Whisk Flower

When I start a new flower, there’s always one part that jumps off my bench as being foundational. Like the first piece of a puzzle, something stands out as being recognizable as part of a form that I couldn’t have seen otherwise. Here, I was given a broken whisk and knew it was flower petals; a jeep engine valve, an electric motor winding, and a brass knob became a blossom. Once I had the bloom, I welded coffee burrs to a bearing on a motor stator for the base, allowing the flower to spin while anchoring it to the earth. I then grew the stem from cut coffee burrs and joined the two. Most of my flowers stall at this point as I wonder what is needed to fill the space between. The leaves need to be substantial enough to make sense of the shape without overwhelming it. The solution here was to use aircraft ignitors with bicycle brake rotors. Glass plates on each leaf break up composition, and with a little color, the puzzle is complete.