In continuing my work on mushroom instruments I moved onto making steel mushroom cymbals, however, this piece of work did not start off as the idea it became. Initially I wanted to make a steel hand drum, but when attempting to make this I came across a lot of road blocks that I struggled to overcome. I drew out my design and wanted to cut out two circles of sheet metal and form them into domes to make a hand drum, however no matter how much I researched into how to go about making a hand drum from scratch I couldn't find a way that was doable with the resources I had. After approximately a week of stress and butting my head against a wall with the work, I took a step back and re-evaluated what it was I was trying to achieve, looking at what I had done so far and where I could take it forward.
The steel sheet in the state it was in, a friend said it reminded them of wild enokitake mushrooms. This was my lightbulb moment!
Wild Enokitake mushrooms
So I came up with this drawing....
From this drawings I decided I could make an entire wall of oversized enokitake mushroom cymbals instead and this idea inspired and excited me far more than my original idea ever did. At this point I had only hammered the metal sheets a little in the middle to create bumps and nodules, I set on cutting out lots more and creating the same effect on the others.
drawn guide lines for angle grinding
After spending several days doing this I found it to be incredibly exhausting without getting particularly far with it, I truly felt I couldn't continue working this specific process and needed to go back to the drawing board.
At this point I came across the flypress!
I fell in love with how this piece of machinery forged the steel and shaped it, the possibilities of form I could do with this excited and inspired me. Thankfully at this point I had cut out all of the circles of steel, I just had to finish filing the edges and then they were ready for the flypress.
Flypress with dome attachment
The difference in form from hammering to the flypress (right is original hammering, left is with the flypress)
After discovering this amazing piece of machinery I was so exited and happy with the outcome, I felt the form of these mushroom heads was massively improved, not only did they replicate the shape of a mushroom more, but the folds and creases in the metal left a much more interesting object in which to look at. This process also removed the resemblance to sheet metal and gave it brand new characteristics. Because I had at least 10 circles, all in varying sizes I experimented with the with what kind of shapes and movement I could make them into.
While forming the mushroom heads I was continually thinking about the colorization of these and how I will approach it. I initially thought to spray paint them, as I could get a vibrant colour. However, I very quickly realized that if these are not only being hit frequently by people but constantly hitting against each other there is no avoiding the paint chipping, and this would destroy the aesthetic I am trying to create for the work. This was followed by yet another lightbulb moment for me. Heat treating! this would give a permanent colour change to the metal that cannot come off or fade and it would suit the natural essence of the metal - as well as giving the mushrooms bright and vibrant colours
I really fell in love with this psychedelic rainbow colour formation I could create with the torch and was really excited to do this with the rest of my mushroom heads.
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