u/eosvector

This is my contemporary artistic interpretation of a Mexica/Mesoamerican Macuahuitl. It isn't intended to be an historically accurate reconstruction.

I wanted to combine the form of this fascinating historical weapon with my own practice as a mosaic artist. The body is made from 100 year old reclaimed British beech.

I routed recesses into both faces of the wood and created a completely different ceramic mosaic on each side. Every tessera was cut and shaped by hand and both mosaics were finished with black grout.

One face uses a more geometric turquoise, white and yellow design. The other uses more organic forms and imagery inspired by Mesoamerican art, particularly the visual language associated with Mexica/Aztec imagery.

The black elements along the edges are vitreous glass, while the handle is wrapped in leather with decorative cord and painted feathers.

I deliberately wanted this to sit somewhere between historical object, sculpture and contemporary mosaic rather than try to reproduce an original Macuahuitl.

I'd be interested to hear what people with a better knowledge of Mesoamerican art and material culture think of the designs and the way I've approached the piece. Thanks for looking.

The body is made from reclaimed British beech wood, I believe the timber is over 100 years old.

I routed a 6 mm recess into both faces of the wood and built a separate mosaic into each one. The tesserae are ceramic tile, all cut and shaped by hand, and I used black grout throughout.

I deliberately made the two faces completely different. One uses a turquoise, white and yellow geometric design, while the other is based around more organic jungle forms and motifs inspired by Aztec/Mexica imagery.

The black vitreous glass along the edges are set into a separate routed channel and set in tinted black epoxy resin.

The wood came from the shelving of an old British military base library that was being decommissioned. I believe it's British beech and over a hundred years old. The shelves had spent their life holding books about war, weapons and history, so I liked the idea of giving the timber a rather appropriate second life.

This is made with wood I salvaged from an old British military base library that was being decommissioned. It's British Beech I believe and over a hundred years old. It used to be shelving in the library which held books about war, weapons and history. I liked the irony that I've now transformed it into an artistic interpretation of a historical weapon.

I cut and shaped the wood with the bandsaw, routed 6mm deep into both faces to accept a mosaic made of ceramic tile and routed another 6mm channel along the edges to accept the black vitreous glass blades. Each face has a different design, one side has a Turquoise geometric style, the other a jungle style with an attempt at an Aztec glyph design inspired by actual relics of the time. The ceramic tile tesserae were cut and shaped by hand. I opted for a hard wax oil to finish the wood. I leather wrapped the pommel and added decorative rope and sprayed feathers for effect.

I wanted it to sit somewhere between woodworking, mosaic art and sculpture rather than be a museum-accurate reproduction. Thanks for looking.

16 Longi LR7-54HVB-480M. East (8) West (8) Split, 7.68kwp, 8Kw Sig Inv, x1 BAT.10. Gateway SPF. DNO Export limited to 3.68kw. Gtr Manchester. No EV, no HP.

Very pleased so far. 40KWh in one day is very nice. Battery full by 08:30. Exported a shed load.

I love how the two arrays blended together in their generation for a solid 3 hours between 11:40 and 14:40. Interesting also that even with no shade, the west array didn't quite hit the heady heights of the morning production. Any thoughts on these numbers?

Also let's see your Day 1's.