The Pirate's Lamp

The Pirate's Lamp is another of those one-off whimsical originals that popped into mind one day on the spur of the moment, as I was doing a rough sketch of a face with . . .

- A big nose that looked like it had been broken more than once . . .

- A huge handlebar moustache . . .

- Eyes that were boring downwards . . .

- A mouthful of gritted teeth that look like he should be carrying a dagger in them . . .

Of course pirates also need a big fat earring and a headscarf . . .

Naturally the headscarf ended up becoming the lampshade proper. When I first came across the batik material used for his headscarf, I instantly decided it was the perfect fit. The colors of the scarf then set the tone for the colors of the two sails that flank the pirate's head and pick up colors of his head scarf. At first the lamp may appear black, though it's not. I found a perfect color very similar to a Charleston Green, which (if I remember right) is 10 parts black to 1 part yellow.

And the whole time I was working on this guy, a children's poem that my mother used to recite to me as a child kept running through my head. Interestingly, I had completely forgotten about the poem before I started working on this pirate.

Ho for the pirate Don Dirk of Dowdee

He was as wicked as wicked could be

But Oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see

The pirate Don Dirk of Dowdee

His conscience, of course, was as black as a bat,
But he had a floppety plume on his hat
And when he went walking it jiggled - like that!
The plume of the Pirate Dowdee.

His coat it was handsome and cut with a slash,
And often as ever he twirled his mustache
Deep down in the ocean the mermaids went splash,
Because of Don Durk of Dowdee.

Moreover, Dowdee had a purple tattoo,
And stuck in his belt where he buckled it through
Were a dagger, a dirk, and a squizzamaroo,
For fierce was the Pirate Dowdee.

The most intricate part of the lamp turned out to be the base. I decided the base should be a treasure map, which is easy to draw on paper but a whole lot harder to build out of steel. It took me months to conceive and build. No chance that I'll build a second one!