Finally home

We are back home and I am back to work. I have about 5 projects that need completed pretty quick and at least 7 more in the works, so the future looks great.  I am wondering if anyone would like one of my pieces with all the metal painted bright red, or white, or green? I would like to see it.  I know in the future this will happen, and if anyone likes the idea let me know. In the meantime, these are some great pics for inspiration.

vacation

We are kind of on vacation until Thursday, but I am still trying to take care of things until we get home.  I built a new proper welding table for myself the day before we left, so things should go better for me when we get home.  I have been working on a really small horrible welding table for years and now I am really excited to try my new one out.  We went shopping at a world imports store and I looked at some of their furniture, which was cool.  They have some stuff that is similar to some of my designs, but I have to say something about them.. They are like lots of big store things.  They look good until you get close, and I touched it, and could not be more disappointed. Cheap thin metal, and fake cheap wood, fake rivets, and cheap little casters.  This is the big difference between big stores that mass produce things and  have large overhead to pay and the things like I make that are only touched by me and I take no shortcuts.  The things I make will last forever and can be passed down to family members. The things you buy at say pier one or world imports will be great for the first year, and then as soon as you move it a couple times, its over, and it falls apart.  I have seen some of the things at Restoration Hardware also, and it looks better and will last a little longer, but its still just not going to last.  It is mass produced and made only for quick profit.  It is still made with a little cheaper material and they hire people off the street with little experience in metal fab or carpentry skills.  Like I have said before, its not bad, but its not the best and its not customized to your exact needs and desires.  That is where I come in.  I can make what you want and whatever dimensions you want and put personal touches on it, and it will be one of a kind.

Too cute not to post these pictures

I am a sucker for animals.  If I had land, I would take them all home.

work

Work waiting to be done.

New coffee table

This is going to be a small beefy coffee table on cast iron casters.

M

M

New shelving unit I am working on

This is going to be a pretty big shelving unit I started on today.  I think it is going to have shelves on top and then be on a base that has doors with expanded metal on the front of the doors, and I am debating putting casters on it or just regular legs. It is actually setting in front of another shelving unit I just crated up for shipping. 

I love this

"To be nobody but
yourself in a world
which is doing its best day
and night to make you like
everybody else means
to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can
fight and never stop fighting."
- e e cummings

Custom piece finished

Just finished the custom order media cabinet.  It has several shelves and one removable shelf.  There are slots in the back for cords to pass through.I got a lot of cool colors in this.  There is some hints of red and rust and small slivers of the bare metal with the dominant color being  black . It is so heavy and I have no doubt this will last hundreds of years.  It will be getting crated up for shipping next week to go to its new home. If anyone wants one, then email me and we can talk specifics. rljstn@yahoo.com

Construction

Amazing construction

More work on the media cabinet

Almost done with fabrication on the media cabinet. It is obviously upside down, because that is how I had to install the shelves and since there is sheet metal inset along the inside, it basically had to be fabricated from inside out .  It is really heavy, and Everything on it will be recycled materials except the rivets which are new.  I have to go to the metal scrap yard and use a safe nontoxic method to take the rust off the metal, then sometimes weld several pieces together just to get one piece and at times I can not get the exact dimensions I want or the client wants, but I usually get very close, but I think this is what makes it so fun and the end result really interesting.  Changing things as you go is sometimes necessary and gives great results.  You can't be scared to deviate from your original plan.  At the end it always feels great because I gave this steel another life, and someone else thought it was trash.

Things in my shop

Random things in my shop

give me an A

Give me an A!  Why? I don't know.

Things I like