DIY:salvage to art

1st time making a metal sculpture...ok, 1st time making ANY sculpture. In the process, I gained aching hands and mucho respect for anyone who works with metal. It all started when M. decided to finally remove a mud-covered rope that was tied onto our seawall (yup, it's been there all this time). At the other end of that rope, we found a flat crushed derelict crabtrap that had been abandoned for who-knows-how-many years. M. hosed off the excess muck and left it to dry in the yard. I don't know how I convinced him to let me use it for a "project", but after a couple hours, we had our 1st DIY salvage art piece. If I can make a manatee wall hanging out of a derelict crabtrap, anyone can. Here's how:
1. CLEAN: Using pliers, I removed the excess debris and heavily damaged parts from the crabtrap.

2. PLAN: I stared at the crabtrap for a LONG time until inspiration hit me (ow!). Using sharpie marker on newspaper, I sketched out a simple manatee silhouette. I put the template under the crabtrap to trace the outline onto the metal.

3. SCULPT: Using pliers, I cut out a rough shape, following the manatee outline as best I could. Then, using jute rope (found at Michael's craft store), I traced the manatee outline more carefully. I tied rope knots along the way to keep the rope in place [while singing connect-the-dots-la-la-la].

4.FINISH: I used a round nose plier to bend down the pointy metal ends safely and coated the whole manatee with leftover silver spraypaint. My sis encouraged me to add an eyeball, so I sewed on an old button. Finally, I reused the line rope that once tethered it to our seawallL: I snipped it and knotted it to become a hanger so it is ready to be hung up. Voila: salvage art.

This week, my awesome sis took our manatee over to the Hillsborough County Fair where it will be displayed Nov 4th - Nov 8th, as part of the 2009 Recycled Yard Art contest. We got our fingers crossed, but are just as happy to be participating.

P.S. Safety 1st: Despite using non-slip gloves and a foam-handled pliers set, my hand were aching. I took breaks often to let my hands rest.

1st Manatee sighting!

We saw manatees! Although some neighbors had mentioned past manatee sightings, after 8 months we had almost lost hope of spotting one…until Saturday. While M. was working in the backyard, he heard a giant SPLOOSHING noise behind him. He turned in time to see a full size gray marine mammal swimming about 20 feet from our yard and began yelling “MANATEES! MANATEES!” My sister and I ran to the seawall just in time to catch the two beautiful manatees playing in the water. My sis grabbed her camera and snapped a few shots as they swam away. Yes, the pics are a little loch-ness-monster-like, but we will definitely try to get more pics when the manatees come back.

The Florida Manatee, or Trichus Manatus Latirostris, is a mythical, magical, marine mammal native to the warm waters of the Gulf Coast. Manatees are known for being large, gentle and vegetarian ;) Although no longer considered an endangered species, manatees are still under the protection of many Florida state laws. Our house is part of a Hillsborough County designated Manatee Zone, which requires extra slow boat speeds so that manatees are not injured by boat propellors. More info about manatees can be found here. Ever since we went snorkeling with wild manatees last year, we have been in awe of these incredible creatures. Now, we can’t believe our luck - that we can spot them from our backyard!

Here's a pic of J. at our manatee snorkel tour in Crystal River, Florida last year... (M. took this pic)

And one of M. scratching a manatee belly... (J. took this pic.)