Garden Gate
06-03-2009
Things are beginning to come together. I found a couple of forged leaves I had lying around that lend themselves nicely to the overall scheme of things - both in proportion and in style. I have also located two sizes of steel bearings, which will be the "berries" on the vines near the bottom of the gate. You will notice that I keep a photo of the Pergola on the work table to maintain a visual perspective of the point of installation. The copper leaves are completed, and I will likey burnish them slightly, in order to bring out some lighter colors. Later, I am thinking of applying a patina solution to create some green highlight effects.
Here is a closer look at the frog and the copper leaves. You can also see that the bar stock I will be using, possesses a "bark" or "vine" texture. I have a couple of different ideas in mind for attaching the copper leaves to the steel bar. One approach, would be to braze the copper to the steel. I could also attach the copper leaves by drilling a small hole through the vine and leaf, insert a steel pin, weld and grind. Another idea just came to mind... perhaps a copper rivet?
The steel bar stock has been heated and drawn-out on the anvil with a hammer to form the tapered ends. The next step was to heat the bar again and make the subtle bends in free form fashion. This process will need to be repeated many times during the creation of the garden gate or sculpture...