Usefull Mushrooms

Here’s one of my latest pieces, less like art and more just practical fun.

It’s a bottle opener, the stainless steel stem is solid, so is heavy enough to stay put, the head is red nylon with stainless rivets in it, and it’s this that is used to pull the top of the beer bottle.

To add class, I also experimented with copper versions, one with protruding spots....

 ...and one with a smooth surface....

...all versions are practical and will be on the website soon.
They're all a bit of fun and the hope is maybe they will bring sunshine to someone's life.

I’m now working on a corkscrew of a similar vein and maybe a salt and pepper set….I’m entertained by the concept of developing a range, under the guise….

“The Useful Mushroom Co”

….quite why is beyond me, but it does make me chuckle.

Suggestions for useful mushrooms anyone?

Plumbing problems

Possibly the most fun I've had with a piece for a long time, here is my latest humorous sculpture, titled simply “leek”

The vegetable is real, and so the piece was only in existence for a day or so before things began to get pungent and the whole thing was taken apart. Considering this, there was quite some effort. The tap is a 2” stainless steel gate valve, with 2” stainless steel pipe sections protruding from top and bottom.

These pipes had to have threaded sleeves welded on, and the bottom piece has also needed a flange welded on to both resemble pipework in an industrial environment and to allow it to stand. I then had to cut a hole in the top piece of pipe, trying my best to give the impression of a burst or similar, and then finally the whole thing was hand polished up in a satine finish to give a nice semi-dull effect.
Fitting the vegetable was the easiest and quickest part, with photographs being taken in earnest to quickly capture the sculpture before the leek started to turn – all quite frantic. The pipe work and valve have been retained, maybe one day they will be useful for another project – all that remains of the piece is the photographic record. It will end up on my web site one day soon, and then maybe I should consider making a steel leek to give it some permanence.