THE BIRTH OF
“UNA FIORE DELLA STRADA”
BY OONA AND PETER TARJAN
2018
Photography: Oona, age 8
Mechanicals: Peter , age 81
Art director: Oona
Editor: Peter
One day, Oona found a beautiful,
almost brand new hubcap.
She saved it for her Papa Peter,
who has been making
“fiori della strada”
for many years for his friends.
It means flowers of the road,
because all the hubcaps are
“objets trouves” on the road.
Oona and her Papa decided
to document the process to
transform the hubcap into a
hubcap flower.
This is how it went…
Our motto is on our “Brand Label:”
I FIORI DELLA STRADA
21
st
Century Folk Art
REUSE OR RECYCLE!
pptarjan@aol.com
The
photographer’s
selfie while
standing on a
step-stool
Start by
removing the
O-shaped
spring that
kept the
hubcap on
the wheel
Next, the
tabs which
held the
spring had
to go
The “gizmos”
between the
tabs also had to
be removed
The
“stuff”
inside the
future
“petals” is
all gone,
but
appear
rough
The
decorative
hex nuts
must also
go!
The hex
caps are
gone.
Ready for
cutting
The connecting
pieces
of the rim
between the
”petals” need
to be cut out
with a bandsaw
Selfie about
ear
protection
It is a noisy
process,
hence we
wore ear
muffs like
the
workers at
the airport
Oona got a bit
bored and
began to take
more selfies.
The petals
are
liberated
from the
rim, but
they need
to be
manicured
Horror selfies
The tips of
the petals
were
trimmed
with the
bandsaw
Then the
sides of
the petals
were
trimmed
The trimming
is done, now
we’ll grind
the petals’
backsides
More faces of
Oona
We used a
bench-
mounted drill
with a grinding
tip to smooth
the petals’
backside
Ready to
smooth the
next petal’s
backside
Drilling
holes for
the
screws to
hold the
golf balls
and the
bottle
caps
The belt sander is to complete the
manicures for the petals
Smoothing and rounding the petals
The
manicures are
finished; view
from the back
Ready for a
cold bath
with a
metal
sponge
First the back, as it is dirtier
A messy sink…
As clean as can be…
We dry it
like a
baby, but
no talcum
powder..
The back is spray-painted with a primer
The primer has been applied
Spraying primer on the front
Oona, our
Art
Director
chose a
blue color
for the
back
The backside is finished
Our Art Director chose a light green for
the front
It needs
a touch
of
glitter,
she
declared
Here we go with gold glitter!
Oona the
mysterious…
The double
chin was
cosmetically
removed
These vinyl
sprinkler pipes
and metal tubes
were also
“objets trouves,”
cleaned, cut,
drilled, primed
and painted
green on a rack.
One of these
became a stem
for our fiore
The bottle caps in various colors
and sizes are stocked in bins.
The Art Director experimented
with color combinations and gave
her approval:
All the bottle caps need to be drilled
Don’t copy this!
Get a tool to hold the
bottle cap!
Mamma
mia!
Each screw is
inserted from the
back of the hubcap
The pieces
carefully
chosen by the
Art Director
are assembled
on the screw
…and the screw tightened to
hold the pieces together
firmly
The Art Director
specified the five
pieces for the central
element and then
they were assembled
What do
you say
to this?
VOILA!
Una nuova
fiore della
strada
finalmente é
finita!
The Art Director
proudly
shows it off
Our trademark label is attached and
pressed
As Art
Director,
should I
sign off
on this
project?
The partners sign their opus
(The Art Director is a south-paw)
Fiori made of
hubcaps need proper
foundations to
survive and thrive!
This piece of a root
of a tree was left
behind Hurricane
Irma in 2017. Drilling
a hole for new roots
to grow.
One fiore may get lonely. We found a
companion for company
They seem to be
getting along…
But we need to
find a proper
home for them
without direct
sun!
Thank you for
watching our
story!
Nana Susanna
won the silent
auction with
an
unmatchable
offer.
For the moment, the title of our
collective Opus 1 is
“Artificial Nature or Natural
Artifice”