I chose the volume with the letter ‘B’ thinking there would be reference to a blacksmith inside, but the only B’s I could find that peaked my interest were blossoms of every description. Since this was my first ever attempt at sculpture and having nothing to follow I imagined my own invention of flowers using words starting with the letter b. Hence the title’ Blacksmithery banging bashing burning blossom͛ ‘thought to be extinct in Tropical North Queensland and recently discovered in the centre of Townsville. Bears black/white buddleja-type flowers usually borne in dense conical panicles but also occur in whorled or cyme like panicles not dissimilar to the bilbinellahookeri.

I ripped out all the pages from the book and ripped them into smaller square shapes of various sizes so as not to discard any part of the page. I then threaded them from larger to smaller squares onto a rod, which resembled the stem of a flower to create a conical shaped flower held in place by a spiral cone underneath. The cone was welded into position and set fire to the paper flowers so was doused in water to prevent further burning.

I visited the local library in Townsville and got out every book I could find on displaying flowers especially ikebana, which I was drawn too. From this I set my flowers into the cover of the book using display principles I’d read about and forged various leaf type inventions using traditional Blacksmithing skills to show off the craft of forging mild steel.The pages I’d ripped out were replaced by pine wood of the same thickness and died with tea and brown vinegar, which also worked very well with drilled holes through the cover and into the wood to support the stems and multiple pieces of leaves and fern-like structures unfurling and growing at different heights. I kept finding marbles in my garden at the time and a visit to the local charity shop also increased the number I used in the sculpture.

Since Townsville is notorious for high humidity I sprayed the paper pages with clear lacquer so as not to go mouldy and primed the steel with Penetrol, which offers a bit of protection against rust. An actually, applied yearly, would enhance any rust that appeared into a beautiful chocolate sheen colour. The front of the piece clearly displays the encyclopedia spine and title with all the organic shaped pieces growing out of its cover.

Today I still have this piece sat up on top of a tall bookcase. It is amazing I was actually able to display it ever again because when I moved house the ‘packers’ decided to remove every single piece from the base and stack them any old how into another box.