Copper Bowl Class

I took a class at Fletcher Farm School over the weekend. The class was a two day copper bowl and birdbath class. I thought I might come away with a practice piece and a large bowl but once we were done with the small practice bowl, we could make anything we wanted. My practice bowl turned out to be a triangular affair, not quite as deep as the instructor had wanted us to get experience making. So next I tried a larger shaped bowl that was made from an old piece of copper with a lovely patina. As I hammered the patina began to disappear but it is still an interesting color. I fashioned three leaves that the instructor soldered on for me overnight. I really like how it came out.

After that, I wanted to try my hand at a weather vane. A man in the class made a very cool fish – troutish looking – but I didn’t want to copy. I decided on a feather, or rather two feathers, since it needed two sides, mirror images of each other. The instructor hadn’t brought a grinder to finish the edges so they could be soldered, so I brought it home to finish. (Soon we’ll have that grinder installed in the new workroom and I’ll get a crash course in soldering from Roger so I can put the sides together.) Of course, we opted out of the cupola for the top of the new building so it might just have to be on a stand indoors somewhere. We’ll see.

I still had the better part of the second day left, so I started a large dragonfly that can be mounted on a stake to ornament the garden. I finished the body, though I wish that I had had a way to make the eyes much bulgier. The wings still need to be worked and finished and it needs some legs.

I had a great time doing this, never having attempted anything like this before. My mother was on my mind alot as I hammered away, partly because yesterday was her birthday and partly because the ball peen hammer that I was using was hers. She would have loved what I was doing and I’m just a little melancholy, wishing that she were here to share it with. It was fun working in a different medium and I was amazed at the overlap of design principles and the execution of texture and construction.