What started life as a pair of bent and broken jackstands became a planter which it stayed until we couldn’t figure out what to plant in it and I decided to make a metal vine of imaginary metal flowers from the discarded clippings and trimmings of this summer’s metalwork. Managed to hang it above the side door without getting mangled by the wasps. Tempers flared, but stingers didn't.
My wife gave me a pair of old garden shears and said she wanted me to make something with them so I stared at them off and on for a few weeks until this hit me yesterday. Added the base (I’m thinking it was the top of a bit of farm machinery exhaust), designed and printed the lampshades (used magnetic USB-C bulbs for the lights – a wonderful thing for making lamps with reclaimed metal), and took a wild creative swing with the red paint. Worked out well, I think.
I was halfway through this latest character when I figured out how deeply I was inspired by Jason Aaron and Mahmud Asrar’s brilliant BUG WARS series. So I rolled with it and ended up with my own original denizens of Slade’s yard: Hank’s the (bug) explorer, Frank’s his (slug) steed, all birthed from old tractor parts, plenty of nuts and washers, typewriter bars, and, in Frank’s case, an old boot jack my wife gave me.
A companion piece to an end table I made awhile back. Used old barn wood for the base, a part of a jack stand, and sheet metal. The light source is a usb-c chargeable bulb that turns all sorts of pretty colors.
(AKA the aforementioned “a fucking adorable plant pot(s) I designed and printed)
