Yard Art

[Unkle_John]

Anyone here do like or make yard art?

Yeah I'm not talking about pink flamingos and gazing balls. I'm also talking about sculptures you make to put in your yard among the vegetation. At the last place my wife and I lived, I made a bowling ball garden (sadly I had to sell all but one of the bowling balls, would you move them across state? there was 37 of them!) and bottle trees (which I recycled the bottles that the new owners didn't want to keep). I wish I had pics of the garden (I just have a bowling ball ring) or the bottle tree. But I do plan on creating some more in the future.

Currently I have a few "found art" sculptures, a few plow blades and rods bolted together to make a sunflower or two, a found metal horse painted silver, a few cement skulls I cast years ago and what-not litter... er..enhance my backyard. It's just a small step for me in this new place, but in a few years it will be built up like the old place. Enjoy the photos:

Old house:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/b_balls.jpg
Bowling ball ring

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/ghost.jpg
If you have ghosts, then you have everything.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/srooms-1.jpg
Musshies

[Unkle_John]

New House:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/Dscf0045.jpg
Tractor blade sunflower

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/silver_horse.jpg
Hi-Ho Silver!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/cement_skulls.jpg
Cement skulls, being grateful

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/bowlingball.jpg
Bowling ball gazing ball.

[Unkle_John]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/bottletree01-1.jpg
Bottle Shrub

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/bottletree02.jpg
Bottle Tree

[hits.of.sunshine]

oh my goodness i feel like this thread was made for me...due to my love of yard art that i mentioned...i made this wild snake (i do sculpture).... thing this whole huge project..errrrrr...can't even explain...but it involves this massive snake thing and then decapitated barbies that i bronzed and placed about town (in my yard) but also random places that people would happen upon once in awhile...if they looked in weird places... crazy. not to mention i did this whole thing with chicken feet (veggie since 11 but...) found this tree that was the xmas tree for the city and took all of its decorations off and put up chicken feet. kind of weird but it was awesome...wish i had pictures to share but they were polaroids and missing. anyway, thanks for the thread. anyone w/ gnomes, please post...i LOVE gnomes for some reason. i feel like i shoud be one..........................

[Unkle_John]

I'll go on a gnome hunt for you this weekend. I know where some hid in our yard.

Sounds like an awesome project! I have been planning on placing art around town, just haven't figured out what I'm going to do. I live in a pretty laid back but conservative town and I want it to appeal to everyone and not worry about trespass or litter laws (like there are any in this little town).

JuJu and I are planning on making our back yard into an art environment, I've been trying to save up for a cement mixer. My b-day is in September so hopefully if I'm good, I'll get one. We also are still looking for a well maintained but unwanted van to convert to a camper / art car.

[hits.of.sunshine]

Man I've always been a gnome person (maybe b/c i grew up in the 80s w/ david the gnome?) but anyway, love them. all of them. what i did with one of my professors when i was in college, we did metal castings of babyheads... literally (well, not child heads...but babylike heads) and we'd place them in reallllllly obscure-not-to-be-found-for-awhile places... like, if we were at a bar, we'd place them on the top shelf of liquor that no one touches for awhile or hide them in bathrooms, etc....anyway, we did the same thing w/ chicken feet. we'd hide them everywhere. we'd hide them in people's lights, doorways, xmas trees, storefronts, whatever anyone could think of. it was awesome. i know chicken feet aren't quite the same but i must say that the feet we put in this one restaurant's lights...they're still there years later (i check on them) and they've turned into this nasty grey/purple dead color. horrid. still funny to me...but obviously i digressed. any gnome things would be much appreciated...take care you guys!

[CowboyHippy]

thats not a sunflower john, it's a mailbox buzzsaw setup
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0qi56/mailbox.jpg

i think i am the only one that goes to the scrap yard and buys rusty metal

then there is goliath
bunch of old sprinkler and steam lines, then leftover broken jeep parts and steel building supports
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0qi56/goliath.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/res0qi56/goliath%20move.jpg

I have an 8' tall stump in the backyard, i am working on this clutching eagle thing but i need to gather and forage quite a bit more stuff for it

[Hippie Staff]

Gosh you guys put me to shame. Cowboy - the Goliath is awesome & John, I love the sunflower tractor blade.

(Going to go hide my tiki now).

[butterflyDancer]

Woah, those are awesome! You all have inspired me XD Maybe I'll go play outside... after I do laundry...

:hb:

[CowboyHippy]

all my cutting is done with a metabo or a sawzall, i need some torches

then the neighbors will really be pissed

[LIBRA]

super cool guys!!!

I LOVE the bottle tree looks real nice all icy too

And I also dig the hello outta goliath, freakin sweet!!

I wish we were all real life friend, you guys would be so cool to hang out with, and maybe possibly make me some yard art :D

I have a few gnomes, a cool wooden mushroom, ceramic shrooms, and thats about it, but this spring I may try and build an outhouse (replica)to go over my septic tank cover, I think it look better then a cement block.

[hits.of.sunshine]

so, i found a gnome today! yay! it was kind of hanging out...looking neglected so i plucked it out of it's poverty-stricken world and it now is living with me. he needs a name though... so excited! oh, and those pictures of everyone's yard art are super rad...man, it's definitely inspiring me to put my sculpture background to good use...

[CowboyHippy]

so, i found a gnome today! yay! it was kind of hanging out...looking neglected so i plucked it out of it's poverty-stricken world and it now is living with me. he needs a name though... so excited! oh, and those pictures of everyone's yard art are super rad...man, it's definitely inspiring me to put my sculpture background to good use...

goliath would be a bit harder to rescue, estimated over 700#

[hits.of.sunshine]

yeah, i bet so. goliath is crazy--crazy and awesome. love that. some of you guys have some really cool stuff. i may just haunt the us looking for amazing yard art and... rehome it... :) wouldn't do that to someone's art BUT my new gnome was lonely and lost and so, i took him. he's somewhat battered, but i'll fix him up. there's this awesome gnome sculpted from a dead tree trunk in boulder i believe (a friend sent me a picture) and it's so rad. it's this gnome with squirrels and other little animals and he (the gnome) is sitting, holding his bong...it's so awesome.) whoever made that is my hero.

[CowboyHippy]

john is lucky
i think he gets to witness the art car parade

you can have art and call it a car
I have seen pictures of that stuff, some of it is awesome

[hits.of.sunshine]

i'm sorry, but when i read that i started laughing. "you can have art and call it a car"...that's AWESOME... that's just funny to me for some reason. where does this take place?

[Unkle_John]

Well sunshine I didn't get a chance to look for Gnomes, but I will soon. I haven't gotten all of mar art finished (does it ever?). I have a few tiki's I saved from the dumpster, but I need to replace a few holes in them.

I also have a few hubcap bird baths and other items I need to finish.
I would love to learn how to held. When we move out to the ranch I plan on making sculptures out of machine parts that litter the property. Goliath is awesome. maybe you should make him a faithful friend.

[CowboyHippy]

http://www.orangeshow.org/artcar.html

[hits.of.sunshine]

i'm sorry, did you mean how to weld? (it said held and i'm sure you know how to hold something) anyway, that's my forte...foundry is my thing. i could and SHOULD make goliath a girl partner...i mean, one can't go on w/o a counterpart, hmmm?....it'd be cool. i totally have to means to go get the stuff and make the girl counterpiece...but would she be as cool? would she stand up to the standards of goliath. i mean, seriously. i'd have to think and prepare for it to come out as well as he did. then maybe some other board members could make little children/animals for them to frolic with...in the yards... just an idea.

[CowboyHippy]

welding is easy, i just do the opposite of what i want to accomplish at work and the stuff sticks together. I took classes at the local community college

as far as making a girlfriend for him hell no. someone would give me crap because the woman robot is smaller, or was thrown together out of leftover goliath pieces, then i gotta come home and worry about giant robots fighting in the lawn. might just be scary (besides, goliath is technically non-gendered, and it's be hard to get a ring on the giant pincer)

[hits.of.sunshine]

lol, i meant, for my yard! they could have a long distance relationship. or not. just throwing it out there...just thought he might be lonely. yeah i did foundry in college and had a blast.

[CowboyHippy]

he came out of the dumpster of the MSU spartan stadium remodel, piece by piece. I still have some tubes for the someday project of standing him up

[hits.of.sunshine]

he's beautiful. and hefty i bet. i really need to get out and do some yard art. love it. maybe i'll make a trashy little gnome by hand... i feel kind of bad for taking the other one... i'm calling him gaylord. it think it fits. or chadwick.

[LIBRA]

welding is easy, i just do the opposite of what i want to accomplish at work and the stuff sticks together. I took classes at the local community college

as far as making a girlfriend for him hell no. someone would give me crap because the woman robot is smaller, or was thrown together out of leftover goliath pieces, then i gotta come home and worry about giant robots fighting in the lawn. might just be scary (besides, goliath is technically non-gendered, and it's be hard to get a ring on the giant pincer)


LOL thats funny, a non gendered giant robot...made me chuckle!!

I love welding, an ex taught me how a few years ago and I loved doing it, I wish I had money to buy a welder. He was surprised how clean my welds came out even on my first shot, he was a tin knocker and always brought stuff home from work to let me play.

[hits.of.sunshine]

wow, seems like there are quite a few welders. maybe we should populate the us with goliath and friends...

[CowboyHippy]

that would be dandy, a passive movement, like the alice's resturant massacre

[Buffalo Head '75]

that would be dandy, a passive movement, like the alice's resturant massacre

where do we dump the garbage?

[Unkle_John]

...as far as making a girlfriend for him hell no. someone would give me crap because the woman robot is smaller, or was thrown together out of leftover goliath pieces, then i gotta come home and worry about giant robots fighting in the lawn. might just be scary (besides, goliath is technically non-gendered, and it's be hard to get a ring on the giant pincer)

Nerd.
I was talking about a dog. LOL :42:

[hits.of.sunshine]

wow i liked that monster face icon thing. goliath needs friends around the country. (if his owner disagrees, i'll stop, BUT...it'd be kind of cool to see a lot of little goliath friend pictures from all of you)... i may go at it... just need to find some scrap...

[Unkle_John]

Look what I found lurking in the fallen leaves:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/gnome0034.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/gnome0035.jpg

[hits.of.sunshine]

oh my god!!!!! you've made my day. GNOMES!!!! oh my. i'm going to keep those pictures somehow. thank you for making my day amazingly happy and thinkin' of lil sunshine when you found them. that's so awesome!!!! mine pales in comparison. i'm reviving him though

[CowboyHippy]

ya know

funnel for the hat, steel wool for the beard, asst nuts and bolts and you got a metal weldable gnome

[hits.of.sunshine]

lol, i'm working on a design for not only a giant metal gnome, but a gnome carved into a tree trunk (there's one in boulder that's beautiful)...it's holding it's "waterpipe" :) and is surrounded by squirrels and little beautiful creatures. it's really a true piece of art. whomever did it, is...awesome. i've got my work cut out for me. the metal will be a lot easier than wood, at least w/ my background.

[Unkle_John]

I have these crazy plans that came to me one day out in the fields. It uses old farm windmill towers and conducts lightning. A time machine.

[hits.of.sunshine]

Do you think a teleporting device would be out of the question? :) i need to get somewhere and see someone...NOW. let me know when you have it done. i'll be knocking on your door :)

[CowboyHippy]

Do you think a teleporting device would be out of the question? :) i need to get somewhere and see someone...NOW. let me know when you have it done. i'll be knocking on your door :)


do a google for Dr Evermore's Forevertron

[hits.of.sunshine]

oooh will do!! i know i can't get to CA in the next five minutes, but hell.. if i could...........thank you!

[Unkle_John]

Dr Evermore's Forevertron is the type of art environment I will be making. That's the style I'm been drawing out.

[hits.of.sunshine]

checked it out. really awesome!! thanks for posting!!
:hippie:

[CowboyHippy]

i bet that guy started out with a couple of garden gnomes

[hits.of.sunshine]

us gnome people get carried away!!!!

[Unkle_John]

Well I've been trying to keep myself on a schedule so that I don't let time slip away from me like in the past. In the tradition on using found "junk" to make recycled art, I decided to use those baby moons that have been sitting in this garage since the previous owner. Here is what I did today:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/DSCF0087.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/DSCF0088.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/DSCF0089.jpg

[LIBRA]

thats so cool John!!!!! what are baby moons anyway?

Did julie love it? Looks really great!!

[Unkle_John]

Baby moons are old school hubcaps.

Julie loves it and wants to find more to fill in the space.

[CowboyHippy]

i best not see any vw nose emblems or hubcaps on there

[Unkle_John]

i best not see any vw nose emblems or hubcaps on there

Naw.. those get turned into bird baths. LOL

Actually If i had some VW ones, they would get a special spot on the wall out of the elements (unless they are dented or dusted with rust).

[freakyfairy]

loving the bottle tree!!!
im not so good at sculpture, but when i get my own place i wanna do a huge mosaic out of all scraps of broken plates and glass and any other junk.... :D

[Siobhan]

Oh my gosh those bottle sculptures are fantastic!

[Unkle_John]

I saw this (http://atwestend.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1032) in a catalog and thought "Hell I can make that".
So I did.
Don't get me wrong, I love this catalog. It gave me many ideas!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0010.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0009.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0008.jpg

I didn't fill it up as much so you can see how to make your own. All of the materials are recycled. The bottle was thrown in my yard, the flowers grew in my yard, The water is from my bird bath (see below) and I saved the twist ties from the trash long ago. To tell you the truth I had a clear bottle, but as I was securing it, it slipped and broke. So I used this substitute.

[Unkle_John]

Now look up one if you didn't see it.

Here is the rest of some art around the house.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0016.jpg

My Great Aunt passed away about a year ago and we inherited some of her art. Here are some of the stained glass pieces we have that welcome you as you come up to the door way.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0018.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0012.jpg

If you scroll up (or check the page before) you can see that there was grass growing where there is now rocks. All of these rocks are rocks that can be cut and polished for jewelry. The previous owner scattered them all over the year (I have a bent mower blade to prove it). So when I pulled the pond up I reused the lining to cover the bed and I gathered them up in the spot you see now.

continued:

[Unkle_John]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0013.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0014.jpg

The blue crock pot was a dumpster find.
I placed it night next to the facet so when it sprays, it collects water for the birds and squirrels to enjoy.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF0011.jpg

The north side jungle, just left of the gate in the post above.
I never have to worry about being away from trees and such from my part of TX.
And last but not least:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/Spring/2009/DSCF17.jpg

Three rescued kittens. Their 4th sibling got away with momma. I'm going to put a live trap out for her and hopefully we can snag the 4th one. Don't worry they are going to a good home on the ranch where they will have many other new friends to play with and many pack rats to eat. Their mother had them in my compost bin and it's not the first time she's had a litter there. So we decided that she and her babies needed to go to the ranch where they would be safer.

[Unkle_John]

Make sure yall check like 4 posts before this one.

Freakyfairy and Siobhan, these are for you:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/bottletree02-1.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/bottletree01.jpg

[Taurus]

awesome pictures; love your yard. thanks for sharing.

[LIBRA]

Great picts John, love em! The rock garden is rockin :D

Great idea using that crock pot for the hose fct, really cool!

Those kitties are soo cute, im glad you are rescuing them!

Love your eco abode, glad you posted :)

[LIBRA]

I just reread this whole post, made me laugh!

I got the same magazine with the glass bottle vase on a stick. They were expensive and I thought the same thing, how easy to make! So cool you did!

[Hippie Staff]

Cool rocks - so what do they look like if you cut them? I want to learn how to cut/polish rocks. We found some cool rough pink tourmaline in the local mts., and I'm dying to see it polished up.

I love the bottle art - how easy and fun is that.

And the composted kitten art is the best. haha..

[Unkle_John]

Thanks everyone.

As for the rocks, some are polished, some are cut, some are untouched.
I'm going to leave them for now. I do, however, have alot of small polished rocks that have been scattered in a certain area for some reason. I also have this little fake rock of wisdom.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/art/rock36.jpg

It says:


Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence.

I found it while gathering rocks. I have it under one of my tractor plow blade sunflowers.

[Taurus]

like the quote. maybe i'll put it on my desk where my co-workers can see it - some of them could use the hint :)