Lily fountain installed and finished at First Montessori of Atlanta!
August 23, 2004
Here's some pictures of the completed lily fountain at it's home at
First Montessori Atlanta.
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Lily leaves and lilypads get veins
July 28, 2004
Here's how I made the veins for the leaves in the fountain.
I have a friend who has a pond and I went over to look at his lilypads.
The veins are very unusual -- this is what they really look like!
When I put the veins in the copper lilypads,
it really makes them look real!
The lily leaves are also authentic, based on real leaves.
I was inspired to make the leaf veins after a visit
to the SunBrothers' studio. They're friends of mine who
make copper solar roses.
The lilypad form I made by plasma cutting the form out roughly,
then grinding it so the edges were sharp, but still even with eachother.
Then I braised it to a piece of steel
so it would hold its shape when I pounded it.
I made the lily leaf form by laying down a bead of metal with a
MIG welder, then grinding the edges the same way -- sharp, but
still in the same plane.
After that, I wanted to give a curve to the leaves and also
give them so thickness, so I made a form to pound the spine over.
When pounded against a sandbag, the spine makes the leaf arch
and makes the whole leaf more rounded.
I will weld a thick stem to it, to give it even more thickness.
The lilypad form took over 4 hours, and the lily leaf form took
over 5 hours, but the effect they have on the leaves to make them
look natural, was well worth the effort!
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Copper is polished and colored with flames.
June 6, 2004
I polished this flower and just touched it with a gentle pinpoint
flame, which caused oxides to grow on the copper. These oxides are thin
and cause irridescence on the surface -- similar to how soap bubbles
are colorful, but don't have pigments. Bird feathers are also the same.
Try holding a colorful feather up to the light -- it is actually only brown or gray.
These oxides might even protect the copper for a while and prevent it from corroding,
but probably over time, they will still turn penny-brown, then green with age.
But the bright colors will look really spectacular when the fountain is dedicated!
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Movies and pics of all set up
June 5, 2004
Some quick movies and pictures of al the lilies functioning,
wihle the light is good!
Now, back to work! :)
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All lilies are now set up!
June 2, 2004
All the lilies are now set up in their base for a first test!
How exciting!!
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Testing some lilies to see if they dump properly.
May 28, 2004
Using just clamps, I set up the lilies in bunches to see how well
they worked dumping one into another.
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Big lily tipping test
April 23, 2004
This is the big lily that I originally made to test the concept
of a tipping lily flower.
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Lily head finished
April 15, 2004
The copper lily head finished, and held up with a potential stem.
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Kiki's sketches
March 17, 2004
Some initial concept sketches by Kiki, to show what she could do,
and some other ideas for the fountain.
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Initial concept sketch
February 12, 2004
This is the sketch sent to me by First Montessori, to describe what
they want the fountain to look like.
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