One never knows what one will find with a restoration. The big surprise was finding a wasp nest from nose to tail tip and down the legs within all the cavities of the horse. And it was a heavy nest! This wasp nest factored in splitting the horse apart. Freezing rain also would have expanded the metal.

Once I split the horse open and pulled it apart, I removed the wasp nest to clean it thoroughly inside and out. Residual wasp and nest biomatter were still present, so a hot bath and some compressed air finished the task.

Below the two images of the wasp nest and the opening of the cavity, you can see the unique hammers I use to get into tight areas.

By cleaning and etching the copper edges to a bright finish, I prepared the surfaces for soft soldering. I patched and sealed holes and all broken edges with soft solder, ensuring that I retained and mimicked as much of the original patina in the repaired areas.

I used soft solder to add muscular detail to the front leg and to build up the broken cast-iron ear.

The copper cone on the front leg helped me form muscular detail. I then created a kneecap for the leg that wrapped around a pivot post.

Next, the leg and tail were soldered and the body sealed from the ingress of wasps and other debris.

Once the horse was sealed, I had to dress the solder by grinding, rasping, rough filing, profiling, scraping, sanding, and polishing the soldered joints in preparation for working on the patina.

I created a new pigment and patina colouring using various chemicals and acrylic paint. Finally, I mounted the leg for this beautiful horse to revolve around. The weathervane was finally complete and ready for many more years of enjoyment.

These fibreboard jigs created the template for the spheres. Before drawing on the board, I had to be sure that I had the dimensions and form right. The right-hand image was the trial run of the middle sphere.

The sculpture required three twists of the wire on a small ball and on the two large wire circles. 

I started with the small circle in the middle, twisted it in place beside each large circle, only to realize that I had to put the circle inside. The wire, which I initially twisted only twice, required one extra twist to make the design work and position the smaller sphere correctly, inside the two large spheres. 

Of course, I don't charge for hiccups, and I share my mistakes so that they become learning moments for my readers and me, teaching us not to feel bad but to learn from what happens.

The wire sculpture came together as I started to silver-solder the joints. However, the hoops collapsed, so I had to modify the vise-grip clamp. 

My challenge was making a jig to allow me to silver-solder the open connections. (A jig is a device that holds the position of a piece of work and guides the tools operating on it.)

I temporarily attached the wires with hairpins to keep them in place, allowing me to see the wire loops in their proper positions.

Finally, I created a base and a stand for this model. I made the stand from medium-density fiberboard, affixed a green felt pad to the bottom and painted the base matte black to accentuate the spheres.

The spheres illustrate the concept in TBOM called “Spherical Dynamism.” It’s a way of representing and visualizing the written words and music. 

To learn more about our friend Joël Tibbits and his creative endeavours, click on these links for The Books of Magra website, Instagram for Joël Tibbits, and Instagram for The Books of Magra.

The 84-inch stork has its paper patterns cut, ready to transfer to sheet steel. I taped it all up to make sure everything would fit well.

Before I began fitting, forming, and welding, I had to wait for the pump and hose parts to arrive.

I mocked up tail feathers to see if the effect was right and later decided to make natural-looking feathers in steel rather than stylized feathers.

This plaster stork mock-up evolved. The neck went through more iterations before I started the steel form. The water had to get up to the beak area of the stork and I had to figure out how to do that and allow enough space in the neck for that to happen. The 1" water pipe would be attached to the back of one leg.

The legs were next. The pictures show that the bird was too tall. I shortened them later!

Getting the right pump required research. Luckily, I found the pump locally.

The pump had to lift water at least 8 feet for a 7-foot stork and maneuver around a neck with twists and turns. It had to be controlled by a remote on-off wireless button. I used a 1" pipe size for water flow with a ball valve to control the flow.

I tried the beak on for size. The neck, which has an S curve, was the biggest challenge. Because the neck holds a plastic hose for the water feature, I had to create a round form instead of a tapered shape. Proportionally, I had to keep within a specific size.

The stork head and beak were finally mated to the S-shaped neck, which was welded to the body. Stuffing the 1.125" PVC hose up to the beak from behind a leg through the body was a huge challenge. I had to heat the hose until it was flexible enough, and I finally ended up with a 0.5-inch PVC hose pipe.

I welded the body and then fitted the neck and head.

The stork water feature got a few feathers. I added a central tail feather to close the back of the bird and then welded the feet. The length, even though quite tall, was right for the depth of the pond.

In the picture, you can see the welding on the inside, which won't be seen outwardly.

Finally, the stork was ready, and the client approved the head and body position for his fish pond.

The stork got an undercoat and a final coat of paint. The body was to be brown with white wings, and I buffed down the brown colour to make it a less satin and more matte finish.

The stork got a stone paver to keep it upright. Though I didn't have the right diamond-tipped coring bits, I got away with carbide concrete drills and a percussion drill.

I modified this plastic box, which would hold the cords and gadgets for the Koi pond, by creating diaphragms to weatherproof the box and wrap around the pumps and heater/ circulation cables entering and exiting the box.

By the installation day, the pond was clean, and a garden expert resolved the pond filter issues.