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Sculpture by Gerola (continued)
From drawing, a working model is constructed. Over the course of months each model is tested and altered so it reliably performs. Then high tech bearings and virgin hot rolled steel of varying widths are purchased. "No scrap metal is used," Don says, "You can't find these forms lying around in a junkyard." A computer assisted design (CAD) file is developed for the high intensity gas and laser cutting machines to follow. Each small segment is laid out and individually welded. Usually, wherever there is a weld, a thinner piece is joined to a thicker one, which creates a bas relief not immediately noticed but enjoyed as sunlight shifts slowly over its surface. Then welds are laboriously ground by hand and surfaces finished like jewelry, although at least 10,000 times more substantial, some priced for about the same as a decent diamond. Pieces for indoor atriums are sometimes sprayed in brilliant catalytic paints and many clear coats, something usually reserved for the most expensive exotic cars or motorcycles. Outdoor pieces are allowed, in part or total, to form a leathery scale which stabilizes after a few years and leaves underlying material integral for centuries to come.
All self funded, the most complicated one has over 100 components and took over $100,000 and a solid year of intense effort to fabricate. They make locomotives and submarines this way, but that's with thousands of workers and tax dollars, not one guy paying a few infrequent helpers. With each such a huge personal investment, it doesn't seem that he'll be making any more soon except upon commission.
Gerola then lends them to cities, colleges, corporate campuses, museums, and parks, anywhere there's an ideal spot. Yet it takes gatekeepers forever to say yes. Engineered to last forever, unburdened by typical weight bearing loads, what is there to fear? Yet installations cost him money he no longer has to spend.
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