Metal Garden Trellis

Lisa Regan didn't start out working with metal. Her first love was ceramics, but after she kept breaking all her ceramics, she decided to move on to a sturdier material. She stumbled upon steel, and it's been her passion ever since. From garden gates and wind chimes to fireplace screens and whimsical trellises, she has never met a metal sculpture she didn't like. She shows how to make an outdoor trellis.

Materials:

3/8" round stock steel
1-1/2" square tubing
12- or 14-gauge steel sheet
rivets
finials
pop rivet tool
plasma cutter
chop saw
grinder
spray paint
welder
drill
soapstone

1. To make the frame, cut two pieces of 3/8-inch steel rod six feet long and two pieces eight inches long.

2. Cut a piece of 14-gauge flat steel 13" x 6' (13 inches wide by 6 feet long).

3. Draw a trellis design on the steel sheet with soapstone (figure A).

4. Cut out the drawings with a plasma torch. The negative space will be cut out leaving the actual design intact (figure B).

5. Use a hand-held grinder to grind and buff the rough edges (figure C).

6. Attach the design to the frame. Set the cutout design, front face down, on the workbench. Lay the six-feet rod pieces on top, along the side of design and weld together (figure D).

7. Weld a finial to the top of each rod. Grind down the weld to clean up the welding points.

8. Weld the eight-inch pieces to the bottom of each six-foot rod. Weld it horizontally. These "feet" will help secure the trellis into the ground so it won't fall over (figure E).

9. Set the grinder to de-burr (real quick) and grind down any welds.

10. Add a decorative object (aluminum) and rivet it to the top (or any desired area) of the trellis.

11. Trellis is ready to place in the garden!

E-mail: info@gardendeva.com

Website: www.gardendeva.com