Adjustments to The Starcross Mermaid sculpture

 Strong winds, in our spot by the lighthouse on Teignmouth seafront, tangled up our mermaid's braids, and some of the carousel horses were a bit wonky. Our mermaid's tailfins were skew-whiff, and her tail needed a few more sparkly silver milkbottle seals (scales). All is fixed for now, but thunder is rumbling around. 

Wind-tangled Mermaid's Braids

Wind-twisted tailfin

Tailfins realigned
All the milkbottle seals used up

Black and yellow tape
plaited save a couple
left to blow in the wind

Wonky Carousel Horse fixed

Another Wonky Carousel Horse fixed

The Starcross Mermaid is on the Teignmouth Seafront

 

The Starcross Mermaid
 on Teignmouth Seafront

The Starcross Mermaid
on Teignmouth seafront

The Starcross Mermaid's
Fabulous Hair

The Starcross Mermaid
has 6 carousel horses

The information sign near
The Starcross Mermaid

The Plastic Carousel
poem on display near
The Starcross Mermaid
and her 6 carousel horses

Workshops at Starcross Primary School

 

Carousel horse with his new mane and tail
in the playground at Starcross Primary School

Lorralorra Mermaid's Braids
in the Starcross Primary School
playground

There's little downtime for schoolchildren at the end of this summer term. The Covid19 lockdowns, with home education, has meant that some children have done well, but others haven't. There's lots of catch-up to do, with no extra time to do it.

The Starcross History Society, and Starcross Primary School, believe that children need to be aware of history, particularly of of the place where they live. To understand about the past in Starcross gives the children identity. That's why the children have been involved with the Starcross History Society's entries on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape Sculpture Trail

This year's entry, "The Starcross Mermaid", combines 2 pieces of Starcross history, and the elements are pulled together with a poem about plastic pollution, titled The Plastic Carousel. The poem, written on 'slate',  will be displayed amongst the plastic carousel horses. You can read tales of The Starcross Mermaid HERE. When a fairground used to come to Starcross, there was a carousel with gallopers. 

This year, there has been no classroom time at all available to give our workshops for the children to make parts of the sculpture. Nevertheless, the school still found a way to accommodate us. We went into the playground during the lunch break. (We all took lateral flow tests every morning) The children have their lunch breaks within their bubbles, and are not allowed to mix with the other bubbles. A rope across the playground separated the bubbles, and we gave workshops either side. 

Of course, it wasn't lesson time so the children didn't have to take part. BUT THEY DID. We made a lorralorra plaits for The Starcross Mermaid, 3 manes and 3 tails for the carousel horses.

Well done Starcross Primary School

More silver milk bottle seals please

 We need more of the silver plastic seals please, from plastic milk bottles. These will make The Starcross Mermaid's tail's scales. Many thanks to everyone who has already collected some... but our Mermaid's tail is quite big.

Silver seals from plastic milk bottles
left on the fence at Myrtle Cottage

The silver seals
from plastic milk bottles

Workshops start next week at the Starcross Primary School to make The Starcross Mermaid's braids; and manes and tails for the carousel horses.

One of 6 carousel horses

This year's entry on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail will feature a mermaid in the centre of a carousel of gallopers. The mermaid connection with Starcross is illustrated by 3 Fishy Tales on this link. 

The carousel connection is that there used to be a steam-driven carousel which visited Starcross every year. A more abstract connection is the theme of the never-ending plastics which leak into the environment via rubbish in our rivers and oceans; become microplastic;  are reabsorbed by plants; which are eaten by animals; which are eaten by humans. The Plastic Carousel is a poem about this by  Monica Lang

Progress on The Starcross Mermaid

Many thanks to Claire Johns for the bag of netting and shinystuff  for scales, the old babybath to chop up for the mermaid build, and...

 for the 6 wonderful pairs of Mermaids' Braids. The braids are pictured on one of the 6 carousel horses, which will gallop around The Starcross Mermaid on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape Sculpture Trail which starts this July.

Everyone is welcome to see the build of the sculpture, which is behind the gate at Myrtle Cottage. We still need materials. Please see the previous post for details.

The Starcross Mermaid

The Starcross Mermaid only has one Mermaid Braid

The Starcross Mermaid's tail will be covered in silver scales
The build of The Starcross History Society's entry on this year's Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape Sculpture Trail is under way behind the gate of Myrtle Cottage. The recyled materials we still need. please, are:

• Some more curved plastic to build her body. We have chopped up a broken garden chair for her arms and shoulders, but we need more organic-looking plastic ie curved, to build the rest of her body
• Lots more netting to make more Mermaid's Braids: used garden netting, scaffolding netting, net bags from your shopping that contained oranges, Baby Belle cheeses, tomatoes etc.  We will use everything. The Starcross Mermaid now has just one braid. We will hold workshops at Starcross Primary School to make loads more.
• Lots and lots of the white & silver plastic seals from plastic milk bottles, fruit drink cartons and some yoghurt-sized pots. These are to make the scales on her fishnet tail.

The silver and white plastic seals from plastic milk bottles

Please bring the materials to Myrtle Cottage. Contact  starcross.history@gmail.com if you're not sure if we could use your curved plastic, or if you need directions.

Thankyou

Monica Lang

Onwards

A meeting of interested parties discussed:

• The need to start recording oral histories. The Dawlish talking newspaper, Hear and Now,  based in the community centre in The Strand Church, Dawlish, offered use of their recording studio. We need a volunteer to expedite this ASAP or the precious memories will be lost
• Perhaps Starcross Primary School hall would be the ideal place to meet
• There was no follow up to the successful Unearth project
• Monica has a project to recreate the Galloper carousel which used to visit Starcross
• Another project is to reproduce the eel trap which was on the end of Starcross pier during World War 2.
• Malcolm Fairweather is kindly making a child's rocker in the form of The Swan of the Exe, and designing a one twelfth scale model of The Swan of the Exe
• It has not yet been possible to get cheques signed to Starcross Primary School and Starcross preschool for £50 each, this being last year's prize money for Kattanga the War Horse on the 2018 Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail. The school and preschool have merged so one cheque for £100 is now required. It could perhaps be stipulated that the preschool could choose how to spend £50.
• Monica has 3 people who have agreed to speak at a meeting.
• The next meeting should be the AGM so that a new committee can be elected. The main part of that meeting will be a speaker. The committee election need not take up much time. Quorum for this is 6
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Retirement and First Prize

Kattanga in his retirement home

Oz Octopus in Holcombe Community Orchard

Kattanga is proud of his First Prize Trophy

Kattanga the War Horse and Oz Octopus have retired to the Holcombe Community Orchard. Many thanks to Neil Howell. The sculptures were voted the best in this year's Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail. The prize money of £100 will be shared with Starcross Pre-school and Starcross Primary School

The beautiful, mechanical trophy, made by Julia Vella is recycled from materials which include a bobbin, a map and a fishing weight

Voted the Best: TRAIL 2018

More about Holcombe Community Orchard
On Sunday, October 24th, it's the Beating of the Bounds around Holcombe, which will be followed by Apple Day in Holcombe Community Orchard. This is a public event, so please go along and reacquaint with Kattanga and Oz.

Kattanga is on Teignmouth seafront

Kattanga the War Horse watches the galloping pollution of the 5 gyres from his brilliant position at the Eastcliff end of the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail. As the Number 2 bus drives towards Teignmouth Pavilions, Kattanga, with Oz Octopus and a purple crab, are to your left.

Kattanga the War Horse watches the galloping pollution of the 5 gyres

If you're in Teignmouth this summer, please vote for Kattanga
Cheers

Kattanga the War Horse is ready2go

Kattanga the War Horse

Kattanga the War Horse waits to be installed on Teignmouth sea front

Starcross Preschool make Fantastic Sea Creatures

Starcross Preschool this morning made 2 sea creatures from 2 lifebelt holders which had been dumped in the sea. Teignbridge District Council resorts office kindly let us have these pieces of beach debris.

The children are aware that lifesaving equipment is vital and they were disgusted when shown that it gets vandalised like this. The imagination of these 2 to 4 year-old was fantastic! They designed an octopus and a phantasmagorical plastic-eating crab. The lifebelt holders need to be drilled now so that their sculptures can be secured with cable-ties. Starcross Preschool will bring the creatures to Teignmouth seafront on July 18th which is the INSTALLATION DATE for this sculpture on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail

The preschool also fixed more CDs to more blue scaffolding net to create more ocean for the whole sculpture which is called 

Kattanga the War Horse Watches the Galloping Pollution of the Oceans

The 2 lifebelt holders with other beach debris

Thankyou Teignbridge Resorts

Look what a colourful collection we have of plastic sea debris: a big blue trawlernet, 2 lifebuoy holders, a giant buoy and some beach brollies.
Many thanks to Teignbridge Resorts department. Kattanga, our War Horse, will be able to watch the galloping pollution of the oceans when this lot is secured in place around him.
The resorts staff work hard all the time to collect all plastic debris and so prevent it from polluting the sea. It can be waste from the resorts' businesses, or waste from the public wastebins. Sometimes, plastic waste is collected from the beach and often, plastic waste is retrieved from the sea. It's a sad fact that lots of plastic waste similar to this will continue to find its way into the oceans.

Disguarded beach brollies

 Colourful plastic becomes colourful waste which will make our sculpture eye-catching

2 lifebelt holders, a buoy and a trawlernet

How many heavy plastic buoys break loose every day all over the world? How many of them float around the oceans? When they fill with water, they sink to the bottom. The 5 visible rafts of plastic in the 5 great oceans are only a fraction of what lies hidden out there.

Buoy and lifebelt holders

The resorts staff explained that lifebelt holders like these are commonly found in the sea.
This begs the questions:

• Who would destroy a lifebelt station? 
• Who would deliberately break lifesaving equipment. 
• What is their motive? 
• Do they want people to drown tragically? 
• Are they always so drunk that they don't understand what they are doing? 

lorralorra blue trawlernet

Lost fishing gear, such as our trawlernet made from nylon fibre, are a permanent, vast and deadly feature of the oceans today. The usual size of a trawlernet is the size of a football pitch, and as high as a house.
This diagram of a pelagic trawl from Greenpeace demonstrates the method

Oceans, Tentacles and Kattanga's Tail

The children of Starcross Primary School worked very enthusiastically all day today and completed the oceans, lots of  Sid Squid and Oz Octopus's tentacles and Kattanga (the coathanger horse)'s tail.
The sculpture Kattanga the coathanger horse watches the galloping pollution of the 5 oceans will go on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail in July

Oceans, Tentacles and Kattanga's Tail

The children think that Kattanga resembles Joey; Michael Morpurgo's War Horse. The stage production of War Horse comes to Plymouth from August 29th to September 15th

Scuplture Workshops in Starcross Primary School

Further workshops will be held in Starcross Primary School, for this year's entry on the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail
The children will make:

• tentacles

 for Oz Octopus and the Sid Squids

Oz Octopus, a bit of trawler net and a purple crab

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2 Sid Squids

• the oceans from blue scaffolding netting and CDs

• A beautiful tail for Kattanga; the coathanger horse

 Here's the latest picture of Kattanga (with Jackson the Great Dane). Kattanga will watch the galloping pollution of the 5 Gyres. Many thanks to Lara's; the women's clothing shop in Teignmouth; for enough coathangers to now sculpt Kattanga's Shaun-the-Sheep legs. 

Kattanga awaits his beautiful tail and smartlegs

Mosaic and TRAIL exhibit workshops at Starcross Primary School

After the summer half-term, artists from Starcross History will visit Starcross Primary School and work with the children to complete a mosaic which has been designed by Stanley Beck from Year 1. Stanley won the competition to design it. It's a beautiful rainbow and a sun, with the words Welcome to Our School

• The artists will also work with the children to add a tail to this year's exhibit on the Teignmouth Recyled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail which is  Kattanga; the Coathanger Horse. AND they'll create sea from old scaffolding netting and CDs,  and monstrous plastic monsters from beach flotsam; so that Kattanga can gaze at the GALLOPING pollution of the 5 oceans... which are?

• Atlantic Ocean.
• Arctic Ocean.
• Indian Ocean.
• Pacific Ocean.
• Southern Ocean

7 continents and 5 oceans from countries-ofthe-world.com

Some of the flotsam  to make the monsters will be collected at the Teignmouth Beach Clean on Sunday May 27th. Meet at the lighthouse, at 11:30am. The clean will last for an hour. Anyone is very welcome to come along. Please.

Meet at the point lighthouse 11:30am. Sunday May 27th

Here's a photo of Kattanga-in-progress. We've run out of black coathangers..

 

Found some more black coathangers - but not enough yet. Kattanga's repositioned tail is up! Hooray. The children at Starcross school will make it spectacular with loadsa video&cassettetapes.

Kattanga Part 4. more BLACK PLASTIC please

Kattanga in the morning mist

A trip to the Devon County Council recycling depot on Marsh Barton found BLACK PLASTIC treasure: broken: garden chairs, office furniture, vacuum cleanerbits, plantpots and a few Unidentified Objects. Kattanga now has curves. A dismantled vacuum-cleaner brush on top of his neck supports a curved pipe; so his neck gracefully arches. His underbelly is being infilled with exciting shapes. His neck is a lattice of black plastic, which suggests the lines of his mane.
Perhaps the coathangers hung from Kattanga's neck detract from his silhouette? On the Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail, a meaningful silhouette would be striking. So maybe no more plastic is needed here - the hanging coathangers could be moved to his tail.
To fill Kattanga's legs and body, we need MORE BLACK PLASTIC PLEASE; any BLACK PLASTIC, especially curved or latticed pieces, and cassette/video tape. Black wire would be good too. But coathangers with their wonderful curves and their adaptability to shape would be the best; if you have any to spare.
Please comment below, or telephone, if you can help with material for Kattanga the Coathanger Horse
Cheers
Monica Lang 01626 890650

Kattanga Part 3

Kattanga the coathanger horse

Kattanga the coathanger horse is taking shape. The brief for Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape requires that sculptures be fastened down with metal-spiked posts, so these will go inside the hollow legs - which are made from old fishing-rod containers. 80% of the sculptures must be from recycled materials.
Now that the frame is up, coathangers and other bits of black plastic will be added to fill in the detail and give Kattanga some movement. The children from Starcross Primary School will make Kattanga's tail from video and cassette tapes. He will wear armour, made from blue scaffolding netting covered in silver CDs. Tapes and CDs; Kattanga will be a very musical horse.

Kattanga part 2

There's more movement in Kattanga than there is in Jackson the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Great Dane

Jackson the black Great Dane with Kattanga, the black horse

Kattanga will be one of the sculptures on this year's Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape sculpture trail
Kattanga owes his form to the diagram Skeleton of Horse in Back's Veterinary Dictionary (pub 1928 11th edition 1975. A & C Black Ltd)
This is the first layout of coathangers. The scale is set at 2 coathangerlengths to each leg. To get depth, perhaps a cylindrical bucket can be used for the ribcage and maybe different sized pipes for the neck and legs. Dustbin lids might help with Kattanga's bum... Many thanks to Claire who brought one round this morning; along with a few other black plastic bits.
Kattanga will be about the size of a small pony. The addition of his mane and tail will give him a fun, Thelwell aspect. The mane and tail are to be plaited from video and casette tapes - with the help of the children from Starcross Primary School.

Kattanga

Work is progressing on the horse for this year's Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape but more black plastic is needed.
The method to fuse the plastic together seems to have worked because the pictured head has lasted a few weeks:
Take a glue gun to put the bits in place. Use a soldering iron to melt the plastic components where they touch, and fuse together.  It's a very stinky process - the fumes smell toxic. The sculpture must be sturdy enough to last outside on Teignmouth seafront for the summer.

Kattanga is his name... d'you like that? His eye is a British Telecom phone base, and his nose is a piece of a car (which was found in Church Road, Cofton) and the rest of his head is coathangers. This is the start; just one side of his head. More coathangers and plastic bits will make Kattanga's head sturdy - or maybe leave him as he is and do another one for TRAIL?

Kattanga's head

His base will be a metal frame. His mane main component will be black plastic coathangers. Their curved shapes are very graceful.  The children from Starcross Primary School will plait his main mane and tail from casette and video tape. When all this junk is together, Kattanga promises to be a beautiful addition to this year's Teignmouth sculpture trail.

 So we please need:

• BLACK PLASTIC - nothing that can normally be recycled, but garden tools, buckets, wheelbarrows and manely mainly BLACK PLASTIC COATHANGERS.

• VIDEO AND CASSETTE TAPES. I'll take them to pieces to use the tape to plait the main mane and tail. 

I've contacted the world-acclaimed Newton Abbot artist Heather Jansch, who agreed straightaway to advise. That's so wonderful - take a look at her gentle horses on her website. She makes them out of driftwood, and then casts them in bronze. Look at the expressions and the movement she achieves!

The young Arabian bronze edition of 5 for sale check availability

Cantare life-size horse bronze edition of 5

I hope I can get some movement in the plastic sculpture - maybe cheat a little bit, and leave some of the plastic tape to blow in the wind?

Please get in touch if you can help with this project.

Cheers

Monica Lang

AGM

At the AGM on Wednesday, March 14th, Monica Lang stepped down as chair. Jane Lee was elected as the new chair. Barbara Rich was re-elected as the treasurer. Monica Lang will continue to maintain this weblog, and also to be the arts/projects manager.
Jane set the date for the next meet of Starcross History; Wednesday, 16th May at 7:30pm in St Paul's Church. The group will examine ways forward with the Villages in Action material collected about Starcross' history.

Joanne Bickel and Alma Harding lead a mosaic workshop. Alma started her mosaic of the Westbank logo; using bottletops as the tessarae. Joanne brought some butterflies cut from wood and showed everyone how to affix broken tiles using waterproof tile grout. The forge mosaic was grouted.
Ideas were discussed for the Starcross History entry to this year's Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape. The entry will include the mosaic of the forge, and a life-size horse, sculptured from scrap plastic. The children from Starcross Primary School will help with the TRAIL project, AND work on designs for another mosaic for the school.