Antique Tortoise Shell
Floating Tortoise Shell Ornament
This has to have been one of the most unusual builds I have ever had the pleasure to have been involved in. A client asked if it would be possible to mount this to a wall? Given that this tortoise shell is over a 100 years old, I naturally did not want to damage it but drilling, screwing or have any type of mechanical fixing that would impede its beauty and originality.
Having never seen the inside of a tortoise shell, I found out that the spine of the tortoise is attached to the underside of the shell. This led me to designing and crafting small individual clamps that hold the primary frame to the shell. Several coats of GRP laid over the frame added strength, whilst the secondary frame is mounted to the wall, so that the shell simply lowers onto and is held into place without revealing any of the frame once mounted.
The result is a free floating tortoise shell that seems to hang in mid air. The final suggestion that I tried to incorporate was a light behind shell so that it would be illuminated, or back lit. The client kindly refused this idea, but the result is still fantastic.