Art Curl and Carol-Ann Fisher

Darcy’s cot

‘Darcy needed a cot and it would have to be extraordinary to suit him. All the sawn timber came from a huge old ironbark across the road that was struck by lightening. The idea began with Darcy sleeping in the heart of an ironbark, so we quartered a branch that fell from the old tree and that became the posts. A small slab for the top of each end with full width tenons for rigidity. Collecting sticks was a wonderful reason to walk in the bush with Darcy. Strong sticks for the rails with large tenons cut using tenon-cutters rescued from a rusty bucket at a farm clearing sale. Finer sticks for the uprights, with 142 round mortise and tenon joints in all. With no flat or square beginnings, we assembled the cot in the air as we went, around the base made from the old ironbark and some recycled floorboards. Cots are wider than doors so the whole thing had to come apart and the turned pegs secure it all when assembled.

‘We wanted to maintain a strong link to the trees in the finished piece. In a sense, we reassembled Nature for Darcy to sleep in and he loves it!’