The rocking horse I brought home from the street

A little red rocking-horse chair, waiting on the pavement for someone to love it. I posted every step of what happened next in my stories, one caption at a time. This is the whole ride, from the street to the ceiling.

A red child's rocking-horse chair on a patterned rug, with my caption: Brought home from the street — Step 1, the find: Brought home from the street.

Every object has its own potential. If I listen carefully, they tell me what they want to become.

Sometimes, if they are indecisive, I put them in my storage to let them percolate until it becomes clear.

This horse was not indecisive at all. It was red, a bit tired, and it looked at me like it knew exactly what it wanted. I just didn’t know yet. So I carried it home and asked it the question I ask every new object.

I wonder, who or what will you become

First I take everything apart, every screw. Then I clean, and while I clean I think. This is where the object and I get to know each other. I call it bonding, and I mean it. One day the idea just arrives, and I draw the bulbs over the photo so I don’t forget.

The chair taken apart on the workbench, with the caption Disassemble — 2Disassemble!!!

The cleaned rocker and horse head on the bench — 3Cleaning, thinking and bonding.

The horse head under a brass arc, with bulbs laid out beneath, captioned Idea found — 4Idea found!

One of the things I enjoy most in my work is the fact that each object is unique, which makes me invent and seek new technical solutions in the building process.

Metal time, then the first ride

Then the brass. I bend the tube into a big ring for the horse to sit inside, and I hang everything up for a test, to see how it moves and how the light falls. The rockers that once went back and forth on the floor now hold four little lights, and they shine down.