Crafty Basterds -- The Stuff I made thread

[triangleforge]

I really like that cedar shelf - nice work!!!

I've got a couple of other bone & metal projects in the offing - the woman with whom I'm collaborating gave me a big horse vertebra that's mine to do with what I will, and a pronghorn skull she wants to adapt into lighting. She's also prepping a deer (doe) skull for me, and I gave her the bull elk skull (without antlers) I've had stashed in the garage for years, wondering what I'd do with it. The correct answer presented itself: give it to Drea!

As for steel rod that would bend easily, LazyLightnin, you can pretty easily cold-form anything up to a quarter inch or so. Get a lot larger than that, and the cold-forming tools you'd need are going to cost more than a forge or an Oxy/Acetylene or Oxy/Propane torch set up that could at least give you local heat. Heat will also help you get smoother bends in most any diameter stock. 

[ducpainter]

up to 5/8" re-bar can be bent without heat... http://www.grainger.com/product/WESTWARD-Rebar-Bender-13A596?s_pp=false&picUrl=//static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/13A596_AS01?$smthumb$

It would probably take some practice to get smooth arcs, but 90's are no problem.

I watched the concretians bend it for our foundation a few years ago and they used something very similar to the above...wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it.

[DesmoDiva]

Nice shelves.   

B is almost done with the bar he started a while ago.

Finally got the electrical put in for his new tig welder.

Up next is some metal/birch ply shelving and desk for B's son. 

[triangleforge]

A few more bits from the past couple of months.

I've continued the collaboration with my friend who is getting really good at the process of cleaning & preserving bones. She does the bones, I do the steel stands. The horse vertebra is mine, while the pronghorn skull is hers - she wants to put a light inside it; we tried it out with an LED flashlight, and skull is so thin & translucent that the thing lights up beautifully (sorry I didn't take pictures of that). 







And more trophies to finish out the Arizona High School Mountain Bike season:

[Zaster]

Awesome work, thanks for posting 

[triangleforge]

OK, I know other folks are making stuff -- I want to see it!

But in hopes of getting others back into this thread, here's a piece I made over the weekend for friends who own a local brewpub, Granite Mountain Brewing (http://www.granitemountainbrewing.com/). It's their logo, a stylized rendition of local landmark Granite Mountain, and yes, I worked in exchange for beer (lots of beer; my last tab for art there lasted a couple of years).

This is a prototype in wood, which we'll eventually replace with plasma-cut metal. The whole piece is 3" deep with the central elements floating flush with the outer surface. The inside is back-lit with blue LED rope lights, while the outside perimeter is lit with white LEDs.

Here it is on my shop floor (where you can see the colors better):



And here it is in its natural habitat (sorry for the low light photos -it's a bar, after all):





OK now it's your turn - and if you don't, I'll post pictures of the other thing I made this weekend... a seven foot tall junk metal assemblage that is a mash-up of a corn dancer kachina doll and Saint Francis of Assisi. Don't say I didn't warn you.

[1.21GW]

For the record, this is one of my favorite threads on the DMF.  I just don't really make stuff much these days...

But how about this?  I made this painting of a fish, and then I made the fish (for dinner).



Likewise this one, although I think the salmon I made for dinner was atlantic, not king, but the king looked cooler so I painted that.

[triangleforge]

Nice! Painting in watercolor has always seemed like a bit of tricky magic to me - well done!

[1.21GW]

Nice! Painting in watercolor has always seemed like a bit of tricky magic to me - well done!

Thanks.  The trick is to embrace---not fight---the unpredictability of it.  It's kinda a metaphor for life. 



Now, who else has made something they want to share with the group?

[lazylightnin717]

Nice paintings 

[Grampa]

Twenty nine years ago my son was born.

I helped make him.

[ZLTFUL]

Twenty nine years ago my son was born.

I helped make him.

Showoff! 

I have a few projects I need to snap pics of.
Did a set of maple and wenge stands for single record sleeve, single CD case and single Blu-Ray/DVD. Sort of a poor man's "Now Playing" display. Still need to finish them and add feet to them.

I also found a couple of nice oak burl pieces. One was sanded smooth and then finished with bar clear epoxy and now resides as the centerpiece on our dining room table.
The other one was more randomly shaped and is being made into a mantle clock for a friend. Of course, I am having a hard time locating a face and dial set I like for it.

[Stella]

Have any of you crafty bastards ever made a dining table using a marble or granite or any other type of stone? 
Any recommendations? Advice? (For top and/or base.)

Can't find a dining table I like (prefer something unique) so was thinking about having one made.  Thnx!

[Speeddog]

Concrete table my GF & I made:



A lot of work, but it really is a cool piece.

[Langanobob]

Excellent.  I've messed around with concrete acid staining and it was a lot of fun.  Making a concrete countertop or table is still on my list.  We were gonna do one for the kitchen but ran across a piece of granite on Craigslist for cheap and used it instead.

Bob