David DeCristoforo
05-27-2013, 3:51 PM
263185
There was a lot of activity surrounding the AAW "Currents" show. A lot fine pieces were posted, many of which were accepted into that show. For various reasons, I never submitted an entry but it got me thinking. What I thought about was skipping stones. How this would fit into the "currents" theme is pretty obvious since these stones are shaped and smoothed by water currents. And then you could get all into the currents of time that pass as the stones are moved around and eventually brought to the shore and that also bring new generations of kids along to toss them back into the water.
Skipping stones with your dad is as good a moment as childhood has to offer. The search for the perfect stone seems almost eternal. The perfect stone is round and smooth but not flat. A good skipping stone needs to have nicely domed faces. And not too big either. A good stone needs to fit just right in your hand with your index finger wrapped around it to give it some spin when it is tossed. The big ones are tempting but they almost always disappoint, plopping unceremoniously into the water with a noisy splash. And not too light either. Those just kind of flop around in the air and plink into the water with little or no effect at all. The perfect stone with just the right shape will skip lightly across the water, three, four, five or even more times before it finally loses it's momentum and sinks beneath the surface to the bottom where it will remain for longer than our lifetime before it works it's way back to the shore where some other kid and his dad will find it and send it, once again, skipping out over the water's surface.
263186 263187
This also gave me a chance to "do something" with all of these bits of wood I could not bring myself to toss in the trash. Why 49 stones? simply because I did not have the patience to make 50. I thought about dying the platter to imply water and coloring the stones various shades of gray. But I really liked all of the different wood tones so I ended up leaving them "as is".
I have also been a bit presumptuous in adding this to the "Salon of the Refused" on the WoW site. Judging from some of the stuff that was accepted and looking at what was not, there can be no doubt that this would have been summarily rejected. And since there is no "Salon of the Never submitted", I took it upon myself to toss it in. Anyone who was actually subjected to the indignity of rejection and who might feel that I am not entitled to this honor has my blessing if they wish to remove this from the album. Actually that would be kinda cool… to be rejected from the album of rejected pieces!
I have to add that this is one of those things that seem like a great idea during the making but that leave you wondering "What were you thinking???" when it's done….
There was a lot of activity surrounding the AAW "Currents" show. A lot fine pieces were posted, many of which were accepted into that show. For various reasons, I never submitted an entry but it got me thinking. What I thought about was skipping stones. How this would fit into the "currents" theme is pretty obvious since these stones are shaped and smoothed by water currents. And then you could get all into the currents of time that pass as the stones are moved around and eventually brought to the shore and that also bring new generations of kids along to toss them back into the water.
Skipping stones with your dad is as good a moment as childhood has to offer. The search for the perfect stone seems almost eternal. The perfect stone is round and smooth but not flat. A good skipping stone needs to have nicely domed faces. And not too big either. A good stone needs to fit just right in your hand with your index finger wrapped around it to give it some spin when it is tossed. The big ones are tempting but they almost always disappoint, plopping unceremoniously into the water with a noisy splash. And not too light either. Those just kind of flop around in the air and plink into the water with little or no effect at all. The perfect stone with just the right shape will skip lightly across the water, three, four, five or even more times before it finally loses it's momentum and sinks beneath the surface to the bottom where it will remain for longer than our lifetime before it works it's way back to the shore where some other kid and his dad will find it and send it, once again, skipping out over the water's surface.
263186 263187
This also gave me a chance to "do something" with all of these bits of wood I could not bring myself to toss in the trash. Why 49 stones? simply because I did not have the patience to make 50. I thought about dying the platter to imply water and coloring the stones various shades of gray. But I really liked all of the different wood tones so I ended up leaving them "as is".
I have also been a bit presumptuous in adding this to the "Salon of the Refused" on the WoW site. Judging from some of the stuff that was accepted and looking at what was not, there can be no doubt that this would have been summarily rejected. And since there is no "Salon of the Never submitted", I took it upon myself to toss it in. Anyone who was actually subjected to the indignity of rejection and who might feel that I am not entitled to this honor has my blessing if they wish to remove this from the album. Actually that would be kinda cool… to be rejected from the album of rejected pieces!
I have to add that this is one of those things that seem like a great idea during the making but that leave you wondering "What were you thinking???" when it's done….