Here’s the last of our new stuff – 3 robots with a space theme.  Photo #1 is Mars Attack, named after the classic 1996 movie – the plot line revolves around visiting Martians who claim to come in peace but make liberal use of disintegrating ray guns.  Photo #2 is WD-40, Canada’s latest surveillance drone.  Photo #3 is Otto-613, the founding member of Canada’s Space Force.  We do have fun making these!

Happy Saturday!  Today’s theme takes it’s inspiration from early 20th century design philosophy – ‘form follows function’.  The previous use of these artifacts almost dictated the lamp design.  Hope you like them.

We’ve been looking at Art Deco/Machine Age design recently (1920s-1940s) – here’s a few lamps inspired by the forms and motifs of that era.

By coincidence, we found 2 identical silver casseroles in different thrift stores – the lids form the bottom of the shades in this ‘pair’ of lamps.

Lighthouse or spaceship?

Hello again!  Just a heads-up that we are participating in the West End Studio Tour in Ottawa, which takes place on the last 2 weekends in September (21/22 and 28/29).  Ourselves and other artists in our neighbourhood of Westboro/Wellington West in Ottawa will warmly welcome people to our studios to see what we’ve been working on for the past little while.  We’re open from 11-5 each day.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to support local artists and get yourself some  great art.  What could be better than a stroll around a nice neighbourhood on a (hopefully) beautiful autumn day, looking at art – the first Saturday even coincides with the ‘Taste of Wellington’ along Wellington St.  (Taste of Wellington is an opportunity to sample some of the offerings from local restaurants along ‘gastro alley’.)  More info at westendstudiotour.ca

We’ve been busy making some new creations for the tour.  We have a few themes in what we’ve created this year.  Here’s the musical related ones we’ve come up with.  More to come!

Great start to the show at the Glebe Community Centre in Ottawa (corner of 2nd and Lyon).  Hours on the weekend are Saturday 10-5 and Sunday 11-4.   Lots of great local artisans and yummy foodie-type stuff – good opportunity to get a jump on stocking stuffers and holiday gifts.  Hope to see some of your there,  please come introduce yourself.

Here’s the last 2 lamps before the show.  The first is a classic silver coffee pot design – it’s available with a different coloured shade if desired.  The second is a little different.  ‘Cosmo Naut’ is made from a vintage meat grinder plus lots of bits and pieces, including a pin from the Russian pavilion at Expo ’67 (hence the name).

Getting into the home stretch for the show on the weekend.  Here’s a couple of new clocks – one using a silver coffee pot, the other an amalgamation of pump organ parts.

We’re on the home stretch before the show on the weekend (info below).  This is a reprise of a lamp design that we’ve done before but it’s always been one of my favourite ways using vintage cameras.  It never fails to reminds me of the hopping ‘I’ in the Pixar movies, ready to shine a light into the darkest corners.

I’m starting to lose track of the numbers but I think #7 is right…

We found this great antique horn from a 1920’s Magnavox tube radio and took a little bit of artistic license by turning it into the horn for a fake ‘gramophone’, complete with a ’78, brass speaker grill and wind up handle (originally from a rotary egg beater).  The box is hollow, so you can put your bluetooth speaker inside and the music will come out of the grill.  The sound won’t be quite as sharp, but that only adds to the authenticity!

A great conversation piece!

Here’s a couple of our new frankenbots, ‘Dude’ and ‘Bandito’.