That’s my dad! Usually the dude is busy doing things for other people, but once in a while he cranks out a project for himself. He makes it seem easy to make this copper sunflowers sculpture, and for him it probably was. He’s got the gear, and the skills. Dad used a nibbler to cut everything out but you can definitely use a bandsaw with the right blade or maybe even a jigsaw. Snips? I doubt it, with copper this thick. Once he had all the pieces fabbed up he used an oxy-acetylene torch to braze everything together.
Is a Potato Cannon art itself? Is it functional scuplture? Or, is it a prop in a form of performance art featuring torched, toasted and tossed tubers? I say it’s both. The combustive potato gun featured here is really a carbine, and not the standard long barrel PVC version. Also, it features knock-down construction that allows it to become even smaller, and stowed using very little space. With the exception of the spring latches, the entire gun is made of aluminum, with machined fittings and TIG welded joints. The end of the barrel has been chamfered, making it easy to core a potato and achieve a tight barrel fit. This vegetable weapon has recently been retired, but only after two beautiful long potato launches. Don’t try this at home.
Happy Father’s Day! Here’s something I couldn’t have made without my father. I did the work on this table, but he taught me how to weld and use almost every type of tool there is. Moreover, he is a living example that you can build anything you want if you can just get started. This was built in his garage, using his welding gear, torch, grinding tools, etc. around 1990. I was also hogging up a lot of shop space with scrap metal and steel I had ordered. Thanks Dad, for being you.
The table top is aluminum plate. This is another piece that has a connection to Peter Pittman. For a while that I knew him Peter was doing design work for some metal fab shop. He offered to take me in the shop on the weekend and let me pick out some scrap. I found this large piece of aluminum behind a jumbo shear. It was surely usable for some job, but after hesitating for a second Peter said I could snag it. He’s cool like that. And nobody was around to notice.
So, this construction was made to the dimensions of that first piece of plate. The frame below it is mostly half inch steel rod, painstakingly welded together on a jig I had made. Then, even more painstakingly, and painfully, the welds were ground flush. Never again! The only pictures I have of it are from a gallery show, on a contact sheet a friend gave me. Thanks again Pam Taylor.
Another Father’s Day note: Our good friends the Pelczarskis now have this table. AND their second child, Tatum, was just born a few days ago! With an infant and a toddler in the house it’s a good thing I made that table baby-proof with only four sharp metal corners.
This one’s for you, Gary Taylor. Thanks again, for lunch.
I believe this is the first piece of metal furniture or sculpture I ever made. I made it when my brother and I had a record store in the late 1980s. We had a large space and a small inventory. So, occasionally we would have events like art shows or even spoken word gigs. That got me thinking I should make some stuff, in whatever medium. I ended up leaving some of my pieces in the store; this chair was one of them.
One of our regular customers, Peter Pittman, saw it and eventually displayed it in a hair salon, of all places, that his wife owned and operated. I think they would also have “exhibits” there. Anyhow, someone(?) saw it there and it ended up in a place called Breit Functional Crafts in Norfolk, VA, where someone else(?) saw it and it ended up in an exhibit at the Reynolds Minor Gallery in Richmond, VA. Funny enough, a woman from Virginia Beach saw it there and decided to buy it. I can’t remember the exact number, but I do remember I priced it high enough that no one, I thought, would buy it. Then the gallery doubled that number, and someone actually did! Oh well, I think it’s kinda corny now, but back then I hated to see it go.
The frame is made of rebar with most of the slag buffed off with a wire wheel. The seat and arms are 11 gauge stainless steel. The most interesting part, the back, is an ancient Dayton floor fan that we had laying around the store. It had a small frame that held it in position, and it took a few minutes to get up to speed. For some reason I thought it would obviously make a comfortable chair back. I meticulously cleaned it and even had the bullet-shaped motor housing re-chromed. The only pictures I have are from a contact sheet of shots a friend (Pam Taylor) took. She probably gave me the negatives but who knows where they are.
I made this at least ten years ago, maybe 15. I had those four heavy duty casters laying around for a while just begging to be put on a piece of furniture. Each wheel is rated to hold 1500 lbs, and there are grease fittings on the axles and the caster bearings. I paid something like $5 each for them at a salvage store. New they cost a few hundred dollars each. I’m heavy duty, but these rollers are way heavy duty. The chair is of course silly, but still funny to me. Stainless steel 11 gauge seat and back, gun blued cold rolled half inch steel bar, and quarter inch steel plate make this rig quite heavy. At least it’s on wheels!
I made this when I was working in a sheet metal shop in a shipyard. Why? I do not know, but it probably had something to do with “the man” getting on my nerves and me reacting by doing a little “goverment job.” This ball is made of 16 gauge stainless steel. Two discs were cut on a circle shear. Then they were taken to a spinning lathe where the disks were shaped against a hemispherical steel mold. Before the two shells were TIG welded together I decided to put a large steel ball, maybe 1.5 inches in diameter, inside. Then they were welded along the seam and the center holes were carefully filled. Finally, the ball was ground smooth(ish) on a belt sander.
In hindsight I wish I had tried to partially fill it with water instead of a steel ball. Although that would have made the welding difficult I think it would be more interesting. Still, when you hold it there is a compelling urge to whip it in a circle to feel, and hear, the internal ball whirring around. But it’s like playing the drums — fun for you and irritating for everyone else.
My dad made this belt buckle for me sometime in the mid-1970s. A big “S” for Sigler, but it’s clearly similar to the Superman joint. I’ve kept a close watch on it ever since. Recently, I found a new belt for it and have been wearing it everywhere. People keep asking me “How can I get one?” You can’t, man, you can’t. And if this one ever goes missing I’ll know it’s mine when I see it because he put my name on the back. Little brother had one too.
The Brain Surgery Experience
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about the Brain Surgery Experience.
