The Shed - Art & Jewellery

In pursuit of perfection

5 August 2025

If David Curry was to be summed up in a single word it would almost certainly be precision. But that’s not enough – it would be absolutely vital to add artistry. Putting them together amounts to a search for perfection, so perhaps that’s the word to use.
Here’s an example: David is at present building a dauntingly complicated perpetual calendar skeleton clock, which has 38 gears, one with 165 teeth, all of which have to be individually machined. Clearly precision is paramount. But the levers and some parts of the frame look a little utilitarian, so he’s redesigning them with a few artistic flourishes. For inspiration he looks to a skeleton clock built in 1855.
“The engineering has to be right so that the parts work properly, but they also have to look right,” he says.
The clock tells the time, has a second hand, notes the day, date and month, and knows whether the month has 30 or 31 days. David is adding a second chiming system so that the half hour, three-quarter hour and quarter hour chimes have different tones from the full hour strike.

Futuristic fabrications

1 May 2025

A sci-fi artist working from a backyard shed in Central Otago is turning stuff no one wants into things that are sought after across the globe.
Sean Boyd uses anything that takes his fancy, from light fittings and plumbing parts to typewriters and old vacuum cleaners, to make futuristic fabrications which include ray guns, life-sized robots, jetpacks and other cosmic curiosities.
“The satisfaction is in finding parts, imagining outcomes and working out how they can fit together,” says Sean, who gets most of his raw materials from the local recycling centre, Central Otago WasteBusters. “I fill the back of the car for about $35. I think I’ve got more waste here than the waste station,” he says, looking round at the piles of paraphernalia in his humble garage in Clyde.

Waka building – Tradition goes hi-tech

4 February 2025

Architect, designer, sailor. Add lateral thinker, enthusiast and passionate Kiwi to the mix and you have the CV of a Christchurch man who has made it his mission to put Maori waka back on the water by marrying traditional knowledge with today’s technology.
Quentin Roake’s goal is to find a way to build waka in numbers, recreating the appearance and characteristics of traditional craft in a modern version that is portable, durable, and economical to manufacture.
“The big question is, how do you translate the traditional form of canoe into modern materials? You can’t cut down a big totara tree every time you want to make a canoe,” he says.
Quentin’s quest for a solution involved consultation with tohunga waka (canoe experts), including Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr and Sir Hekenukumaingaiwi (Hector) Busby, and led to Nga Waka Tangata kaupapa, a collaborative project to develop contemporary forms of waka.

The magic of mud

18 October 2024

Christchurch potter Renate Galetzka draws inspiration for her colourful and quirky pots from her daughter’s stint as a circus trapeze artist and the books of Dr Seuss.
“I want to make people smile,” says Renate, whose pots are fanciful but functional, made to be used not left on the shelf. “I make pots to brighten your day every day.”
German-born Renate met her Kiwi husband, Liam, in the Abel Tasman National Park in the 1980s. “I was on an OE and I’m still on an OE,” she declares, and part of that on-going overseas experience included discovering the art of ceramics. She took hobby classes in Christchurch, followed by “work experience” with one of the grand dames of New Zealand pottery, Frederika Ernsten, looking after her gallery in return for lessons. Renate went on to run and teach pottery at the Risingholme Community Centre.

New life for old stuff

5 July 2024

Broken blades, tired tools, worn washers, grimy gears. These are sorry sights for most sheddies, but for Bruce Derrett they are the treasures of his trade. The Motueka metal artist combines his skill wielding a MIG welder with a highly fertile imagination to turn other people’s junk into quirky creatures, funky furniture, and striking sculptures.
Bruce, who ironically failed metal work at school, has always had an eye for mechanical bits and pieces. “As a kid I was always pulling things apart, like clocks and radios. It used to really frustrate my mum,” he says. Now he puts things back together again, albeit it in a very different form.

Carving out a career

14 February 2024

Shaugn Briggs’ shed is a 6m x 3m pop-up gazebo and heavy-duty groundsheet. And that’s just on a bad day. When the sun is shining, the Christchurch limestone carver works alfresco, with the sky overhead and surrounded by trees and music.
The shedless sheddie’s “workshop” consists of a pile of portable Ryobi benches and an assortment of tools in stackable plastic tubes. When not stored in the single garage at the end of his drive, they are loaded on the trailer he tows around to various working and teaching venues.
Shaugn, who is also an accomplished painter, started his working life, somewhat reluctantly, as a painter and decorator. “The art thing was all I ever wanted to do but there is always that pressure to get a proper job,” he says.

Steely eye

2 August 2023

One glance around Allan O’Loughlin’s garden and it’s clear that this is the home of someone with a vivid imagination and the creative skills to bring it to life.
Allan, a fitter-welder and self-taught sculptor, uses the skills learnt in his trade to create works of art in steel. More than 60 of them are scattered around the 9000 square metre property he shares with his partner, Andrea, in Mandeville, 25km north of Christchurch.
Unlike most artists working in the medium, Allan doesn’t construct his sculptures by bolting or welding solid metal shapes together, but relies on the properties of molten steel to mould and fuse his forms.
His initial frameworks are simple structures made out of wire and builders’ reinforcing rods which he curves into shape using heat and a home-built metal former.

Gold fish

28 January 2023

The shubunkin goldfish is sometimes referred to as “poor man’s koi” and in China the koi carp is often used to represent yin yang. I have drawn the body of the shubunkin goldfish fish to look like one half of the yin yang symbol (see panel). I then added the fins to suggest and give movement to the piece.
Firstly I took a photocopy of my artwork and stuck it to a sheet of 0.5 mm copper plate with double-sided tape. This is to create templates of the body and fins

Build a grandfather clock case

29 June 2022

I had always wanted to build a grandfather clock case and was given the incentive when a client gave me the a modern clock mechanism and a photocopy of a reproduction of an English Tall Case clock to follow. I had to increase the plan dimensions to fit the mechanism, ash wood was chosen and I ended up with 23 metres of approximately 200 x 25mm rough-sawn at an average length of 2.4 metres costing just under $300.
This is not the ideal style of clock case for anything other than an antique clock mechanism. In modern clock mechanisms, the pendulum swing (which should always be tested) needs a straight-waisted trunk style of clock. However, this project has been done to the requirements.

A mechanic turns to clocks

16 March 2022

Ken England has been fixing clocks as a hobby in his Whakatane shed since the 90s.
Repairing a clock is not just a case of pulling it to bits, replacing parts then re-assembling, he tells me. “Everything works in sequence and has to be timed.”
He is a member of the New Zealand Horological Institute but was never a clockmaker by trade. What makes Ken “tick” and has given him the necessary clock-repair skills is the engineering know-how already in his background, a knowledge of how to machine parts, manufacture, and silver-solder.

Making a classic claw setting

25 February 2022

This classic ring is called a six-claw, Tiffany-style single-stone setting and is the simplest of our school’s solitaire-diamond ring designs with a claw setting. The “Tiffany” label comes from the famed American jewellery house which boasted that its diamonds were of such quality that they did not need to place them in fancy settings.
As a design for round gems, this is just about as basic as one can get.

Learn bone carving from the master

23 February 2022

When master bone carver Owen Mapp, CNZM, began carving bone and ivory in the 1960s there were no teachers and no bone carvings being sold commercially, so he had to learn just by doing it.
“I was the first one. There were a few jade carvers but nobody was interested in the materials then and I had the field to myself,” Owen says.
He has developed his practice and passion for the art form over 50-plus years, creating original works that are strongly influenced by Māori history, concepts and design; as well as Scandinavian, Asian, and Japanese netsuke designs, symbolism, and traditions.

Create a sterling silver pendant

23 September 2021

You might well think a charming silver pendant is something best left to a professional, a master craftsman – and not a DIY project for your shed. But that does not mean you can’t make an impressive piece of jewelry, so long as you take a logical and careful approach.

The art of bone carving

28 April 2021

When the meat lovers among us think about carving up Daisy the cow, we’re picturing the Sunday roast but Lilach Paul sees bare white bones: blank canvases to be brought to their full potential beneath her Dremel drill.

Metal with pictures

22 April 2021

The basics of engraving are not too difficult and can be mastered with perseverance. However, as with anything, it takes practice to achieve true dexterity and ability. There is nothing more beautiful, timeless, exacting or lasting than a craftsman’s engraving. The best way to begin is to give it a go.

Art & Jewellery