Constructing The Flowers

The parts and pieces come together.

For the stems, we cut aluminum rod with a chop saw.
For the whimseys (A very technical term!  These are all the little curlycues on the flowers), we used a special setup.  We welded three pipes onto our metal table.  Notice how the pipes are spaced differently?  This is so we can make bigger and smaller curves.

 

Next we placed one of the rods between two of the pipes.

Then we applied pressure to wrap the rod around the pipe, making our bends.

Aluminum is a rather soft metal.

Some finished whimseys.

The next step was to weld the flowers together.

Here Becca is taping a flower together so the welder knows where to weld.

Here is one of the flowers laid out for welding.

A flower being welded.

The welder's tools.

Our project welder, Landis, with the first finished flower.



Next, the flowers bloom!