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broken tools converted into yard art and other landscape art inspiration

 
author and steward
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Once upon a time I bought 80 acres. And just before moving onto the 80 acres, I was struggling with trying to verbally describe different plans at different points on the property.

One day, during this period of time after the purchase and before the move, I was at a little craft fair. So very boring. Except for one spot where a guy had little critters that he had welded up from old tools. He said he would go to auctions and get a pickup truck load of old hand tools and parts for about $50. And then he would weld them together quickly and ....


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I stuck these in spots through the property and then I could refer to things like "near the centipede!"

 
gardener
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The craftsman has a good eye. Nice work.
 
steward
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I like the Craftsman, um, dinosaur? dragon?
 
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Julia call it tyranysaurus wrench! lol
 
pollinator
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You just gotta have a way of looking at things. Very cool
 
Sue Rine
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There's a plumber in our town who makes creatures too. The starting point is often the copper inner of hot water cylinders. He once made a King Kong which sat atop our picture theatre during the showing of said movie and beyond. The size would be an advantage for farm location ID purposes as they'd be easily seen.
 
Sue Rine
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Or then there's this... http://www.corrugatedcreations.co.nz/index.html
There's a whole town here in nz where this guy's stuff features. Some of them are huge...whole buildings. But there are more modest ideas too.
 
Sue Rine
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http://www.corrugatedcreations.co.nz/album/P-R/Pie%20-%20Putaruru.jpg

This one is especially for you, Paul!
 
gardener
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Seems you have roads going to different sections of the property. If you have an icon for a place i.e frog pond, have a routed copy of the icon with an arrow for a direction sign on the road.
 
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Location: Kent, WA
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LIFE SIZE scrap metal and wood created into art...

Ex-Nihilo Sculpture Park Near Mt. Rainier National Park
Recycled Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park
http://www.danielklennert.com/

"When you first glimpse Dan Klennert's Recycled Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park on your way to Mount Rainier National Park, you might just brake to a stop. And if you don't, we guarantee you will want to when the next opportunity arises.

Peering over the fence you may wonder, "What IS this place?" In Latin "Ex-Nihilo" translates to "something created from nothing." The park is a random collection of animals, monsters, motorcycle riders and structures - all wrought from the imagination and materials found by the artist.

Go ahead, drive in and allow plenty of time for your journey through Spirits of Iron. Klennert has worked for years to create this garden, though he'll tell you that making art seldom feels like work - days pass like hours when he's inspired." copied from: http://www.visitrainier.com/pg/sculpture_park/Ex-Nihilo-Sculpture-Park-Near-Mt-Rainier-National-Park

If you're ever going to Mt Rainier National Park, definitely stop in! Dan is a kick in the pants to talk to.
 
steward
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Here's something rather purple, yet I love it!

From Fantasywire's Facebook photo..

dancing-with-dandelions-by-fantasywire.jpg
dancing with dandelions wire sculpture by Fantasywire in the UK
dancing with dandelions wire sculpture by Fantasywire in the UK
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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Sue Rine wrote:http://www.corrugatedcreations.co.nz/album/P-R/Pie%20-%20Putaruru.jpg

This one is especially for you, Paul!



Here's the pic of that one:


Nice!

Somehow, with "corrugated" I kept thinking cardboard, not steel!
 
Sue Rine
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I'm not usually into fairies but that is stunningly beautiful. The delicacy of the seeds wafting away, yet made from something that could be seen as harsh. Love the Mt Rainier sculptures too.
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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Sue Rine wrote:I'm not usually into fairies but that is stunningly beautiful. The delicacy of the seeds wafting away, yet made from something that could be seen as harsh. Love the Mt Rainier sculptures too.


Me too.

The Fantasywire guy also makes dandelions, 6 ft tall, without fairies. His wire isn't exactly a recycled thing, but I imagine there are ways to upcycle used materials into a similar design.

 
Sue Rine
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WOW!
Just nip over to the dandelion paddock will you...
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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We have lots of stone at base camp. Just sayin'.

 
Posts: 8898
Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain
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I love what I'm seeing in this thread, especially the dandy lion fluff fairies and now this video of balancing rocks......years ago, we were taking a long walk back into Monteray on the beach (after taking the bus out of town towards Carmel) and started seeing stacks of rocks and then more and more and then suddenly we surprised the guy as he was stacking.
We felt really bad because he had been off in his own world for who knows how long and just looked totally in a trance....
We end up stacking/balancing small rocks anywhere there are some with the grandkids........some last awhile and point directions, etc. This guy in the video has just set the bar really high!
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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Found this on the Repurposed Things FaceBook page.

As others commented, it seems a bit of a waste of what could be fairly decent shovel heads, but kind of a cool design, nonetheless.

Old shovels arranged into clever conifer cone sculptures. By artist Patrick Plourde


fbyardart.jpg
sculpture by Patrick Plourde
sculpture by Patrick Plourde
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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We're dreaming of more stone art here.

One example is this Kickstarter for a truck made out of dry stack stone.

From the artist Chris Miller's website:



See also the gorgeous stone art at Devine Escapes. This is just one photo.



 
Judith Browning
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This guy!  


Sculptor John Lopez is a product of a place. His people’s ranches are scattered along the Grand River in northwestern South Dakota.


John’s own forte lies in gentling colts and perfecting their bloodlines—and he started his celebration of them by sculpting in clay. Capturing every nuance, every muscle, in this land where business is still conducted over a cup of coffee and “neighboring” is a way of life. Somehow that way of life—where times seems to have stood still—has seen the transition from horsepower to vehicles. The rusted carcasses of discarded equipment stand testament to generations of labor. And the man who knows blood lines has picked through them, choosing the elements of the past—the actual implements that plowed the soil or cut the grain or dug the dinosaur—and created the curve of a jaw, the twitch of a tail, the power of a shoulder.


John Lopez Studio





 
steward
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Location: Pacific Northwest
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I just kind of feel the need to brag about my parents. They've created so much garden art out of antique, old, and family heirloom pieces of metal. Here's just some of their art.
rake-owl.jpg
Owl made from old rakes, bicycle chains, shovel, and more!
Owl made from old rakes, bicycle chains, shovel, and more!
dale-duck-snail.jpg
We named this guy Dale the Duck-Snail
We named this guy Dale the Duck-Snail
dale-snail.jpg
Dale from another angle!
Dale from another angle!
christmas-tree.jpg
A Christmas tree (there's also leafy rebar art in the background)
A Christmas tree (there's also leafy rebar art in the background)
praying-mantis.jpg
A praying mantis with a shovel for a head
A praying mantis with a shovel for a head
fishing-pole.jpg
A gigantic fishing pole that's caught a spinning 'ball' made from old barrel rings
A gigantic fishing pole that's caught a spinning 'ball' made from old barrel rings
heart-gate.jpg
Heart gate made from--I think--old auto parts and other scrap metal. It closes with a horse shoe.
Heart gate made from--I think--old auto parts and other scrap metal. It closes with a horse shoe.
flower-gate.jpg
Flower gate
Flower gate
shoe-last-bench.jpg
A bench they made with my great-grandfather (who was a shoe maker)'s shoe lasts, and maple wood from a tree on their property
A bench they made with my great-grandfather (who was a shoe maker)'s shoe lasts, and maple wood from a tree on their property
 
pollinator
Posts: 3089
Location: Meppel (Drenthe, the Netherlands)
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And there's Yubi Kirindongo, famous artist of Curaçao. His work is all over the island. Most is made of car parts.
https://yubikirindongo.org/museum/  
https://yubikirindongo.org/portfolio/art-in-public-space/
https://yubikirindongo.org/portfolio/car-parts/

Some of his art is made of natural materials
https://yubikirindongo.org/portfolio/natural-materials/

And so he inspireded the other Curaçaoan artist, Herman van Bergen, who mostly uses thorns ... https://cathedralofthorns.com/thornart/  


 
Nicole Alderman
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I found some more pictures of my parents yard art!

I call this fellow the space ship (it used to have little antique glass power pole insulators underneath it, that looked like aliens disembarking from a space ship :D )

rebar yard art with illuminated glass orb
lit up at night
welded yard art with glass ball
in daylight


Some non-snowy pictures of Draco the Dragon. I love his spiky collar!

welded rebar and shovel dragon
from the front
metal dragon yard art
and from the side


Shovels make such perfectly cute heads!

metal praying mantis sculpture
Manty the Praying Mantis
rebar and shovel yard art
another cute shovel creature


Here's the flower gate, as well as a flower fence, all installed. A lot of it is rebar and sheet metal, but accents were from old bits of semitrucks and other metal odds and ends.

woven metal gate with flowers
I love the metal wattling!
welded flower fence with jesus fish and cross
the large front fence


Here's some more fun ones. The cattail one curves up to hold a windchime.

recycled metal yard art
a metal tree!
welded cattail yard art
I think it's an old truck spring for the cattail?


I'm pretty sure this guy is what started it all, a little over 20 years ago. My brother designed and made him in high school metalworking. I need to get a picture where he's not covered in snow!

welded soldier yard art
This guy used to face off against Draco the Dragon
a bit too much snow to see his pipe-y smile!
 
Nicole Alderman
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These aren't quite repurposed tool yard art, but I think they're fun to share!

welded floral arbor
rebar arbor for shady seeting
welded hanging egg over nest with metal bird
This little birdy laid a GIANT egg!


I love the use of lighting on these ones!

rebar star of Bethlehem lit up with LED lights
Christmas star
rebar heart lit up with green LED lights
Glowing green heart


I'm pretty sure this fish's eye is a giant bolt...

sheet-metal welded fish yard art
I'm glad it can't bite!


This one is inside, but I could see someone hanging something like it outside, too. I love the use of gears and barn wood from the old family barn ♥

steampunk rustic clock made from gears and barnwood
gear clock
 
gardener
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I love this kind of stuff, makes me want to give it a try.  Though it's not as easy as it appears.  I showed my husband, because he can weld, a I could see him making stuff like this before his neck injury.  I had to laugh. He liked it, but was upset ruining a couple of perfectly good pipe wrenches.  That's my Horder.  Thanks for sharing, so cool.
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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Found a perfect example for this thread!



From here
 
Jocelyn Campbell
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Actually, I think I want my screwdriver storage to look like this.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:



Wouldn't that make putting away screwdrivers (or other tools) more fun?

It would take some welding engineering (perhaps) to figure out the best rings or receptacles for the screwdrivers though. And the ones on the bottom half of the flower might need to be permanent and not removable.

Reminds me of this for zombie attacks...or gardening idea:


It just makes you want to have all the tools lined up on that wall, doesn't it?

 
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