Bikes, bicycle wheel, bicycle frame!!!!!
Build a storage furniture out of bicycle wheels in 2 1/2 hours. The short assignment will never be Antons and my favorite discipline. It is simply too short a time to immerse ourselves in the task. We went to the recycling shelves to see what we could spot. An old chair with an oval back caught our attention. Along with some spokes, a broom shaft and the reflexes from the bike wheels came the sly cat to the world.
The sly cat is also a result of NOT building the obvious – the bike wheel, but to see how far we could push our creativity with the less obvious parts of the wheel – spokes and reflexes. And for sure, no matter where we stood in relation to the quirky cat, its’ eyes followed one with an intense gaze ;0)
Second day – the big job. Build a dining table of four rusty bike frames. It’s obvious. Every time you see rusty bike frames, you think completely automatic DINING table!!!! Or? No, I don’t think so ;0) But we will build that table. With a large pile of old plates at hand, we came up with the idea of the fairy tale tree. And it’s easy. Use pliers, a towel and a hammer. Wrap the plates in the towel and use the hammer to break the plates by lightly beating the wrapped plates. Open the towel and the plate is crushed finely in pieces. And this you do you again and again and again and again… All the pieces are glued on a waterproof plywood plate, which is cut round with a diameter of 125 cm, so that 6 people can easily sit around it. Glue the mosaic on with tile glue. I use a small plastic bag, which I cut a small corner of, so I can place the tile adhesive on every single piece of mosaic – note that the tile glue dries quite quickly. If I pulled the glue on a larger area, it would be dry before I even was just half finished placing the mosaic core. It takes many thousands of small mosaics to cover a tabletop, but it’s a fun puzzle. But admitted – it was an ambitious project and we were repeatedly doubting whether we could finish it. In addition, Anton, who had not welded more than 2 times before, spent more time figuring out how to get all the bike parts to balance in relation to each other before he resolutely welded all the parts firmly to the table top and finally, when all the bicycle parts were welded, it was all cut free off the table top. Super creative thought and simple! His understanding of a beautiful design language speaks for itself. I could not have imagined it more beautiful. There is a reason why I never doubted that if I were to even consider entering with someone in this competition, it should be Anton. We think alike. When all the mosaics are glued to the table top, it should harden for 24 hours prior to grouting, and after fuzing again a curing time of 24 hours before you can polish the Mosaic table. We just didn’t have 24 hours, neither to the first or second task. We had one night and 2 1/2 hour for grouting and polishing. You can’t, but we did it. We polished each small mosaic with a cloth without hitting the joints. I forget out how many times I cursed myself for my optimism during the planning phase. But it is under pressure that you really find out how much you can when you have to. We did it and became Master Creators of the week. You can sometimes do a lot with very little ;0) But as with other battles, we did not come out scratches. Our hands were full of blisters and wounds after intense use of the pliers. But it was worth it. See you on the next MesterSkaberne. Anton & Susanne
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