Saturday, January 21, 2012

Aluminum Playday


Kevin (and Arthur and I, but mostly Kevin) have taken to scrapping old trailers.  Recently we took one down not far from the house.  Aluminum and steel are the main items for the Reclamation Centers (Recycling).  Copper wire is also something to keep an eye out for.

This melting expedition included aluminum from that scrapping job as well as our own private collection of candy wrappers (from Christmas) and assorted aluminum pieces saved from the trashcan in the kitchen.   The more we can return to nature, recycle or reuse the better.  

Kevin has played at melting down aluminum for a while now and the experiments have been simple, mainly seeking out suitable molding mediums.  He and I had spent hours designing lovely patterns in plaster of Paris only to find that the hot aluminum cracked them. So this time we played with both sand/dirt and concrete. 

As you can see from the collage, with our makeshift furnace and crucible we are very much novices. Our process is refined bit-by-bit, experiment-by-experiment. And it doesn’t hurt that Kevin likes playing with fire, and concrete and wood and, well the list goes on an on….

For me, I’d like to create aluminum focal points for the jewelry like sun catcher creations I build.  Ever the master fabricator, Kevin will design as well as see the project into production.

From these humble beginnings we have high aspirations. Exploring where our creativity motivations take us has become a major component in our lives.  The impulse to create is strong and we are delighted to answer the call.

~ Cheryl

No comments:

Post a Comment