A new steel railing

Last month, I finished a railing project for a homeowner. The old concrete steps at their house had to be replaced and with it went the original 40-year-old railing. The new railing design was brought up to current code, which means tighter gaps between the pickets and a taller size, but otherwise it mimicked the first design. The railing was fabricated and painted in my shop and installed at the site. The posts are fastened to concrete using expansion bolts. The hand railing along the brick is 8-feet long. The entire rail is solid, welded steel. Here are three shots of the finished railing.

Flower finds a home

Handed off the Bottle Tree Flower today to its new owners. It was rainy, misty morning. The setting for this sculpture to reside in is beautiful. The deck it sits on is surrounded by dense forest, creating a leafy backdrop. Now, imagine this 9-foot Bottle Tree Flower festooned with colorful bottles. At night, the piece will glow from the tiny lights that will be inserted into the bottles. Very nice.

The stalk of a Bottle Tree Flower

Earlier, I showed the top of a Bottle Tree Flower. Here is photo of the stalk. This portion of the sculpture has 20 tines to slip colorful bottles over (which you can see in the background). The base is made from several things, including a very heavy machine bearing. Most of this piece is made from found objects and castoff steel pieces. This sculpture is being delivered tomorrow to its new home.

Hand Gate is aging beautifully

One of the first outdoor projects here at Fossil Gardens, was the construction of the fence and gates. This hand gate is now four years old and has a great patina of rust on it. The hands are from each member of my family.

Bottle Tree Flower almost finished

Attaching the flower to the top of a bottle tree is sometimes a puzzle. This particular top has to spin (sort of) and thus making all the attachments straight and true can be tricky. But, it is now close to being complete. Just need to let the blue glass marbles set overnight in adhesive and it will ready to go.