The Bluebird Project

I have watched with interest the production of the spoon frogs etc Bill has been posting during down time. Fantastic creations.
I hope Bill does not mind me posting these pictures of craft work made by my wifes father (now deceased) as a hobby during the last years of his life.
Made from pieces of copper sheet and copper wire.

My own modest craft work.(from about 15 years ago) I called this piece 'The final conflict' If posting these pictures is inappropriate I apologise, I just got motivation by Bills offerings. Perhaps Bill could post pictures on here of his creations.

Hi Ernie,

Love the orchids, that's really lovely work.

Flowers are my favourite subject (flowers and birds) and copper is a deliciously soft and comfy medium. Not used it extensively but when I tried carnations I concluded that aluminium (my favourite metal) was just too fickle for the job. Bare 0.25mm copper annealed with heat effects looked great, though.


Copper is nice to work with in that you can use very thin material and it still won't slice your fingers open. It solders and works easily. On the downside, it work-hardens extremely quickly and so has to be annealed every five minutes if you want to work it over any distance into intricate shapes and it's also very heavy so when you make it into a flower like a carnation it has the weight distribution of a hammer and hates looking pretty in a vase because all it wants is to upends itself and land head-down.

Then it seems that most humans prefer to look at bare copper rather than have the job finished with paint and artistry to create something that looks like a real flower.


I mean, who wouldn't want their copper carnation painted? Seems nobody ever does. No matter. I guess it saves a lot of work.

I've been a closet artist for many years, either giving pieces away or piling them around the house, but with the BBP easing into a more relaxed phase and social media being what it is and people, for as long as I can remember, saying, you should offer some of your pieces because folk would like them, I've come out of that artistic closet a little, so to speak.

Only took half a century to get there.

(Photos by Mike Bull)

Very nice intricate work Bill. Elaine's father would have loved to have seen them. I agree they are better painted. We have got boxes and boxes full of individual orchids done by her dad who was an electrical engineer by trade but also a very skilled craftsman. Many fitted with a mounting pin for wearing on a coat/dress. He made many models of clipper ships including an exceptional model of the 'Cutty Sark' that's now in a museum. We have an model he made of the tea clipper 'Peebleshire'. A long time ago some of his models were featured at the national model engineering exhibition.

Do you have an ending in mind when you start a piece or does it just evolve? I find it best to let things evolve as I go along. The piece I called the Final conflict just evolved by chance when I saw the piece of white rock in a shop in the lake district. Bought it without any real idea what I was going to do with it.

Do you find you have periods of intense creativity, I do.

I do a lot of silver solder work, what do you use to solder up/weld the frog pieces. It would be good to see one of your Spoon frogs in this thread. They are clever pieces of craft work.


BTW Anyone interested in the history of the 2nd world war may find a book written by my wife interesting ' Call of the goose' available from libraries.
Relates to Goose squadron activities-. Started in the middle 1990'swhen she was given her deceased uncles pilot officers log book by her father. Uncle shot down in a Lanc over Germany in 1944. Elaine went to Germany to speak to witness's and came back with a piece of the plane. I am sure you could make this work again. Apparently its part of one of the props. There are pieces of what appears to be molten alloy in between the gears. It was retrieved by one of the village people who saw the plane being shot down (all crew killed).

From an outsiders perspective, Bill has always been steady away with his artwork / sculpting, I have a particular fondness for his clock at home (the one in the kitchen) which is basically a vine which has surrounded the clock....

I know personally what Bills mood is, dependant on what he is sculpting when I see him.

What I can say is no matter the mood, when he is creating something artful it makes him happy.

I have a particular fondness for his clock at home (the one in the kitchen) which is basically a vine which has surrounded the clock....

Made from hammered steel, powder coated green then hand finished. It's actually six parts with the joins hidden behind leaves. The centre section that holds the clock had to be extremely precise and level in two planes for the clock to run properly. It's an old Post Office clock dated 1911 in a mahogany case with a fusee movement so it needs wound only once a week.

Ernie Lazenby wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:32 am It was retrieved by one of the village people who saw the plane being shot down (all crew killed).
DSCN6466.JPG

Pretty certain it’s the pitch control mechanism for the three propeller blades ...

Thank you, useful information having its function confirmed. She also came back with one of the guide wheels for the wires used to turn the rudder.
The plane, DS849X, landed in the village of Wurges Nr Bad Camberg just missing houses. The book is in the memorial room at Linton-on Use and also in the Headquarters of 408 Goose Squadron in Canada. (Now a helicopter squadron)
Elaine has got all her Uncles personal affects he left in his room before the last flight, we get quite emotional looking at it all. The crash meant his mess bill, which was among the papers we have, went unpaid.
Her uncles story inspired one of our grandsons who always attends battle of Britain day and remembrance Sunday wearing his great great uncles medals and officers cap. Jamie is a 12 year old authority on 2nd world war aviation matters. Kids do get inspired by such matters and that of DC and K7.

Renegadenemo wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2019 11:47 am

I have a particular fondness for his clock at home (the one in the kitchen) which is basically a vine which has surrounded the clock....

Vine 1.JPG


Vine 2.JPG

Made from hammered steel, powder coated green then hand finished. It's actually six parts with the joins hidden behind leaves. The centre section that holds the clock had to be extremely precise and level in two planes for the clock to run properly. It's an old Post Office clock dated 1911 in a mahogany case with a fusee movement so it needs wound only once a week.

Brilliant work Bill.

Those metal flowers look terrific, and I agree that they look better painted. I'd love to buy one of your spoon frogs, Bill. I quite like frogs, and used to be able to rattle off the scientific names for a lot of Australian frogs too.

I'm not really a craftsman of anything, but I don't mind taking the odd photo. I took this one on Sunday night up at Echuca, about 110 or so miles away from where I live. The paddle steamer in the photo was built locally in 1866, and is reputed to be the oldest operational wooden hulled paddle steamer in the world. Hopefully it's alright to post this here?