COPPER KELLY #1
G'day!
Ned Kelly a copper? Nooooh!
Right-o! I built this one as an entry in the City Of Kingston's 24 Hour Artz Blitz competition. You had to bung together a piece in 24 hours once you were given a set theme. It had to fit within certain size parameters.
I knocked this one out in copper because I'd still got a lot of sheeting leftover from making my Stargate Anubis costume.
Copper's fun to work with. It's malleable and takes detail well, as you can see from the hasty but extensive repousse (raising and lowering with a hammer) and chasing (stamping) work. I used a gas torch to create the peacock coloured surface bloom on the metal.
I was pretty chuffed that in spite of the barnstorming speed at which the metalwork was done that I only holed through the copper twice.
It tickled my costume fancy that this piece was wearable as well as decorative.
The theme of the competition was Origins, which I interpreted as Origins Of Mythology. Given that, once again riffing on the iconistic status of Australian bushranger/bandit Ned Kelly seemed a forgone conclusion.
It won 2nd prize, and of equal importance, was purchased during the exhibition. That combo was just enough loot to make me feel like that losing a night's sleep was worth the effort.
I came up with an explanatory label which was attached to the plinth as a kind of future Museum Of Archaeology label.
Here's the text:
This artifact was excavated in 2996, on the site of the ancient Moorabb Settlement's Civic Centre, several kilomets south of the city of Melba in the Shire of Kingst. Although badly corroded it has been painstakingly restored using molecular recombination techniques.
It is constructed from copper, and weighs one kilogram, bearing the enigmatic inscription 'Ned' on the visor. Two sea shell designs, mussels, are raised on the surface of the brow, ethnologists speculate that these identify the artifact as being produced by the Koori people, indigenous to Orstrayla before Euroasian settlement. One interpretation of the place-name 'Moorabb', is 'mussel'.
Opinions differ as to the artifact's function but four main speculative theories currently attempt to describe it as:
1) A ceremonial helmet, perhaps worn by a driver in the legendary Ground Prune chariot race, which is believed to have been staged around Alba Park Lake in the late 20th century.
2) The theft resistant shell of a portable automatic credit dispensing machine.
3) A primitive drive for receiving crude, bulky 'CD-Roms', the ancient equivalent of modern data storage crystals.
4) A nightsoil container, used before the invention of personal waste recyclers.
Any one of these theories could explain the utility of this object, but none adequately explain the frequency with which similar artifacts have been found at numerous sites across Victrea and Nusow Wayles.
Concentrations of finds occur in the area of Glenrow and Urowa in particular. Identical artifacts abound, as well as a remarkable variety of representations, i.e: paintings, sculptures, two dimensional photographs and even highly decorated spoons! Ironically, we may examine the icon, but the story behind it has vanished from historical and even mythological record. We may never know why this particular item seems to have been the most cherished icon of 20th Century Orstrayla. To quote one unidentified source, equally shrouded by the mists of time, "Such, is life."
Professor Ozymandius Kelly, Univercity of Moorabb, 2997
This is picture #1 of a photoset. For many other costume photos please see:
www.flickr.com/photos/83287853@N00/sets/
Please proceed to picture 2
COPPER KELLY #1
G'day!
Ned Kelly a copper? Nooooh!
Right-o! I built this one as an entry in the City Of Kingston's 24 Hour Artz Blitz competition. You had to bung together a piece in 24 hours once you were given a set theme. It had to fit within certain size parameters.
I knocked this one out in copper because I'd still got a lot of sheeting leftover from making my Stargate Anubis costume.
Copper's fun to work with. It's malleable and takes detail well, as you can see from the hasty but extensive repousse (raising and lowering with a hammer) and chasing (stamping) work. I used a gas torch to create the peacock coloured surface bloom on the metal.
I was pretty chuffed that in spite of the barnstorming speed at which the metalwork was done that I only holed through the copper twice.
It tickled my costume fancy that this piece was wearable as well as decorative.
The theme of the competition was Origins, which I interpreted as Origins Of Mythology. Given that, once again riffing on the iconistic status of Australian bushranger/bandit Ned Kelly seemed a forgone conclusion.
It won 2nd prize, and of equal importance, was purchased during the exhibition. That combo was just enough loot to make me feel like that losing a night's sleep was worth the effort.
I came up with an explanatory label which was attached to the plinth as a kind of future Museum Of Archaeology label.
Here's the text:
This artifact was excavated in 2996, on the site of the ancient Moorabb Settlement's Civic Centre, several kilomets south of the city of Melba in the Shire of Kingst. Although badly corroded it has been painstakingly restored using molecular recombination techniques.
It is constructed from copper, and weighs one kilogram, bearing the enigmatic inscription 'Ned' on the visor. Two sea shell designs, mussels, are raised on the surface of the brow, ethnologists speculate that these identify the artifact as being produced by the Koori people, indigenous to Orstrayla before Euroasian settlement. One interpretation of the place-name 'Moorabb', is 'mussel'.
Opinions differ as to the artifact's function but four main speculative theories currently attempt to describe it as:
1) A ceremonial helmet, perhaps worn by a driver in the legendary Ground Prune chariot race, which is believed to have been staged around Alba Park Lake in the late 20th century.
2) The theft resistant shell of a portable automatic credit dispensing machine.
3) A primitive drive for receiving crude, bulky 'CD-Roms', the ancient equivalent of modern data storage crystals.
4) A nightsoil container, used before the invention of personal waste recyclers.
Any one of these theories could explain the utility of this object, but none adequately explain the frequency with which similar artifacts have been found at numerous sites across Victrea and Nusow Wayles.
Concentrations of finds occur in the area of Glenrow and Urowa in particular. Identical artifacts abound, as well as a remarkable variety of representations, i.e: paintings, sculptures, two dimensional photographs and even highly decorated spoons! Ironically, we may examine the icon, but the story behind it has vanished from historical and even mythological record. We may never know why this particular item seems to have been the most cherished icon of 20th Century Orstrayla. To quote one unidentified source, equally shrouded by the mists of time, "Such, is life."
Professor Ozymandius Kelly, Univercity of Moorabb, 2997
This is picture #1 of a photoset. For many other costume photos please see:
www.flickr.com/photos/83287853@N00/sets/
Please proceed to picture 2