Forged Steel Railing in Two Modern Styles

Kyle’s latest custom railing designs show off two flavors of modern exterior railings that fit the needs of two different homes.

The first home is more traditional. Kyle designed, forged, and installed a minimalist railing with classic detailing like arched brackets. The railing flows with the lines of their long, winding staircase.

View fullsize

View fullsize

The second home is more contemporary. Kyle created the clean, modern lines of this railing using entirely traditional blacksmithing techniques. This includes tenon and collar connections instead of welding for this more compact but bold design.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Miniature Mosaic Landscapes

This series of landscape mosaics grew out of Johannah’s initial exploration of tiny mosaics and of course, her continued interest in the full moon.

The first set featured the full moon as well as a few sunrises over a series of her favorite landscapes like forests, mountains, and open water. She created these mosaics from stained glass set in black-tinted mortar.

For the next group she created, Johannah added unglazed porcelain to the stained glass. The flat, saturated color of the ceramic contrasts in such a lovely way with the opaque shine of the glass. She expanded the types of landscapes as well, looking to open fields, rolling hills, train tracks, and waterfalls.

This latest group hearkens back to the forests and sunrises of the original set, while offering a new take on mountain views.

You can find the current mountain landscapes in our shop, available with free shipping.

Four miniature mountain landscapes

Four mini mountain landscapes

Miniature mountain mosaic in hand

Miniature mountain landscape set on table

Botanical Steel and Mosaic Sculptures

As we continued to brainstorm collaborative sculpture ideas, we decided our first batch of sculptures would include a variety of sizes and styles. Once we finished the tabletop abstract sculptures, we wanted to go bigger.

We settled on bamboo as a subject that provides opportunity for each of our mediums to shine. It also offered Kyle an opportunity to try something different with a theme he’s returned to a few times.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Kyle made a variety of forged textured leaves as well as the hollow shapes of leaves for Johannah to fill with mosaic. He finished the sculpture with a rust brown patina. Johannah chose bright yellowy-green for the mosaic leaves. We were really pleased with the way the monochrome green and the warm tones of the finished steel work together.

The last piece in this first run of sculptural pieces is a pea plant. Kyle forged a beautiful pea plant complete with corkscrew tendrils as well as a hollow pea shape form. He finished it with the same rust brown patina. Johannah found flat green marbles in the perfect size and color to represent peas for this piece.