Gearing Down to the Details

This challenge really excited me. The details are of an old gear I found many years ago in a pile of junk at the old tractor shed across the road from where I grew up. It has been a part of my panache decor ever since I sandblasted it and gave it a good clear overcoat.

I used it for many years as a candle holder. In the picture below, not only can you see shadow and line details, you can see the details of candlewax and dust!

I don't know why I am attracted to these kinds of things. I have a disk spacer that I use as a candleholder, an old equipment spring that is about 12" tall and 5" diameter....and an old plow piece that is about 2' long with the plow and broken arm. I display them in my home and at work. I also have a sliced section of a tree that I use as a wall hanging. It is an osage orange (horse apple) so the bark is knotty. It is about 2 inches thick and about 2.5' across.

Then

I

collect rocks - yes, rocks! Since

I

was a little girl, I have collected rocks with holes in them. I have lots of petrified wood, rocks with fossils, and rocks from places I have visited. I find most of them. Have only bought two and some people have given me rocks....but for some

reason the ones I find and decide to keep are more special. One of the most special rocks I have is a piece of coal from an Alabama mine where my grandfather and great grand father worked. I also have a rock that is my Papaw's spirt rock. He used it to prop open a door in his bedroom. He died in the bedroom and the first thing I did when I got there for the funeral was get that rock. I rub it every now and then when I think of him. And then I have some fossils as well......my sister picked up boyfriends and I picked up rocks....I was/am a strange girl!!! LOL.