The Installation of Orb Weaver Spider
RECLAMATION @ Hermitage Museum & Gardens
Location: The Rose Garden
With this, I made a rectangular frame, which I strapped to the iron trellis supports, bolted to the brick columns. For fastening these, I fashioned some pretty descent tethers from some bungy cord hooks that I found at the hardware store, and of course, my favorite accomplice of bondage, bicycle tire innertubes. I have to say, I was pretty proud of these.
Once I had gotten this frame in place, where I wanted it, (which was as out of site as possible), I began to attach long strands of ball-chain, across the form, up/down, across, and diagonally, using zipties to attach it to the bamboo frame.
RECLAMATION @ Hermitage Museum & Gardens
Location: The Rose Garden
RECLAMATION BLOG: OUTDOORS the spider
One of the pieces that I wanted to include in the show was
‘Orb Weaver’, a large garden spider that I had made previously out of an old
Singer sewing machine body that my good friend, sculptress Ana Howard, who
appreciates creepy old things, had given to me.
The sewing machine constitutes the thorax of the spider, and
to this I attached 8 gangly legs from racing bicycle tires, as well as a face,
fashioned from innertube, and some brass snaps, to match the ornamentaion of
the machine.
I have used a tire sphere for the abdomen, but have also
contemplated ‘spinnin’ up something a little more substantial.
If you live in Siler City, you might have seen this gal
hanging under the landing of the stairs up to my studio, guarding my bicycle,
or crouched up in a corner of one of the windows of the old Belk building on
Chatham Ave., which the current owners of Budd Tire generously let me use to
display sculpture. (I have him positioned up in the corner, to give passerby a
scare).
I thought Orb weaver would be a perfect addition to the sort
of creepy, haunted houseness of Hermitage, and I thought that I had found a
perfect knave near the entry, for him to wait in.
However, when it came time to install, I was not able to
find a sufficient way to mount her with out drilling into the wood or brick of
outbuilding it was nestled against.
However, Jolima, the Columbian Gardener, had another,
brilliant suggestion..
Under the trellis of the Rose Garden!...She pointed out that
with all of the clematis vines growing around it, it would be a very natural
setting to place it in.
It also occurred to me that this beautiful rose garden, with
its soft textures of petals and leaves, would be a fine setting for this
spider, who would cut a sharp silhouette, with its black creeping legs (I plan
to redo them in black for Halloween), position in the rear entry way to the
garden.
There was still the trick for this one of suspending it, as
the cas-iron sewing machine weighs probably 25 pounds alone. Fortunately, the
trellis lent itself very well to this task, with a choice of several beams running perbendicular to
one another to hang it from.
Also, the doorway made by the brick columns on either side,
and the wooden beam running across the top, provided at least the potential for
a place for a ‘spider’ to build its web….
To hang the spider, I had to go searching for some good
strapping, and a carabeaner.
I had seen an army surplus store our on Military Highway
(Norfolk is a Naval Port).
While the gal there didn’t know what I was talking about
when I asked for strapping (I think she thought it was kinda kinky), I did find
many different kinds there, finally settling on some kind of back pack harness
thing that I reappropriated for my spider sling.
I also got a carobiner.
The idea was for the staff to be able to take the thing down if someone wanted to have her wedding photos taken in the rose garden (I still can’t understand why they wouldn’t want to have my tire-spider in their wedding photos…)
THE WEB
The web had to wait until the end. I had to save it, because
I had so much to do, and I felt like the spider could stand on its own if it
needed to. I also had never built a spider’s web, though I have dreamed of it
for sometime now, though albeit, on a smaller scale…
Fortunately, I was able to squeeze it in at the very end, in
the days right before the opening, and fortunately, though I was making it up
as I went along, it rolled out pretty smoothly, giving me the rush I needed to
go back and forth, from the rose garden to the studio, back to the hardware
store, etc…collecting supplies, and pulling things together…
For the web, I used some of the bamboo that my good friend Barbara, a gardener there, had brought me, from her neighbor’s yard.
With this, I made a rectangular frame, which I strapped to the iron trellis supports, bolted to the brick columns. For fastening these, I fashioned some pretty descent tethers from some bungy cord hooks that I found at the hardware store, and of course, my favorite accomplice of bondage, bicycle tire innertubes. I have to say, I was pretty proud of these.
Once I had gotten this frame in place, where I wanted it, (which was as out of site as possible), I began to attach long strands of ball-chain, across the form, up/down, across, and diagonally, using zipties to attach it to the bamboo frame.
I made sure to leave some
Extra at the ends, as I knew that adjustments would need to
come at the end.
Once I had these more or less where I thought that I wanted
them, I took the plunge, and clipped them in the middle, attaching them instead
to a key ring for the center.
Then I took a thinner guage of ballchain, and ran around the
web, for the lateral struts.
I used the thinner guage for two reasons. One, ballchain is
really expensive when purchasing it through a hardware store. Fortunately, the
owner was willing to cut me a little bit of a break on a large quantity, which
I was very grateful for. However, his wife was not so generous or
understanding, and I lost the discount when I found her at the register).
So I had to finish out my order with the cheaper stuff.
Secondly, spiders actually use a thinner guage strand for these lateral rungs,
so it kind of worked out!
SPIDER VISITATION
Ironically, I ran into Garden Spiders twice during my time
in Norfolk, once behind the Greyhound bus station, when I went to take a leak,
dropping off the RV.
And the second during the time that I was installing the show (after the spider, before the web).
And the second during the time that I was installing the show (after the spider, before the web).
The spider was actually on the front door of the museum, and
seemed to be attempting to build his web there. I could only surmise that he
was trying to capture one of those cute museum staffers, and while his efforts
seemed in vain, I really couldn’t blame him for trying.
What was pretty effective though, was the way he wiggled his
butt every time he wanted to put down a dab of webbing. I don’t know how that
helps, but I thought, if it works for him, maybe it will work for me….needless
to say, I didn’t catch any cute museum stafflings either.
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Spider Creeper |
