Sparks Will Fly Forge - Concept Drawings and Dreams

Sources for inspiration are limitless, from dreams and nature to history and shadows, even music. Most of my ironwork starts out as a conscious idea, dream or interpretation from verbal concept. The very next step is putting pencil to paper. This may be described as a scribble or sketch. The purpose is to capture a thought and convey my minds eye, or my interpretation of someone else's minds eye. Development and refinement of the sketch includes many considerations, size and proportion, size of stock materials to be used, methods of joinery and attachment, along with mechanical operation. It is at the drawing stage that most of the design and practical points are worked out.

A tool that I often use to convey a project concept is to take pics of the site space initially. Then, using a simple photo program I will over expose the pics to the point of almost having a ghost image. Converting it next to greyscale and printing them. Using this template as a fill in the blank sketch, really helps the client and myself to visualize the completed project in their space.