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Mirror,
Mirror...
These pieces represent a much larger body of both custom
and regular production work since the 1990's. The
individual design of each project is very important to me,
so for that reason no two pieces are exactly alike. No use
of jigs or factory made parts here! This stress on design,
plus the freedom permitted by hand forging each element,
means that each objects represents an original work of
art.
Click on any of these images for a larger
size picture
To better show the progression in styles, the
older objects are at the top of each section
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Related Section
Furnature & Home Accessories
Expressing Your Unique Style
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Wall
Mirrors - Rectangular ...
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"Wall Mirror with
Candles" - Winter 1998
This is an early large wall mounted mirror,
consisting of a more conventional rectangular
panel set into a forged frame. This piece was
commissioned as a wedding gift. Two of the fill
rods pull out of the frame and end in tubular
candle sticks. The overall size is about 30 x 24
inches. |
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The piece was part of an order for an upscale
gallery shop in Virginia Beach (4/ 98). Originally
it was also to have a square frame, but as the
sweeping curves developed, the design worked so
well that I decided to leave it as you see it. The
central mirror here is about 12 x 24 inches |
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"Wall Mirror
with Tendril"
This is one of two pieces commissioned
for display / sales at Brenda
Roy Designs (in Alliston,
Ontario). Both are a more standard
rectangular profile mirror surface. The
metal flows around the frame, but these
are fairly simple pieces (to keep the
retail price down).
The first uses the 'feather' element I
developed, forged from angle iron ...
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... The second uses flat stock curved and
spiralled. You notice a style progression in the
use of flowing lines without an exterior
rectangular framework. |
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& Ovals |
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"Wings" Oval Mirror
This wall mirror is one of several oval format
pieces created in 2001. This is a fairly large
piece, the mirror is about 10 x 16", the whole is
about 24" tall. The two main elements (the
'wings') are very aggressively forged from 1/4 by
2" flat stock. These are tied together through
other flat bars drawn to tendrils and leaf
terminals. |
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This is a large format oval mirror I had custom
cut. The bold lines, with the sweeping rush
shapes, makes for a large piece. The overall size
is about 2 1/2 feet tall and 3 1/2 feet wide. From
about 2000. |
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The three mirrors above illustrate a short
'production run'. I will often make a number of
pieces using a specific format or theme, but
generally keep the number of pieces fairly small.
I usually find after creating three or four
similar objects in a short period, it is hard to
keep the individual designs fresh. The oval
mirrors here are presented in order that I made
them. You can see how the inspiration is sagging
as the series progresses. To be fair, the price of
the individual objects also was reduced and the
relative complexity was reduced. These pieces from
the early 2000 + period. |
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"Golden Egg"
- 2003
This table mounted mirror was created for the
exhibit 'Traditions
& Innovations'. There is a relationship
between the hot work of the forge and cold forming
thinner or softer metals. Here copper sheet is
dished and curved to hold the mirror, which in
turn is supported by an aggressively forged steel
base. |
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Hand
Mirrors |
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"Mortraeth's Mirror"
Its sometimes hard to exactly date some of my
earliest pieces, this object likely from the early
1980's. I had always been struck by the lines of a
specific Celtic Iron Age artifact, a bronze hand
mirror with engraved designs. At one point I had
developed considerable skill in a body of work
using acid etching as a decorative technique. This
mirror was made of 1/8" thick sheet brass, highly
polished on one side to a reflective surface.
Shown is the back, with its 'lady on unicorn'
design. |
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"Celtic Hand Mirror"
- Spring 1997
This object is inspired by the same rather famous
Celtic Iron Age object as above. I had wanted to
work with a bar contoured with multiple shoulders,
then bracketed by rectangular rods. The mirror
surface is made of highly polished brass. |
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"Hand Mirror Two"
- Fall 1997
This object was made up to showcase the potential
of flexibility of small rods, it uses similar
elements to the other hand mirror. In this case, a
small round glass mirror is held in a dished brass
cup. A happy accident resulted in the back of the
brass developing a wonderful splotchy green
patina. (Now in the private collection of Liesbeth
Zwart.) |
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"Celtic Hand Mirror
Two" - Summer 2001
This is another in the series of hand mirrors. In
2001, the 'Earth, Air Celtic Festival' in Goderich
called on artists to donate items for a fund
raising silent auction. This was the piece that I
contributed. The design springs from the hilts of
a number of Celtic Iron Age swords, where a human
figure cast in bronze forms the handle. |
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