New Mini Sculptures being sold on the TAH online shop!

New Mini Sculptures are being sold on the Taylor Art House online shop. This will be a start at on-line sales that have had a great initial soft start and interest.

The items are a combination of steel and up-cycled Douglas Fir lumber that is anywhere from 60 to 120 years old gathered from various places and remodeling jobs around Seattle.  The steel is usually purchased from Pacific Industrial Supply and is pretty basic carbon steel.  Several buyers that have not been able to be at openings or other sales venues have asked to have smaller items they can keep for themselves or gift to others before they mature into larger purchases,. Some buyers have a bigger piece and want to have more of a keepsake  for them or loved ones. Hopefully pieces that aren't in other retail areas or shows will show up on this retail site as a temporary store before this website is reconstructed next year.  There will be other posts to describe some of the processes that go into these mini-pieces.

Here are some of the Mini-Sculptures we have for sale:


Early anvil cuts on a piece of railroad rail

When I went to see my friend Steve Hussey at Burning Specialties in Georgetown last month and showed him some silver pencil marks I made on a 17" long piece of rail he said he hadn't ever seen anything that heavy or with that big of a section and he has worked with a lot of rail in his fabrication business.  Years ago taking a welding class and a weekend shop tour conducted by Mark Rudis at Pratt Fine Arts I met Steve.  A couple of years later after doing several iterations in different materials of my simple Monopoly-like houses I stopped by Steve's shop to ask him if he could cut some houses for me out of 3 1/2" thick steel plate. Steve said no problem and we made two of them after I brought him a solid Douglas Fir full scale model to take measurements from (He still proudly shows it to customers).  I have visited Steve every couple of years since and have watched him continually improve his oxygen/propane ganged CNC cutting machines.  In about 45 minutes Steve adjusted his machine and cut the rail to shape.  The top of the rail behind the horn will be milled to make it flat and a square hole, often called a Hardy hole, that will penetrate the torch cut square hole in the web and another round hole to bend steel or take other accessories will be added.  Finally the horn will be shaped in an oval like cone to take hot metal and bend it into curved shapes.  Possibly will weld a heavy steel plate at the bottom to give it more mass. The round hole with a notch is to take a chain to fasten it to an oak stump or a stand made up of laminated 2x  vertical lumber. More later as the project progresses.  

Entry to the shop Burning Specialties

 

 

Torch in resting mode after cutting the throat under horn.

 

Last cuts on the anvil at the horn.

 

Burning slag at the base of the anvil from last cuts to horn above.

 

Slag removed, very rough grinding

Gatewood B an B Second Thursday continues

Jon Taylor at Gatewood B and B West Seattle Second Thursday Art Walk 

May 8, and June 12, 2014

 

 

Come by this Thursday between 6 and 9pm to see Jon Taylor’s paintings, acrylic resin, welded steel and wood/stainless steel sculptures.

Sara Barton has put the extra effort into the Gatewood B and B in West Seattle to invite several artists to hang their work for sale as well as graciously opening up the second and third floors to display the artwork prominently in the sky lit upper lobby and some of the rooms.

There is always a nice spread of food and a welcoming by Sarah to show off the B and B and the art on Second Thursdays.

 

If you want to see the art on other days and and you want me to walk you through, please call me at 206-612-9863 to set up an appointment,  or you can call Sarah at 206-938-3482 to drop by at the  Gatewood B and B to view the the art next time you are in West Seattle.

 

Come see this great family run B and B and enjoy the art this Second Thursday May 8, 2014 and June 12, 2014 from 6-9pm.

 

 

The Gatewood Bed and Breakfast

7446 Gatewood Rd SW
Seattle, Washington, 98136, United States
206-938-3482
Gatewood Art 2014

Welding cart and construction

  If you buy a new piece of equipment it usually demands some additional tools and equipment.  Here is a list I personally use to make my welds safe for me and effective for the finished piece:

 

Specialized wire cutters to snip off the correct length of wire, a grinder and a portable metal cutting bandsaw.

Protective leather gloves, a mask for particulates and gasses, a cotton cap, a self-darkening welding helmet and a tank with carbon dioxide/argon mix shielding gas for cleaner welds.

A variety of Vise-grips, crecent wrenches, clamps, magnetic holders. There is much more, but these are the basics.

 

Storage for these usually requires a place for the tools and tool boxes for the smaller pieces and expendables.  For convenience a welding cart is a great way to get this family of welding equipment to a welding area and back to its storage area.

You can buy a commercial cart for all of this equipment, but I chose to take the long route and make my own.  I sized this cart to take another tank of gas for stainless steel or aluminum and an additional adjustable shelf for more tools and sized the top for room for another welder or plasma cutter.  I also used my favorite locking 4" casters from RH Brown.

 

[portfolio_slideshow pagerstyle=thumbs pagerpos=topfluid=true class=pager-right paperwidth=180]

New sculpture tool and cart

  Taylor Art House has acquired a new tool for joining steel, a Miller 211 MIG Welder.  My neighbor down the street let me borrow his suitcase MIG welder for several months last year, gave me a hour of lessons, showed me how to set up the shielding gas, how to prepare steel for welding and then how to  "hot glue" pieces of steel.  I got so enamored with the process, I bought my own and hope to have some pieces for the PUP show at Phinney Center Gallery in April 2013. Included are photos of a SketchUp model of a welding cart, the MIG welder and cart pieces read to weld.

[portfolio_slideshow pagerstyle=thumbs=topfluid=true class=pager-right paperwidth=180]

 

 

 

 

Welding Comes to Taylor Art House

I mentioned to a neighbor that I wanted to buy a welder.  He said that he was very busy at work and would let me use his MIG suitcase welder to see how I liked it.  He gave me several examples of how the welder worked and let me at it.  One of my first projects was to make this group of steel "mechanical fingers" out of scrap to help hold pieces together with concentrated weight where clamps are not practical.  

Shots show experiments with spot welding, welding lines and multiple weld passes. Some of the welds have been ground recently.

 

New steel works will be in the 5 x7 and 9 x12 sizes similar to the ceramic works and mixed media of those scales.

 

[portfolio_slideshow pagerstyle=thumbs pagerpos=top fluid=true class=pager-right pagerwidth=530]