This is my original design and fabrication but heavily influenced by Art Nouveau thematic devices of VICTOR HORTA,the pre-eminent turn-of the-century Belgian architect responsible for some of the most beautiful Art Nouveau buildings in Paris. It is all forged steel ,meets the legal code distance here of no more than a 4" gap, and has been clear-coated with lacquer. This took me three months. Notice also the handrail on the OUTSIDE perimeter of the stairway. It is nearly 24ft long in it's present configuration. I lost it off the top of my truck on a steep busy canyon road coming back from the site. It was dangling off to the side and hit a street sign on a curve.It is shaped like a section of a spring and got compressed and ejected out the back. I nearly had a heart attack because it definitely would have destroyed anyone following me. Ironically this is the only time I've ever seen that road empty of traffic.I screeched to a halt well off the pavement and ran and dragged it next to my truck.I had to sit there until my heart stopped racing and thank my lucky stars (and the gods) for sparing me what could have been...In a further stroke of luck,the spring action kept it from getting bent,and it still fit well when we mounted it in the house...
Yes,Penelope that's it. The inspector uses a 4 inch diameter ball,and if he can pass it through ANYWHERE on the rail,it does not pass... While I applaud measures designed for safety I think this goes a bit too far.In a state that charges only $20 for using a cell phone while driving,(which is an obvious a serious health hazard causing many accidents and deaths DAILY)to accord such a stringent and myopic attention to the "danger of railings for infants"seems somewhat obsessive...In Europe there are no such standards and it is assumed parents have a more active role in preventing their children from entanglement.This has an obvious and dramatic effect on BEAUTY since European artists are much more free to design compositions with open spaces. So now you can see that the effort here to create a still beautiful rail with so much metal required to fill the space ,can be a daunting challenge...
do you mean the gaps withinn the interior of the design? so know ones head goes through i take it?
beautiful piece.
The inspector uses a 4 inch diameter ball,and if he can pass it through ANYWHERE on the rail,it does not pass...
While I applaud measures designed for safety I think this goes a bit too far.In a state that charges only $20 for using a cell phone while driving,(which is an obvious a serious health hazard causing many accidents and deaths DAILY)to accord such a stringent and myopic attention to the "danger of railings for infants"seems somewhat obsessive...In Europe there are no such standards and it is assumed parents have a more active role in preventing their children from entanglement.This has an obvious and dramatic effect on BEAUTY since European artists are much more free to design compositions with open spaces.
So now you can see that the effort here to create a still beautiful rail with so much metal required to fill the space ,can be a daunting challenge...
the fine here for cellphone use while driving is 25o i think, somewhere up there, but no one gets fined so...
people get slaughtered needlessly because of our collective addiction to multi-tasking.
i think a much more honest discussion would be man, stupid and self destructive or able to breathe unaided?
thats not so glamorous though.