The Peacock and The Rain Bird

Here's the peacock. I think you can see from this photo that his tail feathers are now much longer. Well, really, I have no idea whether it's the same bird, but Andy, the glassblower says she thinks he is, that he comes back to get peanut butter pretzels that one of her students was feeding him. Certainly, he went right for her studio doorway while she went to get some pretzels. He ate a little bit, but not all the pieces she tossed to him. Then he walked around our little patio and even behind my table before he went sauntering off down the side of the main patio.

When I first arrived this morning at Spanish Village, about 9:00, the first thing I heard when I walked into my studio was the rain bird come on again. I don't know how long it ran this morning, because I was anxious to get to work at my outside table. I've made arrangements to do some etching at a friend's house tomorrow, and I had a lot to do. I still could do a whole lot more to be better prepared.

One problem I had was that even though the glass pan I bought said it measures 9 by 13, I wasn't able to put my 9 by 9 plate into the etching solution, because the measurement is at the top of the pan, not the base. So there were two plates I didn't etch, the two largest ones. Really only one is finished. I did however bite (etch) one of the 9 by 7 plates and both 4 by 6 plates. Unfortunately, I didn't apply the asphaltum heavily enough, and there is a great deal of "false biting." That is what happens when the asphaltum isn't thick enough and the etching solution gets under the asphaltum and bites wherever it touches the copper.

I didn't have that problem previously. I'm not sure why. It might be the hot weather or just that the asphaltum was thicker on the other plates. But as a result, I took the other 9 by 7 plate back inside and put more asphaltum on it. I still haven't drawn on it, and I'm not sure I'll get it finished and bit by tomorrow at noontime, but I can start on it.

I sat at my table for hours, only getting up to check on my plates as they etched. Finally about 6:30 one of the artists from a studio down at the end came by and looked at my plates. He said, "This is the coolest thing I've seen in the Village for a long time." That was very nice feedback, especially since I consider him to be one of the best artists in the Village. Another artist came by earlier and made similar comments about a piece of brass I am planning to make into four bracelets. She also is a very fine artists, another of the best. It was very nice to have such positive feedback from two artists I have a high regard for. It made all those hours of work and my backache worth it.