" Presentoire "

Metal work, forge & upcycling .

   Présentoir that rotate, to be used to carry brushes .  

An object made with a casted cover of a coal stove, bearing found in a sewing machine, the top part  of a gaz tank, 3 steel rodes forged to the desired shape. As usual every part hold together thanks to screws. The object has black patina in some parts and left grey in other parts of the gaz tank to create  a contrast between inside and out side. 

  

Containers

Brass containers . 

  A series of containers come out of the atelier recently. It is upcycling, the are made with all rest overs of the making of earrings and pendants. All those old brass electric socket, brass parts from binoculars have been screwed and just fitted together to create this series of containers. I used as well a wide range of screws coming from all those machines I unbuild. The screws range from sewing machine to decorative screws for stairs carpet, alarm clocks . . . At the end the containers can be opened in different ways for some making it like a secret box has you'r not really sure which part open or not .

day light lamp

   Daylight lamp to work during the dark days of the winter.
From bottom to top : a pulley, 4 forged steel rods, 3 screws & 2 butterfly screw, different parts from old lamps and a glass part coming from an old lamp too. The " bulb " is a led giving day light.
 The 2 butterfly screws allow to move the lamp in different positions which is very  useful. On the middle part there is a forged rod to hold the electric wire so it drops well . This part is fixed with a screw, this allows to move it and get the electric wire passing on the right or the left. The pulley been quite heavy compare to the rest of the lamp it allows to play with the main arms and get it straight or horizontal .

The tall lamp.

   This is the tallest lamp I forged. Going up to more that 2 metres high the long steel rod is screwed on to a large gaz cylinder to which I had to had weight with 2 pulley from an old crane. Every thing is naturally patinated in black and bee's waxed. My atelier is too small to forge this long rode, so I took out the forge and forged it outside. The top part is an assembly of different parts like a green glass isolator coming from a hight voltage pylon, a lampshade which has been patinated black at the forge . The at assembly of those two parts is fixed to forged part that link to the long rode with a bolt and a screw. This allows to control the direction of the lampe. On the forged rod I places 4 fixing points to pass the electric cable. They are forged and hold to the long rod with two little screws coming from old sewing machines. As usual no welding, every part of this lamp is screwed together allowing to unbuilt it easily . 

Spotlight & forge

  This light is a restoration of a rare 1950’s/60’s theatre spotlight by Furse. Totally cleaned I then patinated in black . This spotlight is fixed on a forged steel rod with the original fixing system so as to keep the spotlight fully functional. On the forge half cercle come's 3 fixing points for the electric cable. They are as well forged out of a steel rod and are fixed on the half cercle steel rod with a screw. In this way it is possible to have the electric cable passing on the right or the left side. The lampe is then fixed at 6m. from the ground on the top of the wooden been thanks to a big screw.   

" Présentoirs "

  

" Présentoirs " 

    New display stand for necklaces and earrings. A series of about 6 pieces is in preparation. After collecting and unbuilding quite some  typing machines & sewing machines, I collected many parts which now allow me to compose with a choice of many different parts. Here is the first one made with, from bottom to top : a steel plate, forged rodes, and an old typing machine part. It is about 40 cm. high, the base is 20x12cm. It can display 6 to 8 necklaces from the different screws and hooks on the machine mechanism.

  

  The second one made in the same style is a little taller. It mesures 45 cm high for 16 x6.5 cm for the basse. The basse of this " présentoir " is quite massive and heavy. From bottom to top : A steel plate, 2 forged rodes and an old typing machine part, I added on that one a nail and a hook to increase the handing points. On this " présentoir " there are 6 points to display necklaces. Note that the mechanism on the two pieces here are stile in mouvement.

  The third piece is made with a part coming from the
central part of an old typing machine, two forged rods
in steel and a metal base. This is a small " présentoir "
cerated to present earrings made with the key of that typewriter. It is almost 22 cm. high and the base is
13 x 8.5 cm. Note that I rarely weld parts together. I do
this only when there is no other solution. Basically, all
the " présentoirs "& lamps  you see  on this blog can all
be disassembled. Everything olds together thanks to
screws.  It is important because eventually the pieces
can be taken apart and upcycled into something else
again. The forging in the making of my objects & lamps
is there to create the link between the parts. The forged
parts are needed to assemble other exiting parts. They
are then fixed together thank to screws that are coming
from the different object I disassemble.

  " Présentoir " number four is made specially to present earrings. It has three long and tine rodes which allow to hang more that 15 pairs of earrings. There is no forging her. The " présentoir " is an assembly of different parts : 3 different parts of an old typing machine and two pieces of steel. The steel has been used to create the basse and the typing machine parts to make the structure to hang the earrings. Every thing is screw together .
  On the detail picture you can see a chrome plated parts that used to be a lever on the typing machine. I used it here to support the structure.
This " présentoir " is 18.5 cm. high x 25 cm. long for 8.5 cm. wide.
it is now in use in a shop to present earring.

   Présentoir No. 5,  to present one piece of jewellery at the time. Made with from top to bottom : porcelain harm from a doll which was found one night on the streets of Bruxelles, a screw from an alarm clock, two rubber rings, a bolt, a stainless steel rod, a butterfly screw and a steel cube made from a square tube patinated at the forge. The présentoir is articulated. It is possible to decide the direction of the arm and the inclination of the rod. It measure 7x5 cm at the base and be has tall has 
25 cm. when the arm is up straight. 

         " Présentoir " number 6, no forging but soldering
       and fitting on this one. Made with a silver plated
       sugar tong that has been found on some flea market,
       3 steel parts and a screw coming from the different
       sewing machine I unbuilt. Actually you only find
       one of those parts per swing machine, so here we
       have parts coming from 3 different sewing machines.
       The sugar tong has been soldered at the basse to
       create a tripod. The little parts on top can freely
       move 360° allowing to present the earring from
       different angles   This " présentoir " is 17 cm. tall
       x 7 cm diameter on the basse. So quite small and
       light it has been made to present earring like on the  
       picture.

       
     

lamp

  It is always out of necessity that the idea flow and give birth to nice things. This time I had to make one more lamp to light up our jewellery, I had only a day and did the best I could with what I had ... 

This lamp is an assembly of parts coming from 3 different lamps . The vintage glass part , the brass socket & the stand. I used the forge to fit the brass and glass part of the stand . It turns out to be very nice and use full. 

  Again... The lamp has gone to HYP concept store in Brussels, so out of necessity that I build a other similar one. I assembled a heavy metal disc from the brake of a tractor for the base of the lamp, a steel rode to which I made a screw thread on one side on forged it thicker and flatted down on the other side. On this side I came to fix a vintage lampe similar to the before one. This socket reveals to be quite useful as it is fitted with a switch and can rotated in more directions.

The Russian collection

 
     I was in Moscow last July and took the opportunity to look for some teaspoons as the Russians have the culture of drinking tea. And I did found a lot of interesting teaspoons with nice motives which you do not find back here in Belgium. I mainly gather spoon from the soviet time, all stamped with the cccp mark. Last week I cut them out and turned them into rings which gave birth to a collection of 60 Pcs. Here is one of my favorites with a motive with starts and the sun I presume.

From Thursday 15 September you will be abel to find them at the HYP Store Rue Marché au charbon 84 Brussels 1000 

scissors earrings.

    A series of 18 earrings made from the top of scissors. I used the same patina process as on the bracelets to get the steel black and unquenched them in the forge in order to be able to drill the little hole for the surgical steel holders. Some of them have a mirror polish side. They all have surgical steel hangers. They seam a bit dangerous but I rounded the top and sharp edges. 

" Presentoir "

  Continuity of a display stand originally made to display earring made from typing machine characters. It did serve it purpose but has been improved to display a second type of earring made with the lettering of the same typing machine. The original stand , which I posted on this blog earlier is made with a typing machine part and some renforcement steel rods . Well I used this time  a different part of the typing machine  and the steel rods . . .

Bracelets

    7 new bracelets , still hot from the forge . Forged out of steel rods from working sites 

& steel rods from sewing machines, one forged out a typing machine. On that one 

you still can see some numbers.  They all lock with that famous screw coming 

from the feet of the sewing machines and one with a brass screw coming from some 

electric fitting with a brass rivet that has been adapted from some brass part I found 

in some scrap parts in Japan ... Now I know why I brought back those little round brass 

parts from so far.     

 Talking about the bracelets in New York in the vulcan Magasin . It is small but we are there . Find Tabito Jewelry between Hugo Boss & King Baby Studio . 

http://www.vulkanmagazine.com/the-dos-and-donts-for-men-in-2016/

Forged rings

  Rings forged out of nails and screw. Of course in steel and naturally 

patinated in black. It is not the first time I forge nails into rings but it 

  is for the screws. They look dirty and raw, well it is how it come out 

from the forge, the dirty side of it is the wax that will fade away by 

    time and give place to a patinated texture that only can appear by the 

wearing of time .   

Rings

    

   Silver plated rings made out of  butter knifes. A series of 10 butter knifes rings that came out of the atelier this week. Not only butter knifes are used in the making of the cutlery rings. Up to today I used tea spoons , forks and butter knifes. Going around on flea market to find those cutlery you can get surprised. . . Mostly those cutlery are silver plated brass, but you can get alpaca, silver, stainless steel and other alloys ... So a wide range of materials that should be recognised at a glance. Not always easy, but by time you get used to it and generally you get right. I choose the silver plated brass and silver when I can offer it. 

Bracelets suite, 4 new pieces.

   New bracelets 3 out of 4 . A series  only made out of sewing machine parts, as well for the steel and the screws. The size a quite large this time. There will be presented in a few weeks in the show window at Marianne Gray http://mariannegray.com/ 

     This last one, made in 3 parts has brass rivets and a brass screw to lock it . The steel come from    

     sewing machines and a brass screw from an old alarm clock . 

" Parcours d'artistes " Jette 23/24 Avril 2016

Pendant

  

  New collection of necklaces for Marianne Gray. Forged out of steel with a little brass part which is solder or riveted to the necklace with a brass chain . A work inspired by curves and shapes of Art nouveau, some thing that I actually like very much . I'll present them to John Velasquez next week . 

Forged earrings

  

   Forged earrings , obviously forged out of a pair of screws .
They look a bit like two seahorses, but don't mistake they come out of the fire not the sea. . . A delicate work to handle those little objects in the fire of the forge. The funny thing is that you need to heat up those little part more than bigger parts, simply because they could dawn so much faster. As well you have to get them to the same size in order to be abel to make a pair of earrings. So at the end they tend to take a bit of time to be made .This is one paire out of a series of 5 paires. The size is ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 cm . Of course I patinated them in black and bee's waxed it. They will be presented at Marianne Gray next week a long with bracelets and a new collection of necklaces .

Bracelets suite & a bite more.

  Still hot from the forge. A collection of 8 new pieces. Forged out of reinforcement steel rods, sewing machine parts and other steel rods from different origins . This time they all have that special screw coming from the foot of the sewing machine, thank's to George from Bernina. Actually that those screws named " vise mon pied "in french are note used and made any more by Bernina.Those screws turn out to be rare.

  About the making of those bracelets. If you look the blog you will see it is some time now I am making those bracelets. And by time technique improve, the method improve, but stile a lot to learn. It is a step by step process. First get the metal from working sites or sewing machines. It is easy from working sites but take a little more time from sewing machines which you first need to get and then unbild. I then forge the first parts of the bracelet the main part and the closing part; Then bend the edges in a loop to the size of the rivet and the screw. Next step I have to adjust the two parts of the bracelet, prepare a nail that will be used for the rivet, fix the screw to the bracelet, make the screw pad, fix the rivet. at this stage the bracelets has it final shape. Finally I give the patina to the bracelet and wax it. By time if weared every day the bracelet will take a very nice patina. This is part of this Jewelry, the patina of time is adding some thing to the bracelet. I gave my very first bracelet to Miho which is wearing it almost every day for 3 years now and it took a very nice patina , kept black and got shiny on some edges were there is some fricsions.

" 2 présentoirs " for jewelery

   Two rods forged out of renforcement steel rods. The two pieces are screwed together and fixed screwed to the base. Patinated in black and waxed finished. Soon it will be in Brussels to show a new collection of forged necklaces.  

 The next one in the same stile but smaller. This one will be used for the first collection of forged earrings. I forged it as well for the presentation in the show window at Marianne Gray in the rue des Chapeliers, Bruxelles. 

The atelier to day.

The atelier to day.

Light wardrobe .

Light wardrobe. 

 The room dose not have walls and doors . Space is separated by curtain's which the rail is fixed on the support pals . The fixations are forged, patinated, waxed and screwed together, no welding . I used for this one steel renforcement bars from working sites and old gaz pipes. 

Door handle .

Door handle 

For a glass door. Forged out steel reinforcement bar and 

fixed to the door with a screw that passe though the door 

and come to screw in both handle. There is a little rubber 

between the metal and the glass as sizes will variate a little 

with changes of temperature between winter & summer.

Upcycled. No material has been bought . The steel reinforcement 

bar come from scrap metal from a working site, rubber from an old 

punctured tire. The screw is home made out of a steel part form an

unidentified object that was found some were I don't remember ... 

Desk lamp.

  Upcycling & forging as usual . I made this lamp for the display window at Marianne Grey near Grand Place in Bruxelles at No 48-40 rue des Chapeliers which needed more light for the different jewellery I exhibit there. This lamp will be highlighting the forged bracelets. 

  The foot of the lamp was the base of a balance in casted iron, it was a little delicate to patina on the casted iron . The piece been long I had to take extra care to heat up the piece evenly in the forge. The structure of the lamp is forged and the lamp shade is an assembly of two parts coming from 2 old typing machines. Every thing is bolted and screwed together.