Making Garden Art Pieces

On Mother’s Day weekend, my daughter, Miranda and her boyfriend, Cass came to visit. We had a wonderful time with perfect weather. It was a nice opportunity for us to get to know Cass better. Cass is a welder by trade, so I took him on a garden tour to see all the metal art pieces I have collected over the years. I have large scale herons, tiny faeries and everything in between. Of particular interest to Cass was a bird bath stand that was made for me by an artist in Ontario. We talked at length about the process and the craft, each learning a bit about the other’s medium. Imagine my surprise when, several weeks later, we were in Vancouver and Cass had made me two metal stands for my garden!

Cass’ metal garden pieces

I was blown away that he had taken the time to do this. I was given permission to do whatever I wanted with them, including sawing the tops into different shapes if I wished. I decided not to do that, but I WILL play with them quite a bit. The creative juices were flowing as my options were vast! I needed to decide if they would become planters or bird baths or both and how I would decorate them. I would need to create custom made pottery to fit into them. Before I could do that, I called upon my resident engineer to help me plan how to do just that.

Brad put his mathematical skills to work to help calculate the size and shapes to make the pottery.

Measured up and ready for the next step

The next step was to paint the metal pieces. I wanted to put a rust proof coating on them and at the same time jazz them up a bit. I elected to spray paint them copper to make them glow no matter where they were placed in the yard.

Metal stands with copper rust proof paint

While I was at it, I decided to spruce up my older stand as well. First, I sanded all three pieces with a wire drill attachment, washed them all off, then set them in the sun to dry. It was a perfect day to spray paint, as it was slightly overcast with no wind.

Now it was time for me to do my thing. First, I created a small slab piece that will be suspended from the hook on the taller stand.   It looks like this so far. Ultimately it will be strung with a short chain to hang on the stand.

Clay birdbath still in it’s mold.

Next I rolled a large slab for the bottom of the same stand, then threw a bowl on the potter’s wheel for the other stand. After letting these pieces set up over night, I placed them into the stands  to allow them to mold around the legs of the stand in the most natural way.

Raw clay pieces suspended on metal stands.

Of course, the pots need to dry, be decorated and go through two firings before we will see the final results. I have a couple more thoughts on the final project as well, but you will have to stay tuned to find out what else I have in mind!

I hope you will check back with me when that is all completed in a few weeks! Meanwhile, thanks so much Cass for the lovely stands. They will find a place of honour in my garden. I hope all of you will find time to visit my garden. The Artists’ Garden and Studio Tour is on now and runs until September 14th. You can view the brochure here:  http://goo.gl/32JEes.