Hi Folks,
Happy Tuesday! It's a sunny one out there today and temps will remain mild for a couple more days it looks like. I will take advantage of it and do a couple of quick last minute clean up things in the shop before hunkering down for the icy snow cover months. At least I haven't had to run my heat as much lately so I'm ahead of last year in that regard.
Well today I have something really fun for you. Titanium Alien Guitar Picks! These are really cool little items that I made a couple years back. I didn't make too many of them and I still had a couple more designs in the hopper that I never finished. So I thought I would do one more small batch of the coolest drawing, the Alien. BTW, this batch of picks are the exact size and shape as a normal standard pick.
I went back and forth on how I wanted to finish these. They are thin, so anytime you mechanically stamp a metal object this thin the stamp telegraphs through to the other side and will distort the flatness of the object. So, after much thought I decided to follow the tradition of the master Japanese potters and leave these unsigned and sterile, so they are the work of what is known in Japan as "the unknown craftsman". The idea is that there is no need to sign your name on every object. Leave the ego out of it and let the pure design and execution of the work speak for itself. Future generations will appreciate the work for what it is rather than adulate the maker. I think sometimes that is a nice idea and the concept works well for something like this. So there are no stamps or marks of any kind on these.
Anyway, philosophy aside, these cute little picks were tumbled over and over again for several weeks to achieve a buttery, aged finish with a nice radius on the edges. I have given them a wide variety of anodized colors. Lots of Alien Greens, as well as the usual solid colors, some nice color fades and a few neutral C-51 pieces for the folks who like more of a plain look, but the anodizing still gives an additional layer of protection to the titanium.
Alien Guitar Picks will run $35 each plus shipping and there is no limit on them. Hope your week is going great and stay safe out there!
All gone, thank you so much everyone!