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marlene_kindred

Meet Malcolm the Mantis

Marlene Kindred
11 years ago

Well, DH has been collecting materials for quite some time for his latest creation and finally had everything he needed to create our latest garden junk family member. We call him Malcolm the praying mantis! He stands about 4 1/2 feet tall and we have him in the pines to welcome visitors. He's made of a variety of things...an old bike seat for his head, a huge glass bottle for his belly and old glass light fixture globes for his neck. His body is from old tractor parts, plumbing fittings and corrugated roofing. His wings are topped of with another pair of the great swirlies I found at the dump over a year ago. His eyes are two cooking spoons donated from my kitchen.

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Comments (28)

  • cnm1
    11 years ago

    OH MY!! That is just amazing!!!!

  • sunnyca_gw
    11 years ago

    Malcolm is the sweetest praying mantis & perfect color too! I find 1 occasionally in my yard & enjoy watching them. Against the law to kill one & who would want to, they kill the bad bugs!! He looks like the real deal!! Great job!! Jan

  • tinfoilhat
    11 years ago

    That is FANTASTIC!!

  • trashydj
    11 years ago

    oh he is so cool loveeeeeeeeeeeeeee him great job

  • cnm1
    11 years ago

    What is the serrated stuff attached to the rebar? Did your husband weld it together? In my dreams, this city girl will find everything to make one - umm- not likely:(

  • luvs2click
    11 years ago

    Oh my! That is amazing! The bottle part is just fantastic - what a perfect find!

  • Marlene Kindred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes, his arms have old saw blades welded to them!

  • oldcrafty
    11 years ago

    WOW>>>>>WOW>>>>>and WOW!!!!! He's awesome.

  • diggery
    11 years ago

    I was prepared for 'amazing' but this is SPECTACULAR! Love Malcolm! Methinks dh has outdone himself this time. Now, if only Malcolm would fly away to my house, lol.

    blessings,
    ~digger

  • toomuchglass
    11 years ago

    wow ........that is BEYOND cool ....

  • marylee_2010
    11 years ago

    Marlene, Marcolm is marvelous and so is your husband for creating such an amazing mantis. Marylee

  • jeannespines
    11 years ago

    WOW! Malcolm is HUGE ... AMAZING ... & I am above his 'color' right now w/envy! What an imagination...creativity...you & DH had for this one! Glad you ID'd some of the parts! That glass neck/throat area...ingenious! WOW! & another use for those recycled curly cues! LOL! TFS, marlene! Tell hubby,it's stupendous!!! Jeanne s.

  • nonacook
    11 years ago

    I LOVE him! What a great thing for your
    DH to make for your garden. The mix of
    glass and metal is awesome.
    The preying mantis is one of my 'most'
    favorite garden bugs. We had them when
    I was growing up, but rarely seen in my
    community now. I brought some from Indiana
    (also brought walking sticks and
    grandaddy longlegs)
    and had them for awhile here, but haven't
    seen one lately.

  • bookjunky4life
    11 years ago

    THAT is to die for! That is not garden junk, that is garden art! I definitely can find an old bicycle seat and we have ALL kinds of farm junk around, so I'll start searching, and my husband can weld. I agree that the color is perfect.

  • rosiew
    11 years ago

    One of the very best I've ever seen. Know y'all will love it for years and years.

    Rosie, Sugar Hill, GA

  • cnm1
    11 years ago

    I showed this to people at work - they were VERY impressed. Actually I showed alot pictures from this site and people loved all ideas.

  • Calamity_J
    11 years ago

    Good Job! He must be amazing to see in person!!!

  • jlily
    11 years ago

    What a remarkable specimen! He is beautiful for a mantis. Such thought and care went into his making. TYFS Jlily

  • tehuti
    11 years ago

    There is little left to say about this marvelous creation.
    The first mistake I made when constructing a mantid was in the leg count (I gave him an extra set, not counting the "weapons" as a pair of legs). I am very impressed at the mix of materials. Excellent piece.

    Robert

  • kacram
    11 years ago

    so very cool!

  • bookjunky4life
    11 years ago

    Marlene- I am going to start collecting materials to try to build something similar to this. Can you provide me with the dimensions--lengths of the different body parts? I will probably be using different materials but want to get the proportions similar to your praying mantis, as I think it looks correct to the eye.

  • oldgraymare
    11 years ago

    I love it!

  • Marlene Kindred
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Malcolm stands about 5 feet tall. His face is an old bicycle seat and his belly is a large glass bottle we found at Hobby Lobby. The bottle is about 24 inches tall and we went from there. We used pictures from the internet to gauge the rest of his body parts. My DH welded his skeleton together and we used light globes for his neck and saw blades welded together for his forearms. His eyes are old kitchen spoon utensils.

    Hope that helps. We found it helpful to go from his belly size since that was the first piece we bought and we just kind of eyeballed the rest until it looked right to us.

    Good luck!

  • lacensuch
    11 years ago

    I'm in love! Such a great sculpture.

  • ohtobedone
    11 years ago

    This creation is awesome!!!! Your a very lucky women!

  • freki
    11 years ago

    WANT!!!!!!!!!

  • tracey_nj6
    10 years ago

    Wow, he's amazing!

  • Kathryn Botard
    9 years ago

    this is awesome. I wish my husband had time to weld something like this?

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