Sweat and Tears – part 10 – the finished sculpture

Ok, ok, I said it would be a week! Well it is only Saturday, just in time for a new week tomorrow!

The truth is I had finished the sculpture last Tuesday but I have been working on the stand the rest of the week.

I found this concrete stand in a reclamation yard and was charged far too much for it I am sure, which made me feel as if I was straight out of a Harry Enfield sketch – “I saw you coming”!

I cleaned it up with patio cleaner but it was difficult to get all the black algae off and I decided to paint it with a dark grey masonry paint.

You will see that I also filled the hole as you could see the gaps  when I did a test trial with the sculpture on the stand. I filled it with tile adhesive and stones rather than concrete because that is what I had and I didn’t want to buy a bag of cement that will go off before I have a chance to use it. So I had to do it layer by layer to ensure it would cure properly and be strong enough. I used a metal tube with washer and gubbins from an old lamp base to fit into the hole, greased it so I could get it out again, and built up the adhesive around it. This would allow me to  screw the tube in and out of the base for easy transportation. This tube fits into the tube that is inside the sculpture (now a bigger one than the original one).

OK, the mosaic material I used for the background of the sculpture? Well all of the trials from the last post! With the addition of mirror. It was a kind of spontaneous decision, and again it was something I had lots of – from a stained glass artists’ cast offs – they were half formed candelabres (I think!) So I stripped off all the leading that held them together. I used the silver tiles at the top of the sculpture cut into tear shapes and graduated them down the sculpture with the clear and irridescent glass nuggets. Then introduced the mirror and interspersed that also with the nuggets.

I think I made the right decision, as it gives the sculpture a kind of lightness, and clarity like that of  a drop of sweat or a tear. What do you think?

Art at the Edge