Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Owen Morris puts together a garden lamp.METAL SCRAPS rescued from rubbish heaps, piles of dirt, old zinc and power lines, and strips of aluminium and wood, may be garbage to most, but for the brothers Owen and Leroy this swell of waste is gold.
For nearly two years the brothers, artisans of metal tables, railings, benches and chairs, have been digging in the dirt to hammer out intricately designed items.
Their aluminium chairs and gleaming wooden park benches are so poetically styled, they've forced motorists travelling between Linstead and Ewarton to screech to a halt. The roadside, on the main just before the mining town of Ewarton, St. Catherine, has been their storefront, showcasing everything from balcony railings to gigantic garden lamps.
Behind this the land falls sharply away to a gully in which a large, shack -- the "factory" for Brothers Crafts and Arts Limited -- sits. This is where 35-year-old Owen Morris and his brother 28-year-old Leroy Miller, have been fashioning their own tools and crafting traffic-stopping pieces.
The high-ceiling shed is crowded with piles of what appear to be dirt. However, it's actually moulding sand brought in from Vere, Clarendon. The first hint of its true nature are the pieces of aluminium, as shiny as ingots of gold, lumped into the sand. Molten metal poured into the sand will become tabletops and sides in whimsical designs.
Everything else in the working space, from the scrap aluminium in the outer yard to the gas oil-fed kiln, old power lines, zinc and aluminium containers picked out of rubbish heaps, go into the making of their tools.
"People ask, what are you doing with this garbage. But, this is gold to us," Leroy laughs.
Two years ago the brothers hung out their shingle, putting aluminium to melt in their own iron and brick kiln October 24, 2000. However, the art of crafting metal has been in the family for much longer. Owen says his father, Ewart, taught him how to beat aluminium into art. He spent most of the previous 15 years perfecting the skill in his father's Ocho Rios, St. Ann, and factory.
To satisfy our curiosity the brothers bring out the moulds and moulding sand and a "rammer" is brought into play. We are shown the process by which the aluminium is shaped from the stage of molten metal to its final cold beauty.
"Dirt is the start of it all. No matter how beautiful it is. The sand gives the metal a smooth texture," Owen explains. After the moulding is done to their satisfaction, there is more to be done. This includes filing and finishing. The duo say they prefer to use automotive finishes on the metal. "It gives a more perfect finish than the oil paint. It is also more weather resistant," Leroy explains.
After the demonstration, we examine an eight-foot high park light, which may one day adorn the garden of some hotel. The aluminium, non-rust, is good for the seaside. For that reason, the brothers have marked out a niche market in resort properties.
They say that a chair set may take as few as three days to produce, depending on the size. If the customer requests a new design, the process usually takes longer because moulds have to be constructed.
It's worth the wait. The items are delivered with a lifetime guarantee. It will require more than one man's lifetime to destroy the works of art, the brothers boast.
The two say they are looking forward to the day when they will get contracts from furniture stores and hotels. Their only limitation, they say, is labour. They have attempted to teach others the art of aluminium moulding, but few have expressed interest.
"All they want is money. They do not realise that they have to have a skill first," complains Leroy. "Even stonework which is so beautiful,
the older men who are doing it are dying out."
The challenges are many, but each day, in the moment when the metal melts and the artistic process begins again, all is pushed aside. Now, the artists think of nothing but the perfect metal, which must emerge from moulds of long suffering sand.
