Getting to grips with the rollers for bending aluminium

I realise that a lot of my work combines found material with elements of the handmade. It is important to me that there is evidence of human manipulation in my own work, some form of transformation that turns found material into something else. 

In the piece with the cardboard shreds and the drainpipe, there is not enough done with the materials for it to satisfy me, and so I am going to try to use another material (which needs some element of manipulation) for the stand.

The aluminium rod is a material that I have never used before and so I am relatively unfamiliar with how it operates and how to achieve the shape I want.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

I begun by drawing on the floor the shape I wanted the base to be, and then every time that a change was made to the aluminium rod, it was positioned over the drawing to see if it fit. This continued until I achieved the desired shape.

I then tried balancing the cardboard shreds on the rod, and bent the aluminium rod so that the form was free standing and held the cardboard upright.