Eggs!! (well one egg...tiny but cute)

The 1st egg!  Yay for little grey chicken-bird: a perfect, tiny, bit-size cream colored egg: she even used the nesting box :)

It's about 1/2 the size of a regular chicken egg: so cute!

She is looking rather pleased with herself :)  I can't wait till the other ones catch up: it will take a lot of these itty bitty eggs to make an omlet!

Too funny; these will make the cutest little pickled eggs...   

Wind Turbines!!

I'm super excited to announce that we are going forward with the wind turbines on the sculptures at Kleiner Park!

The idea was dropped from the plans a few months back -due to budget-, but then re-visited at the Ground-Breaking last week.... I hastily put together a new plan for a smaller version than originally proposed,  and everyone agreed that we need to make it happen--yay!  

The turbines will spin gracefully in the wind, adding to the sculptural elements, and will power the lighting for the sculptures.   These will be the 1st vertical axis turbines in the area (that we know of), and I think will add a whole new dimension to the sculptures and the park...there was even talk about adding light poles that have mini-versions of the turbines to the park plan :)

This is going to be quite the educational project for us; we are ordering in the turbines and equipment that goes with, and then will have to figure out how to make them work :)   I'll be doing a bit of re-design on the sculptures to accomodate the turbines and make everything fit together seamlessly.  I still can't quite believe that it's going to happen: I was really disappointed when we had to put the idea aside a few months back---adding green power to public art seems like such a win-win to me.  And these turbines are so sculptural to begin with, that using them as part of the design just makes sense to me :)

Stay tuned for more updates--the next few months will be full of re-design, tweaking, & hopefully ooohing & ahhhing when the turbines arrive :)   --See earlier posts on the project for the full story--  

For now, I'm off to Idaho City for quick gettaway with family :)

Amber

NY Wedding--Copper Bouquet Pics

I just got the nicest email from one of my Etsy clients who purchased a custom copper wedding bouquet & aluminum boutonnieres for her Brooklyn wedding :)  Photographs by: http://www.dibezi.net/

"hi amber! i am so excited and want to let you know that the copper bouquet was a HUGE hit at our wedding last month. i did have several people think i was nuts when i described it, but then when they saw it in person they fell in love with it. and everyone else loved it without reservation. most importantly, *i* loved it...it was the perfect weight in my hand and looked beautiful with my gown. our photographer had never seen anything like it and couldn't believe how cool it was."

yep, people think I'm nuts too when I tell them I make wedding bouquets out of metal... lol :)

Looks like it was a lovely wedding; it's so fun to see the pics---usually, I box & ship & never hear anything :) 

This was one of my all time fav bouquets; copper with pearls in white & champagne and crystals to match.  Love the copper...

I've shipped these bouquets all over the world--funny that a crazy accident has turned into this :) Playing with crystals & pretties is a nice break from the heavy steel work--the bouquets are a lot of fun to make :)  They are available on my Etsy shop; in both aluminum & copper: ready made or I can make them custom to match the wedding colors.

Amber

Kleiner Park Ground-Breaking-on the news :)

A very nice piece on the park; I'm still amazed that I'm a part of such an amazing project!


Amber

Kleiner Park: Officially Under Construction :)

This week was the official Groundbreaking for Julius Kleiner Park (for all the details, see earlier posts: here & here) Construction has already started; watch the progress at the corner of Eagle & Fairview--the big field across from the shopping center :)  The park is going to be over 60 acres, with lakes, walking paths, a Senior Center, & more... 

I am creating 3 huge sculptures to be placed in the park...quite the project!  As you can see in the photo above, things are just getting started: the park will open in Sept 2011.  I will be updating once a month with areal views of the park, it should be interesting to see how things change & progress...

There was a great turn out for the ceremony; the news crew was there & the Mayor; golden shovels officially opened the construction project with the first scoops of dirt :)   I'm rather amazed to be part of such a huge project: this is the first time I've been able to watch things progress from the ground up, & be involved in the design of other areas too, besides the sculptures.  The core group of professionals (and me) is an amazingly talented team & have all been so nice to work with--it's really been a lot of fun so far....

Speaking of: check out the entrance gateway; I got to have my hand in the design, as you can probably tell; husband had to laugh at the swirly curly q's: I just can't seem to keep them out of things....ah well.  Anyway, I think its going to look pretty cool when done; I tried to hint at some of the flowing lines from the sculptures in a subtle way; there will also be some other details that relate to the sculpture too.  I'm also going to get to add my touch to some of the buildings & perhaps a few hints in the signage too: I feel really privileged to be able to be involved like this & can't wait to see it all come together :)

I'll be updating as the project moves along; at least once a month; so stay tuned...right now, I'm anxiously awaiting to hear if the wind turbines are a go or not...will post as soon as I know; crossing my fingers!!

Amber

Onions...

Last fall, we bought a whole bunch of onions; to keep through the winter--they were a super deal: left-overs gleaned from after the harvest...so we got like 50 lbs.  By this spring, we had used maybe 1/2 of them: and I noticed they were starting to sprout green shoots out of the middle...hmmmm.  I decided to plant a few & see what happened...

Well, after planting just a few & seeing that they took off like weeds, I planted more; everywhere...in roses to help ward off the aphids, with the kale, in the planters, & everywhere else I could find a spot... 

They have now all grown; some are like 3 feet tall with puff-ball seed heads--I like 'em!  They're funny & add something different to the landscape; the kids that visit the pond out front all the time had to ask what they were: when I told them they're onions, they said "wow! those are like the coolest onions ever!"  lol

They don't smell nearly as much as I thought they might; I haven't even noticed any onion-ish odors...  As for bug control: not sure; it did seem to help where they were all intertwined with the roses, but it's kind of hard to tell.

Anyway, I will definitely be planting s'more next year; will have to try some purple & gold ones; most of these where white.  Thinking about trying to save some of the seeds...we'll see...

Show & Tell--ESGR Trophy

Trophy made from interesting parts from the military base; for a retiring general.

Helicopter parts, dummy rounds, tank parts, etc.

One of fav. trophies ever--I think it turned out pretty cool :)

Amber