MAKING IT UP AS HE GOES
“I had it sitting there for a while and thought, what can I do with it?”
Among the many projects Raetihi sheddie Ray Woodhouse has on the go, the beginnings of a gourmet steam-punk hamburger make a mind-watering statement on his workbench. The burger filling, tucked inside a 300mm high copper shell, features a brass and copper patty, frilly lettuce, mushrooms, olives, bird feathers, brass feet, and other metallic goodies. An LED bulb will light up the filling.
When it’s ready, the burger is destined, on spec, for The Blind Finch gourmet burger bar in Ohakune. Ray also made a copper fireplace surround, brass hooks to hang his menu boards on the wall, the copper drinking-fountain dish, and a Captain Nemo boathook for the burger bar. The boathook is for raising and lowering the shutters over the food counter that also has brass hooks he made to hold them open when food is being served.
Award-winning creations
But the burger is just an appetizer. Ray specializes in strange and fantastical creatures and plant, won the Waimarino Art Awards 2017. He created it from an antique bowling ball made from , one of the hardest woods known, that he found at Trash Palace in Porirua.
