborne and Little in the 1980s. This image is not from the book but was an advertisement in a 1980s Architectural Digest magazine.

Enough with the talking; enjoy looking at a few of the images that I have selected from the book.

I wanted to right little bits of description under each picture from the book but resisted the urge. These are a few of my favourite images, I hope that you enjoyed them. The colours and patterns used on the labels are beautiful and inspiring.

What ones were your favourites?