Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 11:01PM A friend of mine, who commissioned a sculpture last year, was kind enough to send a couple of photos of the artwork. The piece looks right at home nestled among purple coneflowers and other prairie plants of their backyard garden in Kansas.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 10:51PM Lots of anvil work today. It's always a good day when steel meets steel. Here is a photo of my favorite hammer, tongs and anvil. In case you're wondering, that weird looking brick under the horn of the anvil is a cake of beeswax, which I use to finish some steel with.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 04:51PM Today was a warm one inside Fossil Forge. Had the gas forge working and did it ever heat up the shop. Worked on some hand-hammered pieces for a new Bottle Tree Flower. Each piece of steel was stretched out, twisted and hammered. Afterwards, I wire brushed the steel and coated each with beeswax, which will help it withstand the weather. This photo shows the backside of the flower portion of the bottle tree. The five wavy steel pieces were made today.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 10:17PM Yesterday, I was finally able to finish and hang the two garden gates I have been working on. These gates are part of a large fence project that wraps around a patio. Both gates use a cut steel design and a recycled glass sun and moon face. Each is made with round bar for the interior pickets and a square tube frame for strength. The first photo shows the two gates outside after being rubbed down with lacquer thinner to remove grease and other junk. The other photos are detail shots of each.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 10:14PM Need to watch to make sure I don't trip over stuff in the shop this week. Hauled a load of steel (more than 1,000 linear feet) to get ready to make a pool fence. We set the posts over the weekend and next comes the monotonous task of cutting lots and lots of steel pickets. The fence will be pretty simple design, but the gates should have a bit more artistry. Check back for photos of the finished project.
