Robert will have to do it.
The microwave and I will be heading back to therapy with self worth issues tomorrow, thank you very much.
That is a beautiful piece and way out of my whimsical league.
This is a pitiful example of one of my dragonflies as proof.
{{gwi:200709}}
Mine however, is a reamagined upcycled dragonfly made with 100% repurposed material. (I learned those 3 fancy words from a San Francisco Chronicle article yesterday.)
Made with hammer drill bit, nails, ball bearings, and air filter outer screen for wings. The cedar base is from a tree that went down in an ice storm in Arkansas a couple years ago. No copper sheets were harmed for its construction.

I see a lot of heavy duty meds in my future.

Never under estimate the power of drugs. A handful of meds ( otherwise known as happy pills ) is my breakfast.

The dragonflies must be distant cousins - I can see the resemblence. Yours IS alot more creative though ! *wink*

Well, I like them all but not the price tag on the ones on Craig's list! Tin's probably freed up some space in the garage & replaced it with art!! Nice piece of tree!! Makes great bases! Jan

I have this one. I used the handles from 4 serving spoons, several different springs, a trailer ball, a very long lag bolt (12"), a 10# free-weight plate, and several steel scraps.

{{gwi:131177}}

I love them all! I'd be happy to put any or all in my garden. I love the recycled ones - you guys do great work!
Arlene

Quiz -- what do you think the body is made from ? That's got me puzzled ...

I emailed him as to how it was made, maybe he will reply.
Scrap copper is up to about $3/lb. If he buys new copper sheeting and pipe it's even higher. To me, $125 for dragonfly and rod seems like a good price.
That is a beautiful piece, I'd be cuious as to how long that took him. If that was me I'd be working for about $.50 an hour.
Time for the microwave and I to leave for group therapy. I hope he doesn't monopolies the session again.

I got a reply from him and an ok to post it. Explains how it is built and time involved. He's also looking for some input, please help him if you can.

{{gwi:200710}}
Jack thank you for your email and the nice comments on the copper dragonfly I made and I posted on Craigslist. I had a chance to visit your forum and really enjoyed reading some of the comments, although I confess I did not understand some of the inside jokes. Regarding how I made the dragonfly the materials consist of standard copper plumbing pipe, copper roof sheet, 8 gauge solid copper grounding wire (I think it is 8 gauge), 12 gauge twisted grounding wire (again I think it is 12 gauge)and glass decorative pieces purchased from Michaels for the eyes. I have approximately $30 dollars in cost for the standard dragonfly on the post and another $15 dollars in materials for the cattail stand. Add another $6 dollars for the patina chemical. These cost also include things like the solder, sealer, epoxy, copper rivets ,etc. I takes me about 2 full days to build the dragonfly and another day to build the stand, add another day to patina (this is not so much work time as it is panting and scrubbing and panting and scrubbing and etc.). I saw by your comments that you were puzzled by the construction of the body. The tail as you may have guessed is made of 1/2 copper plumbing pipe sections, each section flared at on end and soldered into the next piece. The scaled top part of the body is actually small cut pieces of curved sheet copper overlapping one and another and soldered together. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me.
Jack I was most interested in the forum comments regarding the pricing I posted for my dragonflies. I noted one person felt the pricing was too high and you thought the price for the dragonfly on the post was reasonable. I also inferred from your comments that the pricing for the copper dragonfly and cattail stand together could be too high. It is so hard to put a price on something you have built yourself not knowing if the object is appealing to another and also recognizing that you will never really get reimbursed for your actual time. Jack I would appreciated it so much if you and your contributing members would please give me some honest feedback on pricing so I can decide how best to sell these dragonflies because I am having so much fun building them that I am starting to fill up my garage. I would also appreciate any suggestions as to where and how I might sell these.
Jack once again thank you for your comments and those of the others participating in your forum it was so great to get some kind of feedback.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Sincerely,
Tom

WOW ------- I never thought anyone would Email him !!
What a great guy .

Thanks for all your info. I said the price was too high because we are a bunch of people that recycle & make garden art from junk. So we tend to think using up a bunch of "free or curb side throw aways" & spending couple of dollars for paint is way to go!! Your price is probably bit low for all the work you have to do & I didn't realize you made the cattails too. Yours are the top of the line with new materials & meticulous work. You also can make several almost identical dragonflies whereas most folks on here can't make same thing twice because they don't have another bolt from a rusted out car or whatever. Murray used 4 serving spoons,lag bolt, 10# weight plate & trailer ball & scrap metal or something like that. Not stuff most of us have laying around. Keep on doing what you are doing as it is beautiful & will grace any garden. We are thrifty folks saving stuff from landfills & giving junk new "life" so I think we are all trying to make beauty for the garden or whimsy! Glad you stopped by! If you get a chance to go back to some of last years posts you will see that there are all sorts of things made, old headboard benches, iron bed fences,turbines with different colored vanes as garden centerpiece,birdhouses, arbors etc. I have the 4 knives with the pistol handle & weighted base but haven't found the right strainer in stainless steel & wrench to make the turtle, I don't weld so when I make up the turtle I'll be gluing it with Weldbond. So we do make do!Jan

I love the copper dragonflies and might just buy myself one for Christmas! I don't think the $125 is unreasonable for that size of a copper dragonfly (24" x 16"). The only drawback is I'd have to "hide" it somewhere in the garden where no one might see it from outside the yard since copper is selling so high now. I'd be afraid someone would steal it! I like both the shiny copper and the patina. They are both beautiful.

As for tinfoilhat's ... I love your blue dragonfly too! Very fun and creative. I think part of what I admire about these "repurposed" pieces is that it takes a lot of thought and imagination to come up with the pieces to create them.

If Robert's dragonfly is the one I think it is, I love his too.

Jack, Thanks for asking Tom about the material and labor used. I love your creative re-cycled dragonfly and it is wonderful to see the re-use of material into art.

Tom, Thanks for the info and allowing Jack to share with us. The skill you have is awesome. The beauty of your dragonfly and the cat-tail stand is breathtaking. I think you have priced them very well and can get your price or more depending on where you are selling. I would suggest finding a Coffee Shoppe and/or Art Gallery or one of the combos in your area and displaying a piece to get interest going. Have cards made with your name and contact info then add the price of the piece and leave a few with it. Owners of such places do offer free display sometimes though most take a small percentage of the final sale price. On the pricing issue and selling them as I suggested. I believe having fun creating my art work is payment enough for my "time" but figure to definitely include all or most labor $s into the pricing to have negotiating room.

Good Luck

LIL

Sorry about the missing picture guys but once again I went moving things around on photobucket. I'm going to try to post from facebook in the future with a link address. In the mean time you can see most of my "stuff" at the optional link URL below. If it works.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sculpture file

I haven't been able to sign in for a week due to GW problems, but I wanted to chime in that I think that the $125 price is reasonable for the beautiful copper dragon fly.

Love the junk ones too.

Kathy

That big copper dragonfly is beautiful. I think it is worth the price, but I just can't afford it. Plus Milwalkee is a long way from Dallas! (I don't even know how to spell it!)

All the dragonflies are unique in their own way and I'd love to own any of them. The copper one looks really big and I don't think the price sounds like too much. The blue dragon fly is just darn cute!

all of the dragonflies are gorgeous!
Tom, welcome to Junk!! I agree, I don't think your prices are unreasonable at all, and also, can't afford one :)
As for a suggestion of places to sell, I'd try Etsy. There are some unbelievably creative people on there, also, I spend waaaaay too much time scrolling through there getting ideas of things to make, just like I do on this site!!!

Those pieces are so definitely gallery worthy! A whole show could be built around them, Robert. YOu have an awesome talent.