Artistic Dragonfly Bar Truss Light

[David Kailey]

This “bar light” was designed for a custom space and had a few key design elements that had to be achieved for the customer. 1) Had to light the bar, grill, counter,sink area well enough for a person to operate there safely. 2) No direct light can shine into the faces of people sitting around the near by fire pit. 3) Needed to be decorative but not block the view of the river that flows by the gazebo 4) Fit inside the log truss that forms the one of the 8 sides of this 40+ ft Gazebo 5) Have dragonfly’s.

 

Original conceptual sketch. The light would actually be a piece of art that hid with in it a light. it is 14 ft across and 5.5 ft tall.

Design was approved, not having a fabrication table large enough the concept is drawn out to scale on the shop floor.

Next I cut the broad leaves, and Dragonfly's from 3/16" sheet metal and forge them in to shape. The 3/8 round rod that will make up the vines gets hammer textured to give it a more receptive look to the human eye. Using wire I am able to measure the length of the vines, cut and shape them to match the drawing. The pieces are then laid on the floor in their respective places.

Once all of the pieces have been cut, textured, forged, and descaled I weld them all in place. I moved the piece on to a table at this point, this made it easier to finish cleaning and removing the discoloration, and scale from the forging and welding process.

The piece gets a final prep, clear coated, and wired for lights.

Here is the complete piece installed 

[Frosty]

That's a nice piece of work. The background in the pics is pretty busy making it hard to see the iron work as well as I'd like to. I can't help but feel I'm missing things.

Frosty The Lucky.

[David Kailey]

I added a few more pics. I was just tough to get a good picture because of the lighting and the fact that i don't have a clean white 15 foot wall in my shop. lol

I would go take better ones with the right light but its a 70 mile drive.

[ausfire]

Nice idea! It complements the log architecture of the cabin (?) very well.

[Frosty]

 I know how it is trying to get good shots unless you're set up for it. I took a number of photography classes starting in high school, really got hooked and I have trouble not sounding like I'm being critical. There are so many things to see when shooting pics you really need a few classes to recognize what'll show and how.

I just deleted a long windy photography ramble. I used to be pretty good at it and tend to get going. If you have an old pale solid colored blanket they make good backgrounds for photographing details like your piece. It doesn't need to be straight, flat or well lit. Hang or lay far enough away it's out of focus and the subject isn't casting a shadow on it. Pale green, mauve or purple are good colors for iron / steel, black, brushed shiny or temper colors, they won't mask or contrast too strongly.

Believe it or not I deleted a LOT more than the last paragraph.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

[Daswulf]

Beautiful piece. wait, where is the light, am i missing something or Daft as usual.? 

Frosty thanks. I'll keep the tidbits in mind. I too need the lessons.

[David Kailey]

On 2/5/2016 at 9:28 PM, Daswulf said:

Beautiful piece. wait, where is the light, am i missing something or Daft as usual.? 

Frosty thanks. I'll keep the tidbits in mind. I too need the lessons.

 the light is hidden away between the 1.5" texture flat bar along the bottom of the piece. I used LED strip lights that just glue on and ran the wires thru the tube frame.