Found Metal and Reclaimed Wood Circular Wall Art #3

Sold at a neighborhood art show. Dimensions: Diameter 21.75 inches, Thickness 1 inch, Weight 12 pounds. This truly one-of-a-kind art piece can add some rustic charm to your house or office. In fact, it puts the “rust” in rustic. The different tones and textures harmonize nicely in this composition, I think. Even though it was a solo job (I have no staff), making it was no treble at all. Note that two D-rings are attached to the back, so all you need is a hammer and a couple of nails to hang it on your wall. Any music lovers want to make a play for this one? $150.

The Story

I found the circular piece of steel on the sidewalk of Wisconsin Avenue, a few blocks from my house. I cleaned it with water, a metal scraper, and a wire brush. I had some kind of art piece in mind, but didn’t have a central feature and wasn’t finding anything great in my walks. Then it dawned on me I could make something out of a rusty old wheelbarrow I had brought home many months earlier. I drew a pattern of a treble clef on paper and traced it upside down of the bottom of the wheelbarrow, so the rustier side would be on top of the finished piece. I cut it out with a jigsaw blade made for cutting metal and smoothed the edges with a Dremel sanding/grinding attachment and a hand file. For the background/base, I turned to my collection of pallet wood. I selected, arranged, and sanded six pieces. By mounting them horizontally, I created five lines, just like a staff in musical notation. And, by no coincidence at all, the treble clef is made to scale (yes, as above, pun intended). I glued the wood pieces down one at a time to a piece of underlayment, for 5-10 hours each, cut them to the proper diameter, stained them a custom-blended medium brown, and finished them with three coats of Minwax water-based clear satin Polycrylic, so the slightly shiny background would contrast more with the flatter metal elements. Finally, I screwed/bolted the metal pieces down on that.

Related Items: Found Metal and Reclaimed Wood Circular Wall Art #1, Found Metal and Reclaimed Wood Circular Wall Art #2.