scorching

Things rarely are how we think they are. /  by Justin Harrison

Image my own

I’m in the studio again. I go straight to the piece I’m working on Jericho , keen to finish it in time for the show and just to see it made. I start sanding it again. I have more vision and understanding for it. The burning is scorching, the effect we feel in transition to permanent change.

I wanted to French polish the sanded part have it really refined travelling through up to the raw state. ( I still feel an affection for the work).

I also check on the other leather piece - couple of planning mistakes but no mind - I’m trying to push out more in theses limited time sessions. Embrace the rhythms. I plan to leave the original nature of the wood intact - it’s history still present and hard to deny, but effect a transformation, the passage marked upon and into it’s skin.

There is a journey as you travel up the piece - moving up the wood following the grain, beginning with a finished and polished section, the knots and grain brought out and embellished, the honey of the wood drawn forward, sanded and polished. Then it transitions into blackening, the wood scorched and velvet like becoming a dense black. Finally the black transitions out into the raw original state of the wood when it was a fence panel.

I’m gratful I have a spare pice of fence panel ‘pre burnt’ and sanded to test stuff upon, as I like the work I get more precious about it which can be annoying a slows my making down. This was supposed to be an hours work but has swiftly turned into more. But then the more is good ideas are evolving and gestating. I apply some yathch varnish - longing for French polish. Maybe the second and third layers…

The power has just gone pout in my studio - I’m only in here for a precious 2 hours and now I can’t see. I set up the laptop and use what light is available - I also move out to the hall where there is emergency LED lighting and carry on as best I can.

Almost there what’s left Is to stitch and oil the leather. I wondered about inserting more layers into the piece but I’m trying to keep within my original restraints of a quick sculpture - I edit and have decided to leave it as it is and see how the piece feels once finished. I can always make more and evolve from it - if I like it enough.

 

In the studio 2nd day /  by Justin Harrison

I now have two leather pieces I’m working on at the same time, Jericho and ‘Unammed’ . I spend a fair amount of time making the forming blocks for unnamed, I know it’s worth the effort now to avoid permanent flaws later. Dents and creases in the leather annoy me and detract. Natural scars are great but I want the leather to be exquisite and the other materials next to it are raw, crude and basic.

The natural leather takes on these beautiful honeyed sepia tones when it’s undyed. The trick is to find it in the leather with just oils and waxes.

I end up with a crazy clamp system as I decide I want the leather as even as possible.

With Jericho I measure up and then insert plastic to protect the opposite side for the cut I’m about to make. The cut is important so I sharpen the knife first. Want the join to be as close to seamless as possible. It’s becoming the language of the work. a contrast between refined and crude….The cut is good and cutting the two over each other works well for a flush fit.

There’s an ideal plasticity to wet leather which I feel I’ve just missed, but it’s unavoidable as I can’t be in the studio everyday. Using neats foot oil once it’s properly dry should help smooth things out.

Moving on to the wood I realised it needed to do more, scorching it seems like a natural response. I did some tests and sealed it with danish oil. I need the leather to contrast and not get grubby and it seems like the danish oil does the trick. I like the idea of caring for the fencing panels lthe same way I would a high end wood like oak or mahogany.

I frequently refer back to my drawings for reference position and placement of details.

I want to sand it back, scorch it but also leave the honest state that it exists in now. It seems odd but as I san the wood I have a care for it almost an affection, I wonder if it’s the soul qualities it has..

I scorch the final pieces and pray a little a I do so. I’m meshing intent into the piece, welcoming the Spirit.

I take the wood inside to sand and oil as I do so I feel a sense of excitement rise., the work is taking on character - a key thing that happens when a piecemeal like it’s working out.