An astrolabe is an ancient device that equates to a handheld model of the universe. (Wikiwand)
It is composed of many parts.
The ‘mater’, or back dish, can be deep enough to hold all of the subsequent flat planes called ‘tympas’ or ‘climates’.
The last ring is called the ‘rete’, which represents the sky.
The ‘rule’ or label rotates over the device.
I started this piece with the idea of using the two rusted lids that I had in my “interesting things” collection, which for me, decided the size of the mater and the first two typmpas….which I created small enough to go inside the concave shape of these.
After creating those, I decided that I didn’t want to use the old rusted pieces for this creation. But I carried on, making the next tympa as large as the inside of the mater.
The rete of course, would be the same size also.
I loved the photo on ‘astolabe-wikiwand’ that showed all of the disks in an exploded format.
Like working-up the 5 disk sections, this was a challenge in itself… (quick note here…except for 43″ piece of copper tubing, I used only materials that I had on hand)…. so I had minimal copper tubing to make the stand parts.
So here it is… I was fascinated by the play of light on this sculpture as I tried… somewhat successfully, I hope, to photograph it…
It took on many colour changes as I tried with sunlight and a spotlight. I also like the shadows it creates.
