A meme and a picture.

[linda_joyce]

Your result for The Commonly Confused Words Test...

English Genius

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

On driving to ASDA a few weeks ago I nearly drove into the final roundabout before I turn off the Valley's bypass. Between one visit and the next this had appeared in the middle of it.



As the Bridge he stands at the end of has been named Chartist Bridge I am assuming he's a Chartist but a close up of his face reminds me more of the Gorillas in the TV series Planet of the Apes.



But since he is made up of washers I will forgive the artist for doing a worse face than I do. Rivets don't bend that easy.

Comments

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Those aren't rivets, those are washers :~) Says the techie nerd.

I've never considered what attributes you need to have to be recognised as a Chartist. I suppose it's a bit like saint spotting, holding a wheel, Catherine, long hair, Agnes, etc.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Thank you I knew they were some sort of industrial fixing thing but I picked the wrong one.
Around here the Chartist symbol is either a home made pike or a placard reading one man one vote. Where you find them is often a clue, they mostly appear in the Ebbw and Sirhowy Valleys and Newport.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

We weren't a hot bed of Chartism round here, so no commemoration.

It's interesting the way the washers give the centre pic a texture.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Well we were rebelling against a foreign imperial power just like Owain Glyndour. Apart from the Welsh women of the West coast capturing a platoon of Frenchies during the Napoleonic Wars it's the most exciting thing to happen in Wales since Owain Glydour.

(the wild Western Welsh Women have their memorial too A patchwork quilt showing what happened. It used to be on display in Fish guard but they are now looking for a new home for it.)

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

Brum had radical politicians but they sent them into parliament instead. Tamworth had Robert Peel and a manifesto.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Ignor the first reply, I miss read your answer and for reasons best known to the godds of computers lj wont let me delete it.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

That statue is cool... now... if I were the artist, how would I have done it... AH! I'd have sculpted it out of wax, and covered it with washers, and then ...tricky bit...mmm, not solder (not only too time consuming, but also too likely to melt the wax too soon...ah! I'd spray/paint/dip the whole thing in acrylic resin & after that hardened, I'd apply gentle warmth to slowly melt out the wax.

No, I'm wrong, I see that he DID solder each washer together. I guess he was very skillful with the solder gun. My way would be faster, but you wouldn't have just the washers.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Close up you can see strong poles in the legs, arms and pike, but doing it your way it would still have been possible to mould the wax around them and you could probably do a better face that way, but great artist always suffer for their art and I suppose he thinks hen is a great artist. Mind you would need a Devil of a lot of was, he's about 10 feet tall, however considering the number of washers used that amount of wax would be easy to find in comparison.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

The 'lost wax' method's been used for ages to cast large bronzes- I expect the 'artist wax' is less expensive bought in bulk than buying a packet to wax skis.

[inyadreems.livejournal.com]

See what you mean. I might have hit the roundabout too if he'd suddenly appeared. It's fun though. You'd think there'd be a plaque telling you what it's all about.

[javahound.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is amazing. Talk about patients putting that statue together.

[san-valentine.livejournal.com]

That is a darn distracting thing to find suddenly in the middle of a roundabout, where it wasn't before.

I dread to think how long it took to assemble that thing out of washers - worse than assembling flat-packed furniture.

The Millenium galleries in Sheffield have a rather fab three head-headed dragon affair made from cutlery in a similar way.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And he's hollow, too! What an unusual medium.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Is there some symbolism to the fact that the Chartist is a "hollow" man, not to mention constructed of washers. (Wishy Washy movement perhaps?). Sorry I was never that impressed with the Movement in History. Mind you I was more interested in the Battles rather than the political/ social history then.

[ultrapsychobrat.livejournal.com]

This is really cool. I admire the innovation of some people, not to mention talent.