At last weekend's event benefitting the Boys & Girls Club of Bend, I was taken aback on how quickly my Scrap Metal Succulent Sculptures sold. So quickly, I was unable to photograph all of them before they found new homes. That, itself, made my weekend. I think these will have to be a Found Natural Goods staple.
Above are three iPhone shots to show you some of what I made with my handy dad, Larry. We walked around his ranch in Alfalfa, Oregon where I grew up––picking up rocks, pieces of wood, bricks, old rusted out tire rims--discussing their potential as vessels. Will it fit most windows? Is it beautiful on its own? How will it age?
So, in the process of walking around the property--Alfalfa, as I call it––searching for hidden treasures amongst his piles, I found five that I knew were the ones. Metal here, wood there, burn pile, dump pile, last construction job scraps––the life of a rural collector and jack-of-all-trades.
We carried all the scrap metal beam pieces from a past project of his down to the garage, created cedar wood bottoms, sanded them to the round edges of the metal, drilled a hole for drainage, oiled the wood with a citrus-based stain, and planted them with the succulents that seemed most suited for each unique metal shape. And, the day of the event, I added a single flicker feather to each one that my brother and I found on a run around First Street Rapids earlier this fall.
I have one Metal Scrap Succulent Sculpture left––planted with a jade family succulent. If you're interested, it's last call!
-Jacq
