An Ohio Metalsmith in Dresden

Maybe I've been spending too much time alone in my basement studio, or maybe I've just visited too many dungeons while here in Germany, but while working long hours of on a project sometimes the mind wanders a bit and symbolic metaphors for a piece begin to bubble up from somewhere deep in the subconscious.  And not always the nicest ones.

The impetus for this piece arose out of an accidental purchase.  Not paying close attention to the box of "zucker" I snagged at the grocery store in the train station as I was rushing to get back to my flat, I unintentionally picked up a box of sugar cubes instead of the granulated sugar I normally get.  Once I opened it and discovered my mistake I decided I needed to make some sugar tongs.  I also had some silver sheet to use and wasn't quite up for another hot forging project.

The process was pretty straight forward and the photos almost tell the story by themselves.  First I made a few models out of brass to find out if what I was thinking would work and to play with a few variations and see which one I preferred.

I thought the more rounded dome of the one and the more enclosed curve of the other would work together well so I decided to combine the two.  With only a few simple tools, a wooden dowel, a dapping block, and a hammer.....

a little filing, sanding and polishing and it was done.

When I get back to my studio in Columbus I'll put the finishing touches on it.  It picks up sugar cubes just fine right now, but I plan on putting two small opposing silver spikes on the inside lower edge in order to gently spear the cubes.  A little overkill, but I liked the idea of hidden teeth-like spikes to grasp something sweet.

So to get back to mind wanderings and such, while happily working away on the final form I bemusedly noticed that my three brass models looked like somber little robed figures wandering off to prayer in some medieval convent.  Later when I had my finger shoved deep inside the piece to firmly brace it while buffing (a somewhat dangerous move as you can lose a finger real fast that way) I began pondering the viscous finger screws and other assorted spiked implements used to procure confessions in the recreated dungeon in an old monastery/city historical museum I had seen the other day.  This led to random disassociated musing of nuns.... robes.... forbidden sweets.... teeth.... guilt... pain....   Well maybe the rest should be left up to the art critics or better yet the psychologists.  I once heard that a juror when looking at my work asked where was the deeper meaning.  Maybe sometimes a set of sugar tongs should just be a set of sugar tongs.