Remember back when I first confessed to a peripatetic approach to art (watercolor/oil/letterpress/photography/on-and-on…)? I didn’t list welding/metal/sculpture on that initial list of semi-pro/wannaby art media dablements, my scattered interests. Who knew?
I did, in my defense, mention that my wife likes cattails, and yard art. A couple months back, while wandering thru a nursery on the other side of our state. we came upon a rusted, very cool metal yard art-thing that was cattails … but alas, not for sale, rather declared to be just a part of the nursery history. Of course, in my unbridled optimism, I declared that to be something I could build for her … no problem.
No problem. 🙂
However, Christmas sprung-forth, and I decided the cattail project to be the perfect gift.
So, off to the steelyard. found some really cool, octagonal rod (stems) and some 1 1/4″ flat iron for the leaves. I already had some beautifully rusted tubes (old brackets) and decided to use old car valves for the tops/top stems (I’m sure there’s an official name for those “top stems” … we continue to learn, right?). [Editors: after a question mark, and a closing parens, is that period correct?] [Editors: brackets vs parens… ?] [Editors: ….. thanks … but, never mind … ]
Anyways (focus), …. then came Production. I’ve done some welding on my little wire welder … works ok (though I’d never, never trust it (my skills) for something structural, like on a trailer or such) … but, I truly need to get some training: my welds are so messy, not the smooth/creamy looking bead created by someone who really knows how to weld. I spend more time cleaning it all up with a grinder afterwards
Ok, here they are. I made three …
And a detail …
A successful gift, she loves them!
otcarts.com 