Adam OldRe-purposed materials: Thank you

I just wanted to say thank you for reading my little blog and checking out what I've been up to. I'm pretty bad at regularly posting new things. Life just never slows down apparently. I'm thankful for all your interest in what I do, and for talking the time out of your busy life to check in here. I don't have a that interesting life comparatively, but it's mine and I try to live it in the best way I know how. The older I've gotten, the more lessons I've learned. I wouldn't be where I am today without the faith I have in what Christ has done for me. He's my oasis in the heat of life, my beacon in the harbor and everything I never understood I could fully rely on to take care of my every need in life. I have been trying to straighten out my ways more lately to be a better Christian for the sake of his kingdom. I've been trying to also make more time for family and helping others. As little as I do of that, I have found myself doing various things other than focusing on art. I've been building and fixing some things for the studio and for the sake of fixing broken things. My welding skills are much better. I feel more confident and able to get back to making metal art of a different fashion. I will share a few things that I've done in the time between this post and the last. I could talk more but understand time is of the essence and you have other things to do. So without further ado:

Artisan Forge in Eau Claire Wisconsin took in some of my work to their awesome studio/gallery/ awesome place. They also let me participate in a socially distanced art fair on the grounds. Definitely look them up and check the place out.

One of several leaf commissions completed since covid started.

Baptismal font for the Roncalli Newman center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. This is the largest vessel I've raised and also the first piece I tinned. The base was completed by another artisan.

I'm proud of this table I made from repurposing a table base I got from the old Brum foundry in Goodview / Winona, Minnesota. The top I made from 1930's pine bowling alley floor from the south lanes bowling alley in La Crosse. I purchased there before they closed permanently. The metal frame for the top was metal I found in the recycling room at work; angle iron with a nice off-center radius. It worked beautifully for the flooring. I did all the staining, fabricating and all except for sandblasting and painting the base and frame.

I'm realizing that I've done a few creative things after all. It's been a bit sporadic however... This bracelet idea came when I was given a broken leather purse to repurpose. The purse was made entirely out of what I had called "leather peanuts" these pieces were linked together to make a bracelet. After a few hours I came up with this design for a clasp. I wanted to keep a relatively similar design to the shape of the links and therefore the mechanism to lock it together became a fun challenge. The picture below is another name plate nail handed down to me by my father. This is of the same stock that I used in the grape clusters of my post "botanical art".

Slitting the nail to make the clasp mechanism

Other, more simple, variations that can be more easily produced. These show different patina and texture combinations.

Leather peanut shaped clasps ready to be cut from reclaimed architectural copper roofing.

A painstaking PAINt-stripping project that turned out as good as I had hoped. This street light was headed for recycling at work so I bought it for scrap in maybe 2015. I've carried it around with the intention of making am indoor floor lamp with it. FFW too late 2020 and I had also been holding onto this white painted architectural pillar for at least a year or two. It took many many hours to chemically and mechanically scraping and brushing off the old paint. Beneath that was the beautiful old wood column that I'd guess was over 100 years old. (Yes, the paint was probably not latex or oil) anyways, I assembled and wired it top be my floor lamp. Days before completing it, I found a cast iron table base to serve as a base to keep it stable.

Dyed bracelets

I made a cell phone holder for above my work bench. Made from hotel wall sconce, guest book pen swivel and security window frame... All from the recycling room at work.