A Slight Detour

Life is full of surprises, good and bad! At age fiftyseven, I am still passionate about pursuing a path of metal artistry in lighting but needed to take a slight detour with a job at Harry & David. The working requirement is a swing shift in their warehouse as a merchandise handler and receiver from 3:00 to 11:00 PM. I do like the job and people there and the paychecks help to fuel my creative endeavor. The physical activity at work is allowing my body to get back into shape once again, reuniting me with a phase of self from years past. Now it’s a matter of finding balance between a job and my creative pursuit. Time and energy are my two shortages along with redefining what I want to create.

Recently, a shipment of an English Wheel arrived at the shop. This new addition is only part of a new series of tools for working with sheet metal. What a heavy beast of a tool! The upper body is made from cast iron and weighs about 300 pounds. I had no success after making several calls to get my hands on a cherry picker, a tool used to hoist engines or other heavy objects. I looked around my shop and things started to click! I used various ladders and other materials to help distribute weight and came up with my own hoist.

There’s definitely a learning curve to this new path of metal shaping. Some of the other tools have already been put to use with our patio makeover in 2021. All the copper was folded and shaped via the pan brake. The patio gate design was done with my new pan brake and bead roller. YouTube has been a great way to get reinspired with new ideas from watching autobody specialists shaping sheet metal. This seems to be my new creative pathway for building lamps.