With metal and metallic colours being incresingly popular in interiors, I've been thinking about why I have become so passionate about it as a material.
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| Image from, Spruce Furn |
When I was studying, I experimented with different materials; ceramics, cast resin and wood, but it was metal that seemed to suit the way I liked to make; I could put a piece I was working on down, for a day, a week, a month, then come back to it. Apart from the colour of the surface changing as it oxidised with the air, the metal remained unchanged, ever ready for me to pick up and keep working on it.
In contrast, it's how metal changes over long periods of time in outdoor contexts that fascinates me; a rusty corrugated iron shed, a verdigris covered bronze sculpture, an oxidised lead roof....
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| I took these photos in Berkeley, California, and in Denmark |
Our mastery of the earth's natural resources teeters in delicate balance with nature who takes them back through their exposure to air and rainwater; a play between the preservation and decay of metal.
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| Blacksmith, Image from Jayperoni |
Metal is commonly a functional material, used to create tools, electric circuit boards, strong architectural structures, amongst millions of other applications. Some metals are hard like steel, and some are soft, like lead. By varying the quantities of each metal in metal alloys, we create new metals with properties designed to fulfil particular functions, for example super stength, flexibility and reflectivity. This is true in large scale industry, but also when making in metal by hand.
What I love most about metal is the potential to use its properties; including colour, which can be manipulated with chemicals and heat, and texture, which can be created through engraving and acid-etching, to create images in its surface.
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| Image from freepatterns |
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| Metal wall pieces |
