The 2017 Christmas decoration came out like this.
I was not very excited about it this time. The design usually comes from the forms of recent artwork projects.
This year more time was spent packing and moving art than making it.
So, it makes sense that this is an old shape with a little holiday add on.
The good part is no one hated it and a few thought it was the best yet!
Roosters seem to be everywhere.
Recent trips abroad have proven the popularity of the rooster motif as seen in homes, shops, advertisements, graffiti, glassware, jewelry, sculpture, painting…..
Yes, even ChristopherPollockArt has made and sold a few rooster pieces.
During this trip to Lisbon, Portugal, there is time to do some artwork while my wife meets with some coworkers (The main reason for the trip).
Tools and materials are limited basically to wire and pliers. So why not ad a new spin on the rooster design?
There was this rooster design.
There were a few incorporated into mobiles like this. (Notice the rooster on the wall paper in the background of the home the mobile is installed in.)
There were some others in mixed farm scene mobiles as well.
The inspiration to make a kinetic rooster design came from seeing this large moving sculpture in Lisbon.
These hands have bent many kinetic birds that stand and move like that rooster.
Mixing the rooster and bird designs seemed like it would be a good project for Lisbon.
So it began.
Some of you kind readers have asked to see more of the process, so here goes.
It starts with an coming up with an idea, as just described.
Then there is usually some doodling.
Then the prototype is started.
The prototype stages are where you really learn the most. This one has not gone well from the start. First of all it should have been larger. Small is very nice, but it is much harder to do, so it is a bad idea for a prototype.
Step by step you go. (I forgot to mention the use of image searches like you see on the computer.)
Just keep bending, bending,bending….
At this stage it was clear that the wings were too small to counterbalance the design intended for the head and eye part.
There was to be a slightly different beak and a “waddle” hanging below the balancing loop of the head and eye piece. Larger wings should add enough weight for that to work in following attempts. You see the rejected part in the foreground.
There you have it!
Finally finished, delivered and installed this for a friend!
This mobile is about 2-3 feet long and cut from weathered copper. I’ve made a few of these over the years. If anyone is interested in having one or learning how to make one let me know or comment below.
Some of the artwork this winter was making a few of these black and white mobiles. They are very much like the mobiles I remember seeing years ago that caught my eye and inspired me.
Two of this style were commissioned, delivered and installed. The one pictured makes me very happy since it is hanging in the place where my artistic awakening happened.
My seventeen year old, rather non-artistic, self met a unique person who was just about to begin building house like no other. Being on that job and others that followed saved me from a “normal” life.
Most of what you see in this picture is work we did. Not just building the objects but cutting and debarking the trees, milling the exposed framing, gathering the limbs and branches for the railings… I could go on and on. Basically every step of every process from the ground up. (some below ground!) Sadly my photos do not do it justice. 
This object came to me as a brass kick plate on an old door. It is possible this piece was some other brass object before it was recycled into the kick plate. Now it is an activity sensor disguised as a mobile that hangs in my living room.
It hangs from our ceiling and the top two “s” shaped plates are not attached. They just balance on a recessed point. They have lots of movement.
My children and their friends seem to manage to send it crashing to the floor more often than they think I am aware of.
Regular inspection of this object revels when it has been knocked about the living room. Often the clues are subtle irregularities in the wires or balance. I sometimes am happy the boys are so good at mobile repair and balancing. Other times I just imagine what kind of misbehavior has been taking place in my living room!
Last year’s Christmas ornament art project was this dancing Santa mobile. (if you click on the full WordPress article there is a video)
They are painted sheet metal and wire.
About 50 were made.
I think I will have to make more of these Christmas decorations because people are asking to buy them.
That makes me happy!
This angel is another kinetic Christmas gift art piece made from sheet metal and wood and rivets.
It is 5″-6″ tall.
This sheet aluminum and wire mobile ornament was from around the time the kids got my my wife and me into snowboarding.
Our kids have been instructors for years, and they had talked us into it that year so it seemed like a good design.
Good decision!
This Christmas ornament design comes from spiral mobiles I have made.
The mobiles are larger with more pieces than this little ornament.
It is brass sheet metal with brass wire and about 3 inches.
40-50 were made.
Year eight was this mobile ornament made from brass wire and jingle bells.
I made 40-50 of these and one larger piece as well as some earrings using this design.
The middle wire (I call the wires of mobiles armatures) shape has since become an often used design element in my wire sculptures and Christmas gift artwork.
8/12 Years of Christmas Gift Art Jingle Bells Ornament[/caption]
