into the fire

there are so many photos to choose from today, but this one represents for me the pivotal moment of our bowl-making and the transformative magic of the fire.

We started this morning by choosing our small square of metal. My choice was brass, 2.5mm thick for a more sustained note although I  knew that the thicker the metal, the harder it would be to work. Brass appealed to me because of its lovely bright tone and colour.

We scribed a circle onto our squares with a pair of compasses, cut away the surrounding metal and then filed our circles for a LONG time...All this was done in the walled garden, but under cover as it was raining.

The rain stopped after lunch so we were able to continue out in the open, first of all refining the edges  with wire wool and then it was time to fire up the forge. One by one we put our circles into the fire and watched as the metals changed, rainbow colours rippling across their surfaces. After cooling slowly on a stone, they were dipped in acid and washed in water to remove the oxide coating. 

Finally we learned how to cold-forge our circles into bowls, a technique which I found quite difficult at first and then very pleasing. It will continue for most of the day tomorrow - tap tap tap in all corners of the garden - until our bowls are ready for their new lives. They have already started to sing, but their voices will change as we hammer them into their final shape.

Maybe we will have been changed by the experience, too..time will tell :-)