Meridian City Hall Project-Done!

It's done!! I almost can't believe we got it finished yesterday :) If you are in Meridian, stop in at City Hall & have a look-the piece looks amazing!! Even after working on it & seeing all the pieces,I'm amazed at how good it looks in place :)

It was a long, stressful day-Kevin & I spent the morning adding the last of the copper to the star piece, as soon as we were done, around 1:30 pm, we loaded everything on the trailer & headed into Meridian. Then, we had lots of helpers to assemble all the pieces & place them on the center-pipe. Thanks so much to everyone who helped!! It was around 5 when we finally raised the completed piece into place...check out the days pics:

All the pieces layed out & ready to go....




Alysa, adding the pin to hold the piece on....

Getting close!

Assembly complete; almost ready to raise it into place :)

Adding the plumb-bob: the finishing touch!

More on the project later...

Amber

"Origin"-Meridian City Hall: Installation Day 1

Pics from install day one....

6:30 am

Thanks to JAG, we had an awesome manlift for the day....it goes way up there...

Alysa

Tony & Kevin up in the air: working on the main support piece for the sculpture

Me & Kevin up in the air; about 28 feet!

Dana & Kevin :)

We got the hoist in today, the support structure & the cable run done; it was a long day, but went very well :P

More to come :P

Amber

Sneak Peekings: City Hall Project!

Check out today's progress; gotta love copper!!


The lense I got from the Reuseam; looks perfect!! Loving the copper & brass--the patina looks great :) More work tomorrow---stay tuned :)

Amber

City Hall Project; getting closer!

My yard & house are full of huge steel pieces right now....we have set up the shade tents in the driveway the last couple days to work on the big pieces: I'm sure the neighbors don't know what to think!! Things are moving along; got almost all the wax sealer & cleanup done on everything....working on adding copper & brass today :)

We did discover a mistake yesterday & had to have some new pieces of copper cut; good thing we are ahead of schedule!!

This is my patio at the moment......

Mounted the glass in the deck prism yesterday; oooooh I can't wait to do the finish treatement on it; it already looks so cool!!

More updates later....got to get to work!

"Origin" Updates-Final Fabrication-Day 3--done!!

Wahoo!! Finished up with the heavy fabrication today :) A few stressful moments, trying to raise the components into position, but we got it done in the end & it looks great: check out the pics from the day....

Jeronimo, the super-welder; making a few last minute welds on the star piece before we mounted it on the pipe...

The star on the jack-stands; we had to jack it up little by little & then tip it to a 25 degree angle to join up with the support arch--this was the stress-full part of the day...

And here are all three pieces, mounted to the pole & in thier final position :)

Looks just like the rendering!!

It was only together for about an hour; then we took everything back down, broke all the pieces into smaller parts & loaded up the trailer :)

Broken down & ready to load; puzzle pieces again!!

Now, I have a patio full of stange looking steel parts :) I'm really happy with the way everything came together; fabrication was fast & relatively easy: besides figuring out how to handle the star piece without damaging it. I think it's going to look amazing in city hall; can't wait to add the finishing touches :)

More updates to come...

Amber

"Origin" Updates-Final Fabrication-Day 2

So close to being finished today!! We probably will have a couple hours tomorrow morning to finish up; do the final test fit & then tear it down to load on the trailer :) Then, everything is coming to my place for the brass & copper, final clean up & wax sealant. :) Check out the pics of the days work:

The 2 bigger pieces; layed out & ready to be mounted on the center-pole. We started with the circular piece in the background....

Jeronimo (with a J) the super-welder; preparing to mount the piece onto the centerpipe...

Heating up the big scale to bend it to the right angle to capture the round piece: all the pieces sit at an angle, so we had to match up the supports.

Here is the first scale-supporting the roundish piece. Jeronimo welding the triangle piece into place.

Cutting the scale to fit.

First two pieces; in place & ready to go!

The star piece; this one is the most complicated, by far--to support & get mounted correctly.

My fav. pic of the day :P

Tomorrow, we will finish up the star; mount it to the pole & do the final test fit. Then, the whole thing will be broken down into manage-able pieces; we designed it to come apart---the pieces all bolt together: they have to fit through the front door of City Hall....

I can't wait to see the copper on it!! That will happen later this week & this weekend.

More pics to come: stay tuned!!

Amber

"Origin" Updates-Final Fabrication

We spent the day at Boise Iron Works today: final fab for the Meridian City Hall sculpture :) They graciously let us take over the back part of the shop to put together the pieces & do a test assembly---our ceilings are not high enough.... Check out the pics:

Laying out all the puzzle pieces....Geronimo; laying down perfect welds :)

Making progress on the compass rose piece.....

Geronimo; the super-welder!

A look at all 3 pieces: tomorrow we will put them on the pole for a final test fit: then take everything apart, take the pieces home, attach copper/brass, wax everything; then off to city Hall next week for installation!! A busy couple of weeks coming up; I'm excited to be making progress on the project :)

More updates to come; for now, I need to take a bath :)

Leafy Sail Sculpture Done :)

Finished it today; finally!! I'm very happy with this one; the sail really does have a nice organic leaf look to it & the metals sparkle in the sun light :)

Updates: garden make-over, new sculpture, etc..

This cute little sculpture has been sitting in the shop for weeks now, just waiting for some TLC :) I finally got to work on it yesterday & am almost done: in the pic, it's just in mock-up stage: afterwards I took the brass, copper, & stainless off & textured them with the grinder; gives a beautiful, dimensional finish, but takes forever! Then, put them all back together again to rivet together & discovered that some of the holes I drilled were too big for a clean rivet tail: I must say, my skills at drilling through 4 layers of thin stuff & having everything line up in the end are lacking....but oh well. New plan; will get some cute little nuts & bolts today to attach everything--I like little bolts anyway--maybe I'll even get some colored washers too... Anyway, then I'll be able to mount the sail thing to the piece & it will be done!! It's a spinner, btw....also notice that my sail has a remarkable resemblance to leaves---I must have gardening on the brain!!



And speaking of gardening; we installed the path last night--made from lovely recycled concrete squares that cost us nothing :) This path is for getting the lawn mower from the shed to the front of the house easily; since I still have some lawn to mow...

And here it is all done; I even transplanted some thyme from the other side garden, to grow between the squares :) Hopefully it will fill in nicely & smell yummy when anyone walks down the path. Next, it's on to planning out my plantings: still a couple weeks to go before I can start planting warm weather seeds anyway...

On the City Hall front: we are scheduled for fabrication & final assembly this week!!! OMG--I'll be welding up the brackets today, meeting with Lex tomorrow morning to plan the build, & then putting it all together on Tues/Wed. Hopefully it will all go relatively smooth--can't wait to see things come together!!! Will take lots of pics & update often....

Amber