ElementFe is my trade name for the Guemes Island blacksmith shop; designing, forging, and building handcrafted forged steel and iron furniture, gates, railings, candlesticks, spoons, kitchenware and all manner of repair and fabrication.

Saturday, September 19, 2009




The gate brought a nice price to the "Save The Mountain" preservation effort, and someone got a good deal on a lovely piece of iron!
Here are the Guemes Girls all dolled up, and auctioneer Bud Ashbach doing his thing.



The railing project on Orcas is rolling along, here's son Joe checking alignment on some of the 200+ feet of railing- this will be filled in with panels (see earlier post) and topped with a brass handrail.
Also, talking over fine points with the architect/designer.

Saturday, September 12, 2009




The neighborhood pub bought oh-so-inexpensive chairs from China, only to find that they have a bad habit of collapsing unexpectedly.
I was hired to develop an alternative, and to my surprise they liked the Modern design that I'd been playing with. Here are the first four chairs for the Brown Lantern!
Hard to see the finished chairs, but the seat is wooden, and the back is naugahide and cushy.






This fountain developed from an idea that local glassblower Jose Hinojosa had about some of his flawed vessels. Looking at them he realized that we're ALL flawed vessels, and that we need to be constantly replenished by wonderfulness flowing in.
It took me some time to find a conceptual framework that would house this, but in this sculpture I've added that we like to have a benevolent source of inspiration, perhaps in human form, and that we lean together as a group to drink.
First, I made a basic form from cardboard, since it's difficult to visualize a 3-D form folded out to a flat surface. The 1/4" stainless steel plate was then cut and rough ground, then I modified a hydraulic press and my son and I formed it bit by bit.



Sharon's husband was quite a sailor, from manning a destroyer in the Big War to small boats on the Sound.
With this in mind I worked out a design that celebrates sailing in the channel below their house.
An interesting feature of this one is that she asked me to stamp a dedication on the bottom of the bottom rail of the swinging gate (side with the boat). It reminds me of Himalayan prayer wheels, where everyone who passes by gives it a whirl, releasing prayers out into creation.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009




A gate inspired by the logo from the fundraising campaign to put the highest point on our island in a permanent preservation trust status.
This will be auctioned off in September as part of the fund raising effort.
Also pictured are the wonderful t-shirts from the project.