The unmistakable signs of late summer
Fruits ripen, seeds drip, the hours of day and night are balanced. Mabon Sabbat and Lore
This is a time of year that I both love and find a little sad too. That point where the unmistakable signs appear that summer is drawing to a close and autumn is chasing its heels. It’s sad because you know the long evenings are rapidly vanishing and there will now be more night than day and yet it’s still a beautiful time of year.
Each period of the year has its own merits and I do so love to observe that cyclical rhythm of nature doing its thing. As summer wanes, plants put forth their seeds and berries and animals and insects use the opportunity to feed up for the forthcoming winter. Consequently, the hedgerows are full of those fabulous later summer structures full of summer energy ready to fuel a new generation. This colourful display is full of warmth and vibrancy and stunning natural structures, just as beautiful as the flowers that precede them.
Gallery:
It’s not the done thing to take photographs into the sun, but I do like doing so – in this case, it highlights all the insects in flight.
Rosehips, a very typical sign of the end of summer.
Delicate little seedpods, with their curled back edges, after distributing their contents.
Ripe blackberries with still more to come.
Seed heads from cowslip flowers, also known as Queen Anne’s Lace for the delicate lace like appearance of the tiny flowers.
Ivy flowers about to emerge, what fabulous natural architecture.
The ripe rosehips are the most fabulous rich colours.
These nettle flowers are exquisitely delicate and complicated.
Recent work in a new material:
I recently discovered a new brand of base metal clays from Australia – the appropriately named Aussie Metal Clay, only recently put on the market in the UK, which I have thoroughly enjoyed working with. I intend to do a more detailed blog on working with the product, as there is little information out there yet, but I have one or two issues to resolve for myself first.
When I look at new materials or techniques, I often do a lot of research and reading to formulate a good idea of the features of the product to see if it will be suitable for my needs – this is very often blog articles from fellow users who kindly share their experiences. Consequently, as this product doesn’t feature very much yet, I want to write some more about it and my own findings from making several pieces with it, to make my own contribution for fellow artisans.
In the meantime, in the gallery below are a few of the new pieces I have made with a couple of the medium fire base metal clays from Aussie Metal Clay to give you an idea of its capability, but I intend to write much more specifics in a future post. [Article now written and the links above take you to it.]
Metal clay gallery:
Twig necklace in pink bronze featuring riveted silver blossoms and a peridot green cubic zirconia gemstone.
Pink bronze 3 part pendant, featuring a geometric design cut in raw clay using the Silhouette cutter.
Teardrop earrings in pink bronze with poinsettia style flowers cut out and finished with tony rolled balls.
Earrings featuring little dragonflies, the wings cut from dry clay and the body formed from tiny hand rolled graduating balls.
Mixed metal earrings featuring a base of pink bronze, with white bronze flowers riveted with copper rivets.
Naturally contoured ivy leaf with a hidden bail on the back.
Twig pendant, featuring hand crafted leaves, seed pods, tendrils and a tiny ladybird. Set with a cubic zirconia gemstone.
Finished pink bronze necklace adorned with lots of tiny naturalistic features, hand sculpted in metal clay.
