I promised Margaret Pangert that I would dig out one of my coffee jars that I have filled over the years with fragments of china and clay pipe stems unearthed while digging in my garden. She suggested that I consider making a framed mosaic from them. Not sure how to - do I press them into modelling clay? Perhaps one of you out there knows how it is done and could share their knowledge with us?
About half-a-mile from my house are two rows of Victorian miners' cottages with 300 foot long allotment gardens. The earlier inhabitants must have chucked their rubbish to the east of the properties. How do I know this? Well, every year the next door farmer ploughs the field and the edge of it is blue with china shards. This is the cue for Laurie to turn up with carrier bags to collect the fragments - must have a couple of bucketfuls filled by now!
I seem to spend most of my time looking down and last year, on the edge of the bridleway, council workmen strimmed the grass edges. To my astonishment, I notices an ornate embossed cannon, minus its wooden gun carriage. Before everyone gets too excited, it is only two inches long, but very heavy. How on earth did it get there? Heaven knows.
Four years ago, I received a metal detector for a birthday present. I have used it once in the field next to the footpath to the rear of my property. There was a loud warning beep, followed by a quick scraping of the trowel, and in my hands was a sinister looking doorknocker in the shape of the devil. How do I know it was the devil? The word was inscribed at the bottom. I have to admit that I was quite spooked by this until I remember that a small pig sty stood there in the early 1900s. A few weeks before, I had read how superstitious pig farmers would put frightening devil door knockers at the entrances to the sty to ward off evil spirits. What a relief!
The devil doorknocker is VERY interesting! I had seen on our TV home show that they used fragments of china as a backsplash above the counters in a kitchen. I find it interesting that your fragments all seem to be blue and white. Is that a popular color pattern?
ReplyDeleteOh, my goodness, how I would love to dig in your garden and around your house! What treasures you find!! I'd love to see more photos...:) Silke
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful jar of history you have there. I have seen lamps where the base is hollow glass and you can put things like shells or stones or glass inside...that might be fun to do with this...
ReplyDeleteLaurie, those pottery shards are gorgeous! like Delft china. What a find! Well, since I'm responsible for recommending a montage, I looked into it: 1) get a frame like a shallow box 2) spread a cementing mixture like mortar over the bottom of it 3) place pieces in a pattern that's pleasing to you and press (alternate: put a little putty on the back of each piece and press it in; use grout to seal). 4) Photograph and put picture on your blog! Maybe you could put the three pink pieces in the middle in a triangular shape... Is the cannon engraved in any way? or stamped or dated? interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou could also mosaic them onto flower pots - if you wanted to make something more practical!
ReplyDeleteOr even paving stones! - very easy, especially pots, and they would look fun in the garden too!
Margaret, you are a genious! I am so glad I came over to visit. I love a good art project. I have a ceramic candy dish that belonged to my father and was horrified to see it break by accident one day while cleaning out the kitchen here at Slug's Rest. I have almost thrown away the pieces many times but have hung on to them anyway. The entire candy dish is in shards in a plastic baggie waiting for the project you described above. Thank you Margaret! I would also like to say howdy to Laurie, thanks for coming over to visit me at Slug's Rest, it is good to know you. I feel like I have walked with you looking for treasures in the garden today! All the best to you, from Mrs. Slug in Oregon
ReplyDeleteAh, the devil you say... perhaps the devil made you do it ! Just watch out when you start turning over those brimstones in your garden... well, as usual, I'm just astonished at the mischief you get into ! And if you keep adding to the list of blogs you're following at the rate you are currently proceeding at, your profile is going to turn into a black hole and implode on itself for sheer mass !
ReplyDeleteAnd a metal detector too ? That's another point we have in common... I've been meaning to use it more this year...
Well, just watch out, while out scouring gardens for pot shards and whatnot, don't step on any slugs !
You could definitly press them into polymer clay. I would press them into unbaked clay with a liquid Sculpey and then bake them.
ReplyDeleteYou could also solder the edges and drill a hole through them to make a lovely necklace or bracelet. :)
Ohhhhhhhhh, how fun & interesting!!! What a garden you have!
ReplyDeletem ^..^
Laurie, thanks for giving us all a good sleuthing project. I think we're all inspired to make a mosaic of some kind. Babbler, thanks for the enthusiasm and sharing your own shard story. Joanna and Amy R., you've got some good ideas there. It then occurred to me we could putty the pieces onto a gazing ball for the garden. I think they would have to be broken down more, though.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I can't wait to see what you make from all your pieces of china, I like Amy R’s idea of making them into jewellery, I'm going to go hunting for some pieces of my own and get creative. Looking forward to the photos x
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty obvious that everyone has been stirred up by the thought of treasure, in whatever form it comes. In fact, recent posts have attracted a lot comments and I am sure there is a lot more to come. In my case, I will put together something on the history of the area where I have lived for the past 11 years to put it all in perspective. I have a really nice black and white photograph of my home taken in 1900 when the colliery wheel and winding gear were still in place.
ReplyDeleteI can feel the first stirrings of a community feel to the blog among like-minded bloggers and 'treasure seekers' who share an interest in creating pictures in their own minds as well as others. I am very grateful for your support and interest. Margaret summed it up really well today and her and others thoughts of the ways in which the fragments could be used in a mosiac montage or similar. Thank you all and I look forward to seeing some of the history-based works of art that people will produce.
In the search for another tray of shards, I came across a long-forgotten cache of documents that connect Canada with England via a heart-rending occurrence and an added magical ingredient that might bridge that gap between 1890 and today. I'll work on that, too, and reveal all in a day or so. It'll be worth waiting for - my hands shook while studying the paperwork as I realised the significance of what I was reading. If time travel were possible, well . . . you'll see when I publish it!
Best wishes
Laurie
Hi Laurie, your passion for history is becoming apparent, with each new revelation in these pages the depths of your curiosity are illuminated to ever greater degrees... am glad to be along for the guided tour, with such an excellent guide to shine light into dark recesses of the past and then proceed to elaborate... can't wait for the next installment. I think I can almost relate to what serial publication readers experienced while they were waiting for each new chapter of a Dickens novel to be published...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Owen. Just wait until I open the old suitcases packed with ephemera. It'll be like unlocking aladdin's cave. I am looking forward to seeing what your latest post is about.
ReplyDeleteI have just collated an abandoned building shoot and put them in a folder for picture selection. It is the place where I got the jamjars from!