Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 10:38 am

joey’s dad, joe sr., who is a professional welder, came down for 3 days this past week and we welded and grinded and buffed and more to build these steel gates at record speed. these are our 3 small (waist-high) gates. Joe sr. will be back next week to help us build the big main entry gates, which also say LIONS and PARK, and will be 10′-4″ and 8′-4″ respectively. we were all ecstatic to work in a material besides concrete or dirt for a change, and give our lungs a break from the concrete dust, which has bedridden woody with pneumonia. he is recovering quickly though. enough already and onto the pictures of the gates you say? here is joe sr. welding the square tube frames. he is trusted with all of the heavy duty structural welding.here is joey cuddling the “C” we are cold forming the letters by bending them slowly. also and “s” mid bend we got this far at the end of the first day, which is funny because the font came from the hit television show miami vice. ha. not really, but it is very art deco. we spent months in the studio before starting any construction arguing over the subtleties of the font, then we totally changed it the day before we built the gates. but it worked out well…see below. when we moved the service gate off the table and stood it up for the first time, anthony, overwhelmed with masculine exuberation, began bangng the gate and yelling “BAM! BAM! BAM!” I think its nice too.

Popularity: 54%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 10:07 am

of the last post…got carried away and preemptively clicked “submit”…the electrical conduit will light up benches that bridge between the walking trail and parking strip on the front edge. and this is an image of the steel reinforcing going into the light fixture benches. they are concrete just like our other benches, but with a strip light cast in the underbelly. the reinforcing cage has a lovely zoomorphic quality. he is now suspended in concrete. we wreck the form tomorrow to see if it works.

Popularity: 44%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:59 am

our electrical conduit (not that of alabama power) in a ditch.

Popularity: 43%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:56 am

rocking the swale. each rock on the right side of the swale was individually hand placed.

Popularity: 49%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:52 am

we are burying an overhead power line from the street to the office building. this means we must dig a ditch 4′ deep. and traverse gas lines and phone lines (we cut them twice- the phone, not the gas, thankfully) hence joey in the ditch with a shovel giving me the finger. joey was so infuriated about having his picture taken waist deep in a ditch, he threw me in the 5′ deep hole that is to be the footing for our entry gate. not really. I just had to scoop out all the loose dirt from the bottom with a paint bucket.

Popularity: 48%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:32 am

joey and anthony racing [er, working harmoniously] to remove the asphalt. and some concrete sticks poured in.

Popularity: 40%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:26 am

a bizarre giant robot homicide scene at lions park. or just demo lines marking surface to be removed.

Popularity: 42%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:23 am

woody assembling garbage forms. we pour concrete in a cobra shape, and then suspend and metal cage below with a can inside.

Popularity: 45%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 9:07 am

because we are essentially done working in grand central, we have moved to the front of the park. the building houses the county extension office , DMV, and VA. you can barely make out the red lines that demarcate where we will rip up the asphalt to pour concrete and plant bushes, spirea bushes.

Popularity: 43%

Lindsay Butler
February 29, 2008 at 8:58 am

just how far can you span 4 inches of concrete? in our very not factory-controlled settings, we have found that 12 feet is about the limit. after one failed attempt, a second bench was poured and set in place with only very minor deflection. we’ll take it.

Popularity: 74%