It Starts with the Metal: How Scrap Becomes Art

I don't start with a sketch—I start with scrap.

A rusted fireplace ring, a vintage Phoenix milk crate, an old spice rack. I find material at scrap yards, antique shops, and through friends who know I see potential in things most people walk right past. 

The metal usually tells me where to go next.

Finding the Composition

Before anything gets welded, it gets stacked.

I lay pieces out, lean them together, turn them around, move them again. I'm waiting for that moment when completely unrelated objects suddenly look like they belong together.

Sometimes it takes five minutes.  
Sometimes a pile sits there for weeks.

The Build

Once the composition feels right, I grab my cutter, grinder, and welder. No molds. No templates. No production line.

With Starbound, I started with a large metal star, a circular wire form, and a long ladder-like section of steel.

I kept shifting and stacking them until the star found its place at the top—and suddenly the whole sculpture felt like it was reaching upward.

That's usually how it happens. I don't know exactly what a piece will become when I start. I find it somewhere between the cutting, grinding, welding, and changing my mind.

Built to Last

Once finished, I clean and seal the steel to preserve its character and help protect the surface.

These sculptures are made to be lived with—indoors or outdoors—with very little maintenance.

And because I build with found and reclaimed materials, every piece is truly one of a kind.

Found. Welded. Transformed.