Ok, I’m back again.

I’ve been working in the studio but haven’t been blogging about it. So here’s a short recap of the year with a promise to do more in the future.

These are the vertical pieces of a five part trellis.

These horizontal elements go between and above the vertical trellis and were installed beside the client’s house.

Close up detail before painting.

Children’s Garden Gate Final

This is where the gate was painted. The parts moved from the paint booth to the oven on a overhead conveyer.

I assembled all the painted parts together to make sure it worked correctly. The “H” shaped metal below the gate will be buried in the ground to hold the gate up.

I used a post hole digger to make the holes for the gate posts.

The gate had to be held steady while the wet concrete dried. My supervisor came by to make sure I had done my work correctly.

On September 23 2011 there was a dedication for the garden. The students of Lincoln Elementary read poems they had written and sang songs.



Everyone took home a plant to grow and I took home their appreciation for a wonderful garden gate. Thanks everyone!   

Children’s Garden Gate Part 4

This is how the radish was forged. I started with a round piece of steel and I forged the leaf.

After reheating in the forge, I use the fly press to forge the root.

Later on I weld the radish on the gate to a bar that looks like the ground.

Here is some asparagus.

Here is a carrot in one of the posts. There is another vegetable on the gate that is a suprise for you to find.

In the world of iron vegetables it takes six suns to make them grow.

So I forge the heat into the suns.

Here’s one of the suns the gate post above a beet that’s growing there.

Two worms told me they hid this stamped design on the gate. Can you find it?

I thought I was finished with the gate when I took this picture.

But two red worms crawled out of the forge and asked me to add them to the gate.

Here’s one moving in some wet mud. I’m not sure where the other one crawled off to.

While the gate is being painted I clean up the shop. Next week I’ll install the gate in the garden.