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I owe the presence of these in my kitchen to a fabulous human being who believes that, if I’m going to insist on repeatedly eating microwave burritos as if they possessed any actual nutritive value, I at least ought to have a real homemade cookie or two afterward, chocolate chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin – my choice! Thanks, Gen!
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I owe the presence of these in my front yard to the little old lady who used to own the place before me. Thanks, Alice! They look great!
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Kurt one, Kurt two
I was over at mom and dad’s tonight, and there was an old black and white photo on the kitchen table. It was of my dad’s parent’s dachshund, Kurtie. Mom and dad’s current pup is also named Kurtie, in honor of Kurt the First. I had dad hold them up for me so that I could catch them together. On the back of the photo grandma had written, “Our dog Kurt of 12 years. Old age took him.” I hope Kurt the second is with us for a good, long time.
(Note: I have said for several years that I wanted to get a dachshund and name it Kurtie. Apparently, this was a genius idea to the point that my parents stole it!!!)
Today is a special edition of One-Pic-A-Day where I present you with – four pictures. I do this to surprise and amaze you, not because I’m absorbed in my own project and am a detail fanatic about documenting every step. No, surely not that…
Little legs
You’ve seen a few pictures over the last several days where I was working on some boring-looking flat thing with a hole in it. Well, here’s the wrap on that whole deal, and I thought you might be curious. If not, skip on to tomorrow where there will likely be more pictures of…the same sort of thing. Good luck with that.
Anyway, above are the little legs I cut and bent that will go around the edge of the plate and hold up the guardrail that will keep the marbles corralled so they don’t go spilling all over the floor.
Blocked up
Here I have the plate flipped upside down and held securely in place with my nifty steel blocks. It helps to be positive that things aren’t going to move while you’re welding. I’m a little extreme sometimes, but at least I won’t worry. Maybe.
Woot!
Presto – we’re done! There was a lot more to it, but I apparently got really excited about how well it was going, and I didn’t shoot any pictures between adding the railing and adding the bolts and nut. Those fasteners that I welded in there will just help the marbles bang around a good bit and wander off in all sorts of unpredictable directions. Because of this bit of wackiness, the marbles will never go through the sculpture the same way twice! Unpredictability – I like it.
Don't move!
Yet again the nifty steel blocks prove their usefulness. Not only do they help hold that brace in place, but the sheer weight of the block is enough to allow me to use a rather heavy clamp to hold it upright. I’m not reassuring you that these blocks were a good thing to buy, I’m reassuring me, although if you agree, I’m cool with that.
So, now the randomizer/track splitter is all constructed and awaiting to have the brace welded to it that will attach it to the sculpture itself. Easy enough right? One would think so…
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The Indiana Historical Society has an exhibit on the Model T Ford. This kind of car is what used to be called a “delivery.” If you wanted one of these, you ordered the frame, running gear, brakes – all that stuff – from Ford, and then you went to what they called a “coach builder” and had them make the wood body for it. Yeah – they don’t make things like they used to!
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Here’s the plate all by its lonesome – wait! What’s that you can barely see around the edges? That’s right – it’s tonight’s work! Wires, pieces of bent wire. I guess that’s not bad considering I did it in 45 minutes, but still – bent wire? THAT’S my big accomplishment? Okay!
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The thing to really focus on here is that plate with the hole in it underneath the other crap. I guess I put the other stuff in the photo to make it look a little fancier, because, really, all that I did the entire evening was make that plate with the hole in it. I needed this piece, so I cut it off of a giant sheet of extremely rusty metal, then I smoothed off all the sides and rounded the corners, then I ground off all of the rust, then I cut the hole in it. This doesn’t sound like the sort of thing that will consume 2.5 hours, but I assure you, it is. I got done, looked at my watch, and went, “What?!” Well, there you go. I guess sometimes the simple-looking stuff takes a while.
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I am at once both ashamed and proud of this photo. I built the bench that these clamps lie on. I have also purchased every single one of these clamps since I took that steel fabrication sculpture class just – what – one month ago? This is but a small sampling of where a large portion of my spare (and not so spare) cash has been going. Yet, I tell you that I need every one of these, and I’m sure at some point in the not too distant future I will find myself in a situation where every single one of them is in use and I’m saying, “If only I had one more!”
I’m a little concerned about these expenditures, but it seems to be what I really want right now. I think this is part of what they call following your muse. I’ll let you know if it starts to get out of hand. More than likely, if it does, you’ll see it here before I realize I’m in it.