My Halloween vase; a study in bad welding :) To get the gloopy, melty wax look, I turned up the mig welder all they way---way too hot for good welds; but it looks cool :) Lots of heat & lots of weld; so hot I did the top of the vase just by burning through the steel: the weld is so hot, it melts the metal & it just drips on the floor if you hold it in the same spot: makes lots of sparks when globs fall on the floor... 
Alysa, my husband's almost 15 year old daughter flew in from Spokane for a photo-shoot here in Nampa today. She is just starting out in the modeling world; signed with Urban Talent: see her pics here: http://www.urbantalent.com/ We spent the day with Craig of C. Frame Photography & had a really great time! It was freezing cold & snowing a bit, but got some great shots :)
The first location was Rocky Mountain Steel here in Nampa: one of the places I go to buy steel for special projects...we wanted something industrial, & their huge steel warehouse was perfect; comeplete with the train tracks out back :) 
Check out those shoes :) The train cars were lots of fun :)
After spending a few hours at the steel yard in the freezing cold, we headed across town to the Brass Razoo: my fav. place to shop :) Owner Elise was kind enough to let us take over the shop for a few hours & let Alysa & Annie play dress up. (Annie is also with UT-just starting out) We had a ball looking through all the fun & funky clothes & accessories; it was really more like shopping...I think that was Elise's plan all along, cuz we left the store with a few new things :)
It was a fun day & the preview pics that Craig showed us turned out amazing! Will post some when we get them back. 
Yesterday, we added the final piece to the AGC wall; another set of plaques listing the boards of directors.... All in all, I think the whole thing turned out great :)
Now the wall looks full & finished...
So, for the last month or so I've been canning stuff; extra tomatoes & cukes from the garden, pickled some beets, made a few jams, etc. A few weeks ago, I decided that I need to expand the collection, so after finding a Craigslist add for farm apples, I bought a bunch. Made some sauce, some apple butter, & some apple pie filling out of the 1st batch with pretty good success: loved the way the pie filling looked in jars, & the apples were crisp & delish! Must get more apples, I decided; thinking about holiday gifts: back out to Marsing to get 2 more bushels... For the last week or so, I've been making small batches of apples & canning in the evenings. One night the syrup was too thin; watery in the jars, the next night it was way thick-like caramel thick; had to mix the apples in the syrup & spoon into jars. Took forever, but the jars look pretty. The next night, I learned about why one must mix cornstarch with cold water--not hot...then I learned about over-filling of the jars, under filling of the jars, apple peeler malfunctions, etc etc. 
Finally, I used up every last apple; then it was onto designing cute labels for the jars--of course I can't be satisfied with buying pre-made labels; had to spend hours on photoshop making my own custom labels so the jars look good... Labeled the jars, including all the pickles & everything else I made earlier. The jars all look great, but one small problem: my dining room table is completely covered with jars stacked 3 high....pantry is already full, hmmmmmm...need a cabinet for all this stuff.
The spring is from a train; it's huge & way heavy; been sitting in the garden for a year or so... I just happened to have a lovely concrete saw blade thats the perfect size for the table top; weld to the spring, add a base of plow disk & nifty bolts & whalla! New table :)
New dining room :) Its got a bit of a country vibe right now, not sure about that: but with some more industrial art & accessories I think it'll be ok. Maybe different chairs...hmmmm...
About a week ago, I convinced Husband to drive me out to Marsing to buy fresh picked apples for canning...we stopped in at the Karcher Ranch Market to check it out & OMG: what a discovery!! I always thought it was just the produce under the tent out front: but not so: there is a whole store full of local & organic goodies, canning supplies, old fashion soda pop & candy, & lots more! 
We must have spent an hour at least, wandering about---lots of time was spent in the bulk spices section, where Husband discovered the powdered soup bases & dehydrated butter & such (for the emergency food supply). I scored some nice pickling spice mixes, an assortment of whole peppercorns (for a custom blend), & organic cinnamon, nutmeg, & ginger for baking. 
I also picked up an old fashion apple peeler/corer/slicer thing (which works great, btw), a few bags of organic flours in different varieties, & a hand cranked juicer thing :) 
If you haven't been in before, I highly recommend stopping in to browse. If you are into organic/local, baking, canning, or anything related: this is the place for you :) They also carry local milk, eggs, cheese, & a selection of meats in the freezer. 
There are lots of construction-ish details; a plumb bob, wrenches, concrete cores, concrete diamond sawblades, angle iron, threadstock, turnbuckles, cables, etc. 
The whole thing is suspended from a beam in the ceiling; hanging from cables. The plaques are then suspended from the i-beam with shackels & little spreader-bars....a fun detail.
This was a fun project, & the install today was relatively easy (compared to some...) I still have one more smaller peice to finish up & place on the same wall--will be done this week, hopefully....
Well, it's coming along...not as much progress yesterday as I was hoping for, but moving along. This one takes a lot of digging for stuff, placing stuff with the plaques, rearraging stuff, adding s'more, rearranging again, & then either permanently attaching said stuff or gathering it all back up to try again. 
Added some cool copper things to this one, along with copper rivets & brass washers. Not quite done; will be adding some smaller saw blades & a few other tidbits....
Stainless steel mesh peeks through the letters; love this look :)
This is going to be a large, multi-layered wall installation for the Idaho AGC Headquarters in Boise. As you enter the building, there is this big concrete wall in the atrium area where the work will go; it will highlight all the businesses who donated to the new AGC building. The main installation will be about 12 feet wide & 6 feet tall, & there will be a smaller piece next to it too; only about 1/4 the size. 
I'm going to be using all kinds of metal, lots of cable, and lots of construction related accents: concrete, re-bar, wood, some tools, etc. I'm excited to really get into the mixing of materials; this one is going to be fun! 
Sculpture collection moved...whew! Everything looks great in the new location; we spent the last couple days installing pieces at Galerie Belle Ame in Eagle: I'm excited to have things closer to home :) The gallery is right on Eagle road; so everyone driving into Eagle can see my stuffs---just before Rembrants: next to the arch that says welcome to Eagle. 
We showed up in the morning with the truck & trailer loaded: they had to stop traffic on Eagle road while I backed in next to the building...there were cars lined up for blocks! Fortunately, I got it backed in on the first try without taking out the mailbox...
And then we started the unloading & installing process. It took me & Kevin all day to install the 3 larger pieces & we had to go get the crane for the big one, but in the end I think it looks great :) That many big pieces together really transforms the patio area. 
Stop in sometime to see everything; grab a coffee at Rembrants & walk down... There are a few of my things displayed inside the gallery as well, including a jewelry collection. 
