Hi Lynda,
Your gates are beautiful.I clicked the post and my eyes were suddenly treated to artful work.Bravo.
Frank

just wanted to say how nice the gates are, wonderful symetry love the forged elements at the top of the gate.
What finish have you put on it.?Adrian

I particularly like the detail reflected on the plates beneath the handles ... nice work ...and interesting to see how you developed from the drawing.

GiuPepsi

Very nice work. Easy on the eye, yet very detailed.
Eric

Hi Lynda, The gates look really great. I love all of the unique details. You really have to look at it a while to catch them all. I also like the fact that no verticals or horizontals go completely from one end to the other. What finish did you use? I love the color as it is.

On another note, what was the final word on refinishing your other rail? Did you end up using a different laquer? Hopefully it wasn't too time consuming.

Jake

Lynda-
That is really beautiful! Some new owner is really happy right now.
Rob

Hi Linda

More pictures please

Gerald Boggs

Linda great work, love the design, the symitry, and the finish as well as everything about this project!!!

"GRIZZ"

One of the things I learned with this piece was really thinking about the centerline of the gates and keeping everything in plane.  I draw myself into tight corners fairly easily then spend hours scratching my head figuring out exactly how the heck we're going to make what I gaily sketched out! 

For example, the four 'umbrella handles' roughly across the middle have to be centered under the vertical above because it tenons through them, then they have to run alongside the neighboring vertical for the 'zap and wrap' and then go to the outside of the horizontal bars lower down - which I didn't really think about till I was in the middle of making it and wasn't a hard fix but there were lots of details like that.

Jake, that was observant about no bars running fully vertical or horizontal (except the posts and bottom bars) - that was one of the 'rules' I set myself with this design.  The finish issue was basically putting the Permalac on too cold so we are set to go and do a spot re-finish on the railings later in the year.  The gates are for the same client, same property, same finish - applied in December - yes they are rusty.  We took them down a while back and will get them back at our shop to re-finish in a week or so.  I have been waiting for the weather to warm up a bit.  We have done a load of test pieces and basically, if the metal is warm enough when you put the Permalac on it is a grand finish, but the shop was barely 50degrees so you know the steel was colder and that was our problem.  We'll wire brush, do a rust conversion treatment, re-wire brush and apply probably 6 coats of Permalac.  We're on with the client's cabinet hardware and have a bunch of light fixtures to do for them too.  I don't know how we ended up with this much work from them!  Have to worry about getting too comfortable with it all!

Lynda

Linda,

These gates are top-notch! Congratulations and I am certain the client is pleased.

Fred
Fred Zweig
Metalsmith
Musings of a Metalsmith
http://fredz49.blogspot.com/

I was doing a web search for patinas and came accross this site. One of the first photo's I looked at were your gates, so I joined. Nice work!
~Lauren