A variety of projects coming in and going out today, I love this- it's what keeps it interesting!

The Adrift Cafe wine cabinet came back for minor repairs (damaged during remodeling) and it was interesting to go over it again after five years.
Here are a couple small frames for some keepsake glass.
The patio chairs and tables are out in the sunshine for their final clear coat before delivery.
Here also are a couple fireplace covers. One needed to be beefed up to fit the firepit, the other needed a new screen cover.
And finally, two simple custom frames for keepsake art glass.
All these projects are for customers in the Guemes Island/Anacortes community.

Here are the chairs, all done and painted!

The assembly is mostly done on the new patio chairs- here they are with the side pieces of the backs ready to be coaxed into their final shape.
I love the term my customer uses to describe these: Industrial Beaux Arts! Says it all, don't you think?

Here are some shots of a small stool that's a collaboration with two other Guemes Island artists- Jess and Arlo of www.Slowshirts.com are the instigators with woodwork by Mitercraft (www.mitercraft.com)

Here are the legs being welded and trial fit, and sample stool tops with Jess' artwork laser cut into the seat.

Here's a campfire cookset for a professional cook- he wanted to be able to hook his chain drive rotisserie to the top bar, so I stole a sprocket from an old bicycle for the drive gear.
An assortment of hooks to hang pots and a swingaway grille complete the set- a do it all camping kitchen!

The first of the patio chairs are done- here are a few shots.

note: the back (above the seat) appears huge in the rear shot, because of the camera angle. the front shot more accurately shows proportion

The newest batch of rebar based chairs is well under way- these will be much less Geometric, more to the "organic" end of the spectrum.
Here are some photos of the seats being constructed.
The main differences are: mesh rather than sheet metal seat top, the mesh is bent over an inner ring and then an outer hoop is set a little lower in an effort to round the top corner of the seat for comfort.
The legs are upset and made into a beautiful spontaneous curve for the organic look.

The Green Table gets remade.
It was too wiggly, and too tall, so I took 3" off of each leg, and installed braces at the corners and between braces on the horizontal bars.
Round bar such as rebar has very little resistance to bending, unlike angle iron or square tube, both of which I use frequently when building furniture, so it's neccesary to design for extra stiffness.

So.
NEVER ADJUST THE TREE WHEN THERE ARE BOTTLES INSTALLED!
I was installing a new one for my wife, and thought I'd stomp it down just a little bit firmer in the ground...the bottles bounced on the metal posts, and I found myself in a shower of broken glass.
Since it was cold and I was wearing heavy clothing, no damage was done, but it really got my attention!

Today's project is one that several people have asked me about: a bottle tree.
This is a custom in the South, whether it's a welded piece of fantasy or just bottles stuck on the branches of a dead tree.
Materials for this one (what I had on hand on a day too snowy to shop for more steel): 6.5 feet of 5/8 rebar, and about thirty two feet of 3/8 rebar, plus a wicked sharpened cleat that you can step on to drive it into the ground, this makes for a steadier base.
Installed height will be 8 feet, with room for 24 colored bottles.

The table base begun in the previous post is done, delivered, and paid for.

The holes are drilled and the rivets set, first they are heated with OxyAcetylene torch, then while still glowing hammered to shape.
The last piece to be cut and drilled is for the tops of each leg, so that a heavy screw can be put into the bottom surface of the maple burl table top.
Finally, the finished base with our cat (who apparently sees herself as a feline Vanna) helping.

More on the table base- First the pieces are cut to length, then they are heated to just a few hundred degrees in the propane furnace (could be done in an oven- burning wax smoke in the kitchen, anyone? ....didn't think so.)
The wax is brushed on, saturating the porous surface and giving the steel a lovely black/brown finish that is much more even and tougher than a plain rubbing of wax.
I cheated, tack welding these together before installing the rivets, since there is only a finite budget for this project.
Oh- the randome photo of the green table frame is another current project: made to fit a slate top, the customer asked me to lower it a couple inches- more on that to come.