Size: height 36cm; width 22cm, depth 10cm. Materials: electric motor part as base, car parts, lampshade, chandelier parts, metal blind cord, door lock, salvaged wood, workshop scraps. Date: 2018.

Astrid was an attempt to make a sister for Celeste, but I never managed to get the oscillating mechanism working reliably. So I used the armature from an induction motor as the base, nice and heavy and an interesting design without overwhelming the figure.

She is not a copy of Celeste, but the resemblance is certaintly striking. Her arms came from the same chandelier, but the door lock forming her face is a completely different shape, making her look a bit gaunt.
Her hair is from an offcut of old growth oregon that I found in the roof of my shared studio, probably left when it was built in the 1960’s. The growth rings are very close together, indicating that it was grown in a cold climate, likely Canada. Now timber of that quality would be used for fine furniture or boatbuilding. Her legs are foam rubber tubes, not from pipe insulation but from a trouser hanger with a lovely matte texture. I really like the effect. Her shoes are some rusty engine part that I found a bucket of at the scrapyard.

Astrid has a string of pearls (an essential accoutrement for the flapper) that are really a bit of that metal blind cord with lots of little beads on it. The proper name is “bead chain”.

Her eyes are fantastic, and (like Celeste) slightly asymmetric, I have no idea where they came from. I wish I could remember, I’d get some more!

Astrid currently lives on our kitchen windowsill.

Here’s a group shot with her sisters:

Here she is in pieces, poor thing, but she managed to pull herself together. The eagle-eyed will notice that I was using black plastic for her legs, must have been before I got the blue foam.