GutterCherry:

Yes, that is a wrench welded on a skillet.

Okay, maybe I Franken-welded my frying pan – a little.

There are two good reasons why the OxweldFry was born.

First, it was a trusty little cast iron skillet but for lacking one not so small feature.  No handle.  If you have ever used a cast iron skillet you know they are dang heavy!  The combination of hot and heavy in this scenario doesn’t suite me well at all.  The last thing I need in my kitchen is more ways to maim myself or mess up the food (Tommy calls my Pad Thai ‘Pad Die’).  Without a handle, the pan is dangerous.

Second, who the hell else is going to have a cast iron skillet with a wicked-cool antique wrench for a handle?!  NO ONE – that’s who!!

Besides, I can weld, so why not augment away?  Sometimes I wish everything was cast iron. I would Franken-weld the world and use my powers for good!

The Columbia Queen haunted my dreams.  The Columbia Queen is a paddle boat in the style of the old river boats.  My guess is that it is well over 150 feet paddle and all. It’s hard to tell these days, as it is sitting rotting in a secluded spot on the Columbia River on the way to Astoria, Oregon. Back in the day it was a Portland hot spot. Tommy’s Mom used to dance the night away on it’s expansive ballroom floor.
I took photos of the Columbia Queen and transfered them on to this pot iron stove piece.  Like the river boat, the stove piece is old and has seen better days.  If you look closely at this piece you can see the ghost-like river boat transposed on the details of the ironwork of the stove front.

Thank you Kirby!

The 2Table would not have been possible without my fabulously talented and patient friend Kirby Jones http://www.kirbyjones.com/.  Kirby made it possible for me to use the charred and broken beam of Douglas Fir that was salvaged from a building in Portland, Oregon.  He’s not only talented, he’s magical, because somehow the beam stayed together and is finished in such a way as the charring does not rub off.  Also, I don’t have to use coasters – nice work!

The 2Table is made from reclaimed materials.  The bases are house jacks that were originally used to lift a house from the foundation.  These jacks are solid iron and are of the vintage variety. I like the bell shape and the patina on the metal.

The circular number 2 is a scale weight, 2 for two pounds.  The curves, material, and patina match the jacks sweetly.

The wood beam works nicely; it would be what the jacks were created to move (if the house were still attached).

I love these tables.  They have rhythm, rhyme, and irony! And there are 2 of them!

The man who gave me this iron stirrup got it from a medical building that was being demolished.  It’s old, really, really old. My friend said it dates back to the turn of the century.

Let that sink in for a second.  Turn of the century.

So ladies, take a good look. Nothing has changed.  Same design, same material. Same blind eye to compassion and comfort.

It makes a nice lamp though.

A bit washed out.

Everyone has a favorite article of clothing. My exceptional black hoodie was my best layer friend here in the Pacific NW. I wore it year round, and it accented my ear hat nicely! The best black hoodie a girl could have, lasted me three years. When it was time to say farewell, well, I couldn’t. I decided to go with clothing taxidermy, or re-pursposing it instead of saying goodbye.

I cut the sweatshirt into strips, wove them on to a cotton cord, and sewed the cord in a spiral. The result is half bowl, half muppet, but definitely the beginning of something…

My intention is to continue to add articles of clothing that I love, but are too worn to wear anymore. It could stay on the wall as a textile work, or a become a functional rug, time will tell. At the moment I am just happy I didn’t have to say farewell!

The Railroad Plates are the very first collaboration between me and Tommy.  Born out of our love of different demensions (he’s a painter, and I’m a sculpter) and the sheer need to create.   Trapped in my apartment under two feet of snow with nothing but found objects and photographs, we started this as a way stave off cabin feaver.  Also we were broke, one of us lost their job and shortly after the other one did too.  The plates themselves are the hardware that holds the rails to the ties.  They are set in with spikes and the tracks sit on top of them within the grooves.  We had a few of these plates around from a different project that Tommy designed. My Dad had given me a camera for Christmas and as a result we had tons of photos too.  The industrial nature of the plates lends well to Portland landmarks and all the phtographs are original.  Ships, bridges, trains, and ships passing under brides with trains going by, make up the artwork.  The plates are heavy but we have hung them for shows.  However, they work best with the original spikes used as the backstay.  I like keeping the hardware together and it lends itself to people recognizing their original purpose.  These are found objects so do not be alarmed, all local trains are rolling over the proper amount of track hardware!

This is the first time I’ve posted the work I call “Ruffian”.  I name work as sub-catagories of Gutter Cherry, because Gutter Cherry encompasses everything I do.  So as to not get confused, I name the projects that fall into different mediums and techniques. In this case Ruffian is composed of photographs “decaled” (I just made up that word) on to reclaimed materials.  These pictures are on reclaimed old growth Doug Fir that was salvaged from buildings that were coming down in the Portland area.  The tight clear vertical grain is visible through the photos and adds an interesting dimension.  The photographs are all of local Portland sites too and were taken by myself or Tommy.  If you are familiar with the area you can see the Broadway Bridge, Skyline Cemetery (are most of the tree shots), the Gobal Tavern Viking Ship and some others.   I enjoy this process so stay tuned for more works like these (on metal).

The erra of stovetop (not the original).

“What are the three parts of a stove? Lifter, leg, and poker…” One of two dirty jokes Mommom told me.  (The other one was favorite vegtibles in the garden, “lettuce, turnip, and pea”)  Just a wee bit outdated, but still scandoulous by any standard (ahem).  Me? I like metal, and cast iron is a trip to work with. Solid and beautiful, it is a pleasure to create a peice with a sense of history behind the material. The duce you say? I should refurbish it and donate it to a museum? Well, more often than not single unattached parts – no matter how old, end up as scrap to be melted down. Which is exactly how I found this old stove top.  I almost made it into a picture frame but I had many concrete form holders laying around (that’s what those metal hooks are).  Besides, I like function and my own face so I made it into a coatrack with mirrors.  I added wine corks to the hooks because I have a lot of them too.  Good to tack notes on to remind myself stuff not to forget before I leave the house.

…My what a wordy post!!

I made this mirror from what I think was a homemade chimney cover.  It was covered in soot when I got it.  My intention was to clean it up and then powder coat it a nice lime green or red. However, after I cleaned it the natural metal and remaining paint was too cool to cover. So, I rubbed it with furniture wax and buffed it up to bring out the patina.  I then added the mirror to the back and hung a glass rod from an old chandelier.  I originally wanted to cut the mirror round to fit the protruding hole.  It was then I realized someone fabricated it because it isn’t perfectly round and I noticed the welds were not manufactured (these days I can tell my fellow welders techniques from machines). All together I think it looks rather Asian inspired.

PS. It was hard to get a good picture of the scale, and since I curled my hair this morning I thought my head would put it into perspective better (big as it is).

Gosh, I’ve been obsessed with mushroom hunting since I stumbled across a drunk man on a rainy hike.  He was picking morels even though his glasses were foggey and he was soked to the bone, I have never seen a more blissfull soul!  I thought to myself  ”I can do that”, and ever since I’ve been on a rampage!  So, for almost a year now I’ve been reading, gathering, spore printing, and checking the daily mushroom reports (yes, they have those).  To round out my education I decided the next step was to go out with a professional mycoligist.  So here I am, the proud picker of some lovely chanterelles (yet to be cleaned) and one lonely boletus!