SUN WEATHERVANE

 

This Sun and Moon Weathervane with Shooting Star is the result of a collaboration between one of our favorite customers and West Coast Weather Vanes. This customer, who lives in Florida, has also ordered a number of other weathervanes from us, including a Kingfisher weathervane, two Large Mouth Bass weather vanes, an Alligator Chasing a Fish weathervane and a Box Turtle weathervane. It is always a pleasure to hear from her because she always has interesting ideas she wants to explore via the medium of the weathervane. Her original concept had small stars attached to the rays of the sun and a star for the fletching (tail end) of the arrow. We went back and forth a number of times as the project evolved. What you see here is the final iteration.

 

We used copper in combination with gold leaf and palladium leaf to convey a star, the sun, the moon and a shooting star or comet all within the single weathervane. The copper rays extending out from the main body look very striking against a clear sky background. As with all our weathervanes, this vane can be made in all copper, copper and brass or with optional gold or palladium leafing.

 

The sunburst image used in this weather vane is based on a design or figure commonly used in architectural ornaments and design patterns. It consists of rays or "beams" radiating out from a central disk in the manner of sunbeams. Sometimes part of a sunburst, a semicircular or semi-elliptical shape, is used. Traditional sunburst motifs usually show the rays narrowing as they get further from the centre; from the later 19th century they often get wider, as in the Japanese Rising Sun Flag, which is more appropriate in optical terms.

 

In architecture, the sunburst it is often used in window designs, including fanlights and rose windows, as well as in decorative motifs. The sunburst motif is characteristic of Baroque church metalwork, especially monstrances and votive crowns, and Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles as well as church architecture. A sunburst is frequently used in emblems and military decorations.

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System. It is in synchronous rotation with Earth, always showing the same face; the near side is marked with dark volcanic maria among the bright ancient crustal highlands and prominent impact craters. It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun, although its surface is actually very dark, with a similar reflectance to coal. Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases, have since ancient times made the Moon an important cultural influence on language, calendars, art and mythology. The Moon's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides and the minute lengthening of the day. The Moon's current orbital distance, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth, causes it to appear almost the same size in the sky as the Sun, allowing it to cover the Sun nearly precisely in total solar eclipses.