Moving Right Along

A new job, a new place - life moves on - and the best thing is it's by the beach.

Glass Casting Experiment

"Secret Garden" at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show 2006

Flowers are ephemeral, fragile things - I built a sculpture called Secret Garden - I think it was 2006. And as I left the flower show where it was exhibited I slipped on some wet matting and broke one of the irises.

So the sculpture came home and moved house with me and more flowers broke over the course of the years.

So now that there are no more of the original irises it's time to cast some new ones and to experiment with techniques. I decided to try lost wax - foolish perhaps - but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

wax iris

So here is the wax with the copper "stem" threaded to attach it to the sculpture.

I experimented with a sort of shell casting for the investment - a mixture of patching plaster and silica for the registration layer, then building up in layers of refractory mixture and fibreglass then refractory mixture and grog until a mould was made. Then the hours of steaming - not long enough there was wax burning out in the kiln. I used some old glass - reservoir remainders from previous castings for this experiment.

Just out of the mould and still covered in plaster

I should have allowed longer at top temperature too - the glass flowed but didn't fill the petals - but amazingly against the odds it seems to have worked - a rough casting and tricky to clean.... but the spirit of the thing has survived. Time to build three flowers and get the sculpture back together.

Almost clean and ready to cut off the sprues

Here Comes the Bride

enter the bridal party

Fittingly the baby that skied the 1980 Australian Birkebeiner in utero, got married on Howqua saddle on December 10th.

The bridal party was led by dad Peter and sister Kiri. Jasmine rode her trusty mountain bike.

The wedding ceremony was witnessed by family and friends - four generations from two of the couple's grandmothers to the groom's young niece. There were a lot of friends - and everyone had a part to play. Including the weather deities who held off the rain and in the end shone sunshine on the newly weds.



Many present came on mountain bikes, and I'm told the trails at Mounts Buller and Stirling did not disappoint.

Everyone had a part to play. 

And the two grandmothers witnessed the vows and the signing of the documents.

And then off to cycle the mountain - there's no holding these two back.....

except of course for a reception at the Chalet where Sven's mother Merilyn had produced a mountaineering cake.

So long life and happiness to the bride and groom!

Jasmine and Sven Howorth on their wedding day

Growth

All animal populations are capable of exponential growth. It helps recolonize after catastrophes. But the populations that do experience exponential growth will sooner or later run up against their Malthusian limits - and crash. Those limits would be - running out of resources such as food or water, being overwhelmed by their waste products or being so crowded they can't find their way around and being subject to contagious disease.  Think of the pitiful images of pelicans dying at Lake Eyre when the boom times are over. It's a miserable situation for those individuals.

But the individuals in populations that are in balance with their environment are, on the whole, pretty healthy looking.  The potential for exponential growth is held in check by predation (of herbivores) and by competition for resources, territory or mates - not only achieving a stable population but improving the survival characteristics of the species in the environment.

Humans have pushed the natural population controls - we have no serious predators, we have made technological advances - agriculture, industrialisation and communications technology - and we grow - exponentially.

Poverty around the world is taking on Malthusian grimness - individuals are suffering but the population is still increasing. The idea that technology can reduce our per capita need for resources in order to have a good life has its limits. This is a possibility for stable populations - not growing ones.
And miserable poverty is contrasted with extreme wealth. How can this be good for the species? Does wealth need poverty in order to exist? Is this a zero sum game that relies on a "feedstock" of misery?

Our capacity to control our population need not be horrible - we achieve more benefit from compassion and cooperation than we do from war and murder. Contraception is better for parents and children than infanticide, starvation, contagion or abortion. As has been pointed out - people will be OK with small families if they have the luxury of being able to love the children that they have - because they know they will not only survive but have the chance to flourish.

And what constitutes "improvement" in the human species? I would suggest

Our capacity to live together in harmony and develop the talents of every member of the community - respect for diversity, creative rather than destructive outlets for aggression

Our capacity to respect, learn from and live with and within our environment

Improved mental and physical health of every member of the community

A cultural life that enhances the capacity for aesthetic pleasure,  and spiritual growth

Now I'll go and think about the carbon footprint of my sculpture practice.

I just don't get it....

There's an article in Gizmag about a Concentrating Solar Thermal power station achieving 24 hour power supply. A lot of angst is expended on finding ways to ensure that renewable forms of energy can deliver base load power.
And I note a number of respected economists talking about demand side modification trying to reduce peak demand - presumably to boost off peak demand and even out the load on power generation.
Time was that nature's supply cycle induced rest in us - when the sun went down we socialised by the fire for a bit and then went to sleep.
Just because machines can work 24/7 to pay off capital investment doesn't mean that we must. Just because coal fired power stations take a long time to crank up and are better at providing constant power than variable supply (resulting from variable levels of activity) doesn't mean that this is the only way to run our civilization. I'm quite happy to sleep at night and be glad that my refrigerator and the hospital can run all night without me. Base load could be reduced dramatically if we didn't treat people like machines. Peak load can be handled a lot better by the various renewables and a smart grid - in the end you don't need to generate so much power if you only generate it when you really need it - a bit like my microwave oven - a short sharp burst that only does the job I want and doesn't waste anything actually reduces my electricity bill.
What would Australia's power needs look like if we produced and priced electricity according to the capacity of a renewables grid and the realities of the way people really work, play and run their culture? How much of our "always on" culture is because we want it and how much is it machine induced insomnia?
People like to party all night occasionally - fine - but take on the full cost and don't do it too often. It's more fun if it's a rarity done for fun rather than a compulsive whirl of events where you can never relax.
I don't get it... base load ... peak load.... what's driving all this? People or machines? If people know what is available they'll tailor their culture to get the most out of it. So stop worrying and learn to love...... well, they are smarter than that, right?