Sculptural Gallery

A Vine for a Church

A Forged Iron Vine spanning about ten feet in width and standing over eight feet tall, this piece was commissioned by a church in Tualatin, Oregon. It is meant to be an allegorical representation of the scripture found in John 15, verse 5: "I am the Vine and you are the branches....". The vine rises from the concrete floor, being 2 inches in diameter there. The vine tapers for its entire length, and has a number of major branches with leaves and tendrils affixed. There are nearly seventy individually hand-forged leaves. There are only two points of attachment or support; the base is set into the concrete floor, and the second point of attachment is above the corner of the entrance. Total weight, nearly eight hundred pounds. This piece was the subject of an article in the NWBA newsletter, the "Hot Iron News"

Details

From this perspectiveone can see that the vine meanders in three dimensions, not just two. The leaves are oriented toward the church entrance, the source of the morning sun. The vine is protected from rusting by the time-honored blacksmith's formula of beeswax and turpentine, applied hot.

Fire Tools

Set of Forged Fire Tools, auctioned off at an NWBA conference. The set is held by a vine, complete with leaves and tendrils, which appears to grow out of the wall. There is a poker, a scraper, a shovel, and a broom. The broom is tied in the traditional manner. This set now resides in Washington state.

Ironwork Functional and Decorative

A Hexagonal Lamp Post with Iron Ivy entwined about its base, is the lower terminus of a long run of winding stair railing sections. For a 1922 home by a noted Portland architect, A. E. Doyle, these railings and others were added in the 1990's. Design elements were taken from existing garden gates, as the home originally had no exterior railings. One of our trademark materials, solid half-round handrail, tops the sections. This friendly-to-the-hand material was typically used in the Portland area from slightly before 1900 up through the 1930's. The lamp is of pierced brass, the shape being an echo of an existing wall-mounted fixture on a rear terrace.