Zart! Gallery custom doors - installation

Well, a slight hiccup yesterday delayed the final installation of these doors. I'll own up to the oversight - it was mine.
When designing, planning or fabricating, I like to have small reveals. This means I wanted an ever so slight gap between the bottom of the door frames and the tiled floor in front of them. Well, I failed to account for the bowing in the tile. On Friday, the doors would only open a foot or so before becoming bound up. To remedy this, I had to cut out a 1" section on each of the vertical uprights, weld them back together and grind 'em smooth.

With that done late Friday night, I left them outside overnight to rust the bare metal areas I had just ground. DB helped with the install again today and everything went off without a hitch...like it was supposed to on Friday.

Above is the view from the gallery looking into the back area. Below is a shot looking out into the gallery. Zart 1312 owner, Maribeth Trevillyan, adorned the backsides of the doors with fabric in order to completely block off view into the back room. We'll get some pics of that in the near future...

Thanks to Maribeth, DB, Kevy and as always, Bob Wagaman(!) for their help/input/support in one form or the other...It's always appreciated...

Zart! Gallery custom doors

This week's focus is on an installation of twin doors based on the above staircase by Stephen Bondi. The rough opening is 96" wide by 89 1/2" tall - shown below in the frame I fabricated today out of 1 1/2" 14 ga. sq. tubing. Each door will have a tree cut from 14 ga. hot-rolled steel and then forged to give the tree some texture and dimensional relief. Additionally, 5/16" and 1/2" diameter vineyard bar will be forged and wrapped around the tree branches with handmade, forged leaves. The door frame, trees and all adornments will be finished with a forced oxidation and sealed with a satin, oil-based polyurethane.

ISU - Institute for Physical Research and Technology

Here's an article on the Rosenberg residence job that was completed last fall. Many thanks to Iowa State University's Institute for Physical Research and Technology.

Rosenberg Residence - installation

Here's the installed planter box for the Rosenberg family in Des Moines. Thanks go out to Thomas Wright and Tracy Rosenberg for their vision, patience and trust. It's much appreciated.

Thanks for the installation help go out to D. Boone, and Jon and Gene of Des Moines' "Corn Creepers." This thing had to go in vertically...yeah, no easy task.

Rosenberg - Oxidation or "Rust Never Sleeps..."

Fabrication is complete on the Rosenberg's "modern" planter box. Today's task was to instigate oxidation on the exposed faces of the structure. I had a little guidance from Rick Lopez (and Paul!) at Iowa State University's IPRT Company Assistance – Materials Group. I did a little investigation on my own on the internet with little satisfaction prior to speaking with them. At a past employer, I had seen this process done in a day with consistent results, but didn't know the chemicals used. Muriatic acid was suggested by Rick to remove the mill scale on the hot rolled steel...and it worked beautifully.
I didn't have the time to apply numerous applications of a highly diluted acid over a week's time. Thus, the sculpture was taken outside and given a splash in the water before having some acid poured upon it into the areas where water had pooled while it was lying horizontally. The acid reacted instantly with the mill scale dissolving quite quickly. I used a disposable, bristled paintbrush to spread the diluted acid to the areas that had yet to react chemically. Places where the scale didn't immediately dissolve were given 5-10 minutes to soak. When the scale became difficult to remove with dirtied acid/water mixture, the entire surface was rinsed with fresh water. The smaller of the two areas (third and fifth photos above) required two applications. The larger area (first and fourth photos above) was unable to lay flat and had to be leaned at an angle, thus requiring four to five rounds of etching. After the mill scale was removed and the surface was a white/silvery sheen, it was rinsed with water one more time. A final misting of the acid/water mixture was applied and then allowed to dry. The mixture ratio of the mist was approximately 5:1 - 5 parts water to 1 part muriatic acid. Always add acid to water, never water to acid.
Before performing this, I took every precaution to protect myself and my surroundings. Safety glasses, chemical-resistant rubber gloves, leather boots and a respirator were all used during this process. Additionally, I did this outside in an spacious, open area, free of any obstructions. I personally would NOT recommend performing this inside unless you have the proper ventilation...i.e., a box-fan is NOT proper ventilation.
Hopefully this helps others looking for a quick rust "patina" when dealing with mild steel. All the supplies and safety equipment were purchased at Lowe's.