southwold pier windbreaks

		I thought I'd lost interest in making furniture, but I love the pier. Previously the seats had been unprotected from the wind so they were rarely sat on. Stephen Bourne (the pier owner) decided he wanted to add a windbreak and I thought would be a great addition, so I offered to make it.

		I had the idea of the eel decoration early on but it took a while to sort out their details. I toyed with the idea of casting their heads out of bronze or even casting the complete eels, but after a three week holiday, looking afresh, I decided to try bashing them out of sheet copper (the fins are made from an old lightning conductor in my stores and body from standard 42mm copper plumbing pipe). Compared to casting, sheet metal is much cheaper because its much less material - and I prefer processes where I can change everything until I'm happy with the finished effect (rather than firing or casting stuff when I never quite know the result and there's no going back). The sheet metal parts are joined with a brilliant brazing rod used by refrigeration engineers. Its so easy to use I managed to make everything fit accurately enough to sand the joins down to a seamless fit. Because of their position I thought it was really important they felt smooth and satisfying to hold.

I took this photo the day I installed it. Just a few days later it looked very different. The sea air dulls metals really fast. It will certainly never look like this photo ever again.

I'm still not sure whether to put a green patina on the eels. I'm waiting to see what happens letting them age naturally. I think green would look good, but I'm worried it will rub off their heads where people touch them, leaving them looking a bit odd.

Galvanised steel looks good on the pier. I even had a go at making litter bins and waterproof noticeboards.