The projects I always enjoy the most are those that involve multiple material types. For this “flower” I etched both sides of some 1/4″ glass shards and added paint to the etching to provide color. I then epoxied the glass into the welded metal base that I clear-coated beforehand.

  Always eat your leftovers is a mantra that I often repeat to my son and am constantly reciting to myself in the shop, the step and leaves of this flowers are leftover cuts from bicycle brake rotors from other flowers I put together, and give this piece an airy feel that keeps it unique. … Continue reading Rotor Flower

  It took a few false starts to figure this flower out but, as is often the case, the finished product makes the unexpected setbacks worth the input.  The glass candle base holds a bearing that allows the cluster of springs (and the protruding flower) to spin. A bicycle chain stem supports the brake rotor … Continue reading Spinning Flower

When I start a new flower, there’s always one part that jumps off my bench as being foundational.  Like the first piece of a puzzle, something stands out as being recognizable as part of a form that I couldn’t have seen otherwise.  Here, I was given a broken whisk and knew it was flower petals; … Continue reading Whisk Flower

You can’t weld glass.  You can’t weld aluminum to steel.  You really shouldn’t weld magnesium.  “You can’t” has never been a phrase I’ve let slow me down though.  This flower holds an electrical motor spindle inside a glass electrical insulator that’s suspended from an aluminum bracket from a small aircraft with aluminum bicycle sprocket leaves, … Continue reading Insulator Flower

  I’m a sucker for shiny things.  When I take something apart or am going through somebody’s junk pile, I just can’t help holding onto the stuff that catches the light.  At some point though, that stuff has to become something else and a flower is a great way to use up the smaller elements … Continue reading Candle Cup Flower

Nothing should only have one life.  When something breaks or gets worn out, I always drag it out to my shop, take it apart, and then start thinking about what else those parts could be.  In the case of this flower, I had a nifty little wine bottle opener that decided it was no longer … Continue reading Wine Bottle Opener Flower

More often than not, my projects go through a stall period.  I get an idea or pick up a part that I see as something new, and then I get stuck.  Sometimes because I’m not sure how to make it work the way I see it in my head, other times I’m can’t seem to … Continue reading Saw Blade Flower

Everybody likes a little rotation.  When I was asked to make a flower that incorporated some atomic styling, my initial plan was to go simple.  That didn’t work out.  Instead, I pressed a gas pump dial onto a string trimmer head, affixed that to an axel from a small aircraft, bolted that to a coffee … Continue reading Atomic Flower

Sometimes I start a project around one piece that I just can’t put down.  Other times, I look around my shop and think “I have got to get rid of some of this stuff.”  This flower falls hard into that second approach.  There’s a timing gear from a jeep engine, a trailer hitch ball, a … Continue reading Bottle Flower

  A little glass can go a long way.  Especially if you perch it on a modified drill chuck that’s attached to position sensor from a small aircraft, hinged off of a weed whacker crank shaft by means of jigsaw blade-guide, that all sits on a couple of espresso grinder burrs and is flanked by … Continue reading Glass Orchid

The “antenna” on this flower are actually temperature probes from a small aircraft.  That said, this isn’t actually a flower.  It’s a bicycle cluster, an espresso machine solenoid stem, espresso machine dispersion screens, coffee grinder burrs, two brass door pulls, a little gear from a busted camera, a piece of cut glass, and the aforementioned  temperature … Continue reading Antenna Flower

Most of the things I make have a definable function, a practical purpose that they perform while being aesthetically appreciable.  On occasion however, things come together in my workshop whose only function is in its aesthetic.  This lawn mower piston head and Jeep transmission synchro had been on my parts bench for a while; more than a few … Continue reading Piston in Bloom

As simple as the concept of these little flowers is, there’s something about them that I just really love.  Maybe it’s because the smaller more straight forward a piece is, the more each detail has to matter.  Or, perhaps it’s better to say that each detail gets to matter more.   Approximate Overall Dimensions: 4″ … Continue reading 32cc Flower

I have a hard time walking away from an element once it’s caught my eye.  The body of this flower bud is a brass fire-system sprinkler head, but because it’s brass it can’t be welded to the steel petal structure and base.  To make it work, I used a series of espresso machine and engine … Continue reading Sprinkler Sprocket Spring Flower

It’s easy to get carried away with details when trying to make something unique, small projects often require that those details don’t become overwhelming.  This little flower follows the mindset that less can be more given it has the right touch of color. Approximate Dimensions: 4.5″ deep, 5″ wide, 9″ Tall  

Every flower I make follows a basic pattern while remaining unique by way of it’s composition.  The stem of this flower is an adjustment lever from an office chair, with weed whacker clutch assembly buds and a base from a steering-wheel quick-disconnect mechanism.  The bloom itself is weed whacker piston bounded by bicycle sprockets. Approximate … Continue reading Multi-Bud Flower

Generally I try to keep my flowers pruned back to simpler elements and forms, with this one however, I felt a little more wild growth was in order.  Lawnmower cam gears rise from a jeep cam gear/coffee grinding burr/jeep valve.  The upper stem is from a weed whacker, and feeds into a jacobs drill chuck … Continue reading Luxe Flower

More with Less is always my mantra when I make these little flowers, and the closer I adhere to that metric, the happier I am with the finished piece.  I feel like I struck pretty close to the core with this one; I used an arm from an aircraft pulley, a weed-whacker stator, a bicycle … Continue reading FreeWheel Flower

Putting these flowers together is a little like writing a poem. A single part, like a single line, can set the whole works in place and it can take a tremendous act of will to keep it from running away with you.  What better locution to begin with than “An ignitor from an aircraft engine”? … Continue reading Ignitor Flower

It might be my background in espresso, but whenever I see anything brass my palms get a little sweaty.  Brass can’t be joined to other metals through the welding process that I use, so I have to be more creative in the ways that I work it in.  Here, for example, I pressed parts together … Continue reading Sprinkler Head Flower

Sometimes ideas come in threes, or perhaps better said, sometimes I have enough parts to try an idea more than once. It had been a while since I made any flowers, and after wrapping up a rather large commission, the time was ripe to dial out some small art. These flowers are composed of aircraft … Continue reading Spring Compressor Flowers