Portfolios > RECENT WORK: RELICS AND RELIQUARIES

This is a detail view showing the vintage tape measure.

This reliquary pays tribute to a vintage brass wind-by-hand cloth tape measure, already a relic just by virtue of its much used condition. It has a beautiful patina. As I was pondering what I wanted to do with it. I began to focus on its function, the winding of the tape around a central axis. This led me to the anatomy of a spiral of which there are several. I chose a formula for a central axis. I then began looking at nature and organic versions of the spiral. Thus appeared the snail repoussé.

Vintage tape measure, brass sheet, basswood, acrylic paint