Branching Out
Good morning!
First, let me say thank you — the red key pieces were a lovely success, I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did making them. The boxes sold out, but I have one of the mini art pieces left (can be finished as either silver or red) — if you’d like it, email me and I’ll hold it for you!  If you missed the post, you can check it out HERE.
But back to business! Â I’ve been promising you photos of my recent commission work, and I’m very excited to share this next piece with you. Â The design is based on a copper tree I made two years ago, which inspired a similar piece last year in a deep teal blue (the piece displayed in the PNC SmartHome, for those of you who saw it). Â I brought the teal version along when I met with a potential customer, and her husband fell in love with it. Â So she decided to surprise him for his birthday, but she wanted to personalize it to make it more meaningful. Â She emailed me a copy of a poem, and a list of words/ identities — things like “father”, “patriot”, “husband”, “son” — to somehow include in the finished piece.

The poem is a lovely piece about bravery and determination, and is read from the bottom of the trunk to the top branches. Â I curved the words to mirror the irregular shapes, and transferred them onto the copper.
The individual words were much trickier. Â I had to do a lot of experimenting — my first versions, with words etched into the background, were clunky and awkward. Â A bit like a first grader writing in crayon. Â So I started working with photo transfer again, but the font still felt very thick and overbearing. Â I simplified it down to the thinnest, lightest writing I could find, and it finally started to click. Â It needed to almost disappear into the background to feel natural. Â So I placed the words on the Japanese maple leaves, accenting a petal here, a petal there.

What I like most is the way the lines of the letters echo the outline of the leaves. Â There is a delicate lightness to both of them. Â And the text is somewhat hidden, so it became a more private message between husband and wife. Â The words become apparent when the light strikes them just right, and they are never all completely visible at the same time. Â Much like the identities themselves, they may surface or recede based on the circumstances around them.
The finished piece:

As for the teal copper branch, I’m happy to announce that it will soon be in the collection of Fairmount Minerals! Â They recently purchased it, along with a companion piece that I will be sharing in the next few weeks.
Until then, take care and have a great week!
Chris