funding for heartland highways is made possiblein part by sarah bush lincoln health system, dedicated to providing care for all and creatinghealthy communities in east-central illinois. offering general and specialty medicine includinga regional cancer center, heart and lung center, orthopedics and sports medicine, a centerfor interventional pain, and a full complement of diagnostic and rehabilitative services.sarah bush lincoln: trusted, compassionate
camel colored sofas and decorating ideas, care.coming up on this episode of heartland highways weãll meet neoga, illinois scroll saw artistrick wallace and learn first-hand how he creates his intricate pieces. then weãll revisitmark and mindy gardner at flood plain forge where they specialize in artistic and functionalone-of-a-kind metal work in steel, wrought
iron & copper. and finally weãll head toshelbyville, illinois, to meet roy gaunt! he makes display tractors out of sewing machines!stay tuned, thatãs next on heartland highways! [music]thanks for joining us this week on heartland highways. today weãre back in the doudnafine arts center at eastern illinois university. inspired artists walk these halls every day,which makes it the perfect spot to talk about all of the inspired artists and artisans intodayãs show. our first adventure took us to neoga, illinois, to meet wood carver rickwallace. rickãs intricate creations are all done with a little scroll saw and a lot ofimagination. >>narrator rick wallace of neoga, illinoisis used to work with his hands.
[saw buzzing]>>narrator as a machinist, he uses them all day to make the precise parts required forhis job. so, for him, a hands-on hobby wasnãt much of a stretch.scroll saw art uh itãs basically taking a sheet of ply wood or any type of board ormaterial and uh putting a pattern on it and cutting it out. throughout the years, wheni was in like woodshop and metal and all the different classes back in high school andjunior high i learned a lot of stuff there. and then my father taught me a lot of stufftoo. uh he had a scroll saw and it sat in the garage for years and years and then oneday i thought well iãll try it out. and he showed me just a little bit and it took offafter that. so, iãm basically self taught.
>>narrator rick first taught himself basicscroll saw cutout techniques, but has moved on to a variety of woodworking projects.[saw buzzing] youãve got your basic scroll saw cut out,which thatãs where you cut your pattern out and there you have it. and then youãve gotfret work and thatãs just intricate cuts to form one picture. um intarsia it just goeson and on. iãve been more experimenting with the intarsia art.>>narrator and what is intarsia art? itãs segmented cutouts where youãre usingindividual boards to form one piece of art. you design your pattern and then uh afteryou have your pattern designed you write the pattern out on the board. and then you individuallycut each piece out and uh after you have the
pieces all cut out then you uh piece it alltogether and doing all of your shaping. and then you piece it together and you stain itand it takes a lot of time. >>narrator rickãs pieces vary in how longthey take to create. some take only 5 hours, while others can take up to 50 or more dependingon the difficulty and number of cuts. rick hand-draws some of his patterns and ordersothers from magazines and the internet. he can also make portraits in the wood from photographs.iãve done pictures for people at work and sold them and theyãve given me a really goodpicture. you know it has to be a professional picture mostly or like a school picture orsomething like that thatãs professionally done. and then i can turn that into like aone bit image and your darker areas of the
one bit image is whatãs going to be darkstained and the rest of it will be uh just left the regular wood color. thatãs how seeyour eyes drawl right to the black you know in the picture. so, it just captivates you.>>narrator and using an artistã eye is what helps rick shape the portrait and intarsiacutouts and gets them to fit together just right.see each piece is individually shaped and then you know you look at the diagram andthen it tells you you know it doesnãt tell you how much to really shape it, but thatãskind of something you do on your own. you got to pick one piece up and shape it to fit.and sometimes the cuts come together all right if itãs cutting the same piece of board butthen when you have to merge the other piece
together youãre cuttinã and shapinã. so,that way they fit tightly you know. >>narrator and shaping is actually rickãsfavorite part of the creation process. to sculpt the wood i use a drum sander tothe curves and shapes in the wood. itãs just thatãs my favorite part of it is the shapingand watching it turn out. itãs just incredible. >>narrator rick has made over 300 pieces sofar. some he has given as gifts, others he has sold, but heãs still managed to keepa few for himself. he generally works on one piece at a time with the exception of onespecific time of year. most of the time iãm doing the one pieceand thatãs it and after i get it done i start on another one. except for around christmastime and iãm [laughing] itãs like santaãs
workshop out there you know.>>narrator rickãs favorite subjects include birds and celebrities. more recently he hasbegun to experiment with wood dyes, stains and paint. he also uses a variety of woodsto give each piece a unique touch. i usually use a lot of walnut, oak, maple,uh some cherry uh you know your basic woods that you can easily get around here. one ofthese days iãd like to use exotic hard woods and stuff like that. like cocoa boa, rosewood,stuff like that just stuff wood that you would get from other countries that you canãt getaround here. and they have different grain patterns, different colors. there are a lotof beautiful types of colors that you can get with those woods.>>narrator for rick, the more challenging
the project, the more intrigue he finds init. some things can be really easy maybe fouror five different cuts and youãre done. and then there are some that are uh hundreds ofcuts. i go for the pieces that have hundreds of cuts because they are more of a challenge.thereãs not a better feeling in the world than to create something you know even foreverybody else to see too. >>narrator rick is currently working on moreways to get more people to see his work. he takes suggestions and posts photos on hisfacebook page and also displays a few pieces at an art gallery in sullivan, illinois.i would like to actually start a website where i could actually sell my stuff you know andget it out there so people can see it more.
>>narrator in the meantime, rick plans tocontinue doing his work for friends and family. after all, they all feel the same way abouthis work. they love my work and everything. my kidsyou know they ask me to do stuff for them too you know and iãve done stuff like thatin the past too for gifts and you know. itãs something they respect it. they donãt liketear it up or anything like that you know. itãs just endless the things you can do witha scroll saw. want more information on the story youãvejust seen? head to our website at weiu.net/hh. check out our online episode gallery for pastand present shows. now we head to farmer city illinois to meeta husband and wife metalsmith team. mark and
mindy gardner create both functional and artisticpieces, all under the roof of their historic blacksmith shop.this building has really a fantastic history, as far as blacksmithing is concerned. thereãdbeen a shop here; as far back as weãve gone. since 1892 and it was owned by the gould brothers.>>narrator and today, mark and mindy gardner are continuing that history with their ownstyle of metal work. located just off the downtown district in farmer city, illinois,the gardnerãs happily spend their time heating, shaping, pounding and forming ordinary metalinto extraordinary art. they started working out of their home, but when they encountereda problem with their forge, they came to this building for the solution.and mark knew this had been a blacksmith shop
and he asked the people at k&s furniture ifthey would let us come in here and see how the chimneys were built and how the forgeswere built and they said ã¬yeah.ã® and we came in here on an incredibly cold day, andwere looking at everything and was like, ã¬wow, this is ã± this is really neat, this is aneat building.ã® um, we went home, kind of played around with the chimney we had, um,later on mark asked them, you know, ã¬is there any chance you would considering selling thisbuilding?ã® and they said ã¬well, yea, we would sell it but we need a warehouse forall of our furniture.ã® so, i was talking with dick maxwell at the bank and tellinghim the situation and he said, ã¬well, why donãt you buy the building across the street,fix it up for them and swap buildings?ã® and
basically thatãs what we did.>>narrator that was in 1998 and since then mark and mindy have been working regularlyout of what they now call flood plain forge. inside, the building is like taking a stepback to an earlier time of a busy blacksmith shop with forges, fired by coal and heavy,belt driven machinery. when this shop closed in the 70ãs all of the tools and machineswere sold, but the gardnerãs have amassed a sizable collection of presses and powerhammers that fill the shop. uhhh, the first, the first batch we got wasuhmm, we went to an auction at metamora near peoria, and to buy the line shaft they hadit advertised in the newspaper and uhmm, we went for the line shaft and came home witha 1918 south bend metalloid uhhh, camel-back
drill press and a grinder and a line shaftand several other items. well, some people have come in here and said, you know, ã¬youcan have this anvil, or iãll sell you this anvil as long as it always stays here.ã® sosome people actually care about the equipment and just want it to have a good home and notbe put into a scrap yard and just destroyed. >>narrator mass production of metal goods,made blacksmiths obsolete, but now there is resurgence in artistic metalwork and blacksmithingas an art form. flood plain forge is now a creative workspace for mark and mindy, whoeach have their own style and specialty. markãs more practical and more functional.um, i think he does more of what you would think of as blacksmithing. uhhh, gates, railing,chandeliers, uhhh, spoons, knives, forks,
hinges, umm, i do something totally unusual.itãs called ã¬chasingã® and itãs usually used for creating jewelry, but iãm doingit on steel. and umm like i said, i got interested from seeing what was done, probably, uhhharound 1920 in that era. >>narrator chasing is a process that movesmetal; where as something like engraving actually removes it. to make her creations, mindy firststarts with a drawing, the uses a foot powered treadle hammer to create the design. thishusband and wife team often pools their talents on projects, like this sizable arch builtfor sugar grove cemetery. and it took a year to make, it was a hugeproject. it was what twenty- twenty ã± between twenty-four and twenty-six feet tall. twenty- over twenty-six feet tall. twenty-four feet
wide, yea, so it was huge. there was a lotof working together on that, a lot of designing together, drawing it out on the floor becausewe didnãt have anywhere else to draw it. yea, where you guys are was all a big drawingof this cemetery arch, all pieces of it. yea, it was an interesting project.>>narrator they also like to collaborate with another farmer city artist, glass blower toddmanicki. their work resulted in a beautiful 6 foot high floor lamp. in 2002 mindy waschosen to create an ornament for the official white house christmas tree, an honor givento one artist from each state. that year, the theme was ã¬all creatures greatand smallã® and the tree was decorated with different birds indigenous to the state theartist was from so i did indigo bunting sitting
on purple coneflower with a yellow coneflowerin the back with some prairie grass kind of to, umm to go along with being the prairiestate and the bunting is a bird that is indigenous to illinois. and we did get invited to a receptionat the white house and we did go and that was an awesome experience. and now it in apermanent collection, i guess permanent ornament collection at the white house.>>narrator thereãs no doubt that metal work is labor intensive, a continual learning process,where the results are not always instantaneous. i mean you never stop learning.iãve been blacksmithing for 38 years and i learn something new every time i pick upa hammer. uhh, it just takes a very long time to learn. i think you have to look at everythingyou make as a learning experience.
>>narrator work like this takes time and patienceand for the gardnerãs, support from one another and a good attitude are essential.thatãs my side of the shop! the term ã¬artistic temperamentã® comes to mind. most of the timewe get along very well. occasionally weãre both quite headstrong and weãll both haveour ideas of how something should be and those donãt always jive, but most of the time weget along very well, and uhhh, its fun. if youãd like to purchase a copy of any heartlandhighways program visit our online store at www.weiu.net. dvdãs are available for $25each. visa, mastercard, discover or american express are accepted. if you prefer, you cancall in your order at 1-877-727-9348. just let us know what show youãre interested inby mentioning the story name or person featured
in the show. please allow 4 to 6 weeks fordelivery. over in shelbyville, illinois, we met roygaunt. roy makes display tractors out of old sewing machines. he says deciding which sewingmachine should be which tractor is kind of like putting a puzzle together; you just haveto have a little bit of vision. [music]>>narrator roy gaunt of shelbyville, illinois, has spent most of his life around agricultureand farming, so it was only natural that when he was looking for something to do a few yearsago, he flipped through a farming magazine and was instantly attracted to an articleabout a man who makes display tractors from sewing machines.i looked at that and i thought, ã¬i could
do thatã®. so, i made one and it looked prettygood. so, i made some more and then i got to finding people that would want them. anduh i found more sewing machines, so i just kept at it.>>narrator now, 50 tractors later, roy is well-immersed in the hobby.first, you tear the sewing machine clear apart. and then i wash and clean them up and decideon what tractor theyãre good for. some work better for a certain brand of tractors ratherthan another brand. then, i start putting it back together using all the parts thati can like needle shafts and uh the covers. excess covers i try to use them. uh the bobbinplate, i use to make a platform on the rear end if i can. uh then i drill the holes forthe actual shafts. uh then, theyãre painted.
uh the tires, the front wheels are normallya nurtle tire. that i get from a nurtle supplier. and the rear wheels are six inch lawn mowerwheels. and most of the time i have got to repaint them, ã«cause theyãre always white.and then, just put everything together and hope it works. [laughing]>>narrator roy uses just about any kind of sewing machine to make his tractors, but sayssimple ones work best. it works better if they donãt have a lotof doodads and adjustments and stuff on ã«em. but, uh olã singers work good, olã metaltypes do. the newer ones work good like the tractors you have here. uh the newer sewingmachines like most of them donãt have a lot of the adjustments and extra things on ã«em.>>narrator roy gets the sewing machines he
uses from auctions, yard sales and his customers.a lot of ã«em come from people that have a sewing machine and ask, ã¬can you make thisinto a certain type tractor?ã® so, probably a third to a half of them from that sourceand they want the same machine back. itãs been in their families for years and theyhave a special attachment to it. so, they want you know, ã¬use my sewing machineã®.[music] >>narrator so, how does roy decide which sewingmachines should be used for each tractor? well, a little imagination, he says, is allyou need. you look at it and you see what it looks like.you know, i know what the tractors look like and like that white tractor has a distinctivefront end. and uh the international tractor
thatãs back there wouldnãt look very goodwith a white paint job. so, the front endãs not right. you try to match it. youãve gotto use your imagination, but uh itãs kind of you look at it and think about it. it comesout. >>narrator roy has made everything from johndeere, to case, to oliver tractors and beyond. it takes him about 2 weeks to get one finishedand he usually gets about $70 for one. but for roy, itãs not about the money.well, i think the best part is when people come to pick them up. you know, they you getsome stories behind them. and uh plus you know itãs something that i can pick up anddo and if i want to drop it i can leave it. you know i donãt lose anything. i can comeback and pick it up where i left off. you
know if i spend two hours a day on it youcan do quite a bit. so, uh you know itãs just something different to do. itãs relatedto agriculture, which is what i grew up in. so, uh plus i like tractors of course. so,you know itãs kind of a hobby i guess. >>narrator royãs hobby keeps him busy, sobusy in fact that he barely has time to make and keep any of the tractors for himself!iãve got one thatãs a junk yard dog. and itãs a machine that didnãt look like itwould fit anything. so, i just got together a half a dozen cans of paint and just sprayedit any which way, put a crooked exhaust pipe on it. and i like to make a 70 for myself,which is a tractor that i upset when i was almost 21, but [laughter] other than thatyou know i just do it for the people.
>>narrator those people that roy makes thetractors for generally have one thing in common. theyãre mostly ag related people. and mostof them are looking for something. well, what do you buy your husband after youãve beenmarried to him 40 years or 50 or whatever. and this is something that is different, especiallyif they are still farminã or involved with farming or have been. so, uh you know itãskind of just a natural progression. theyãre not an actually tractor but put your imaginationto work they come out pretty good. >>narrator roy says heãll continue to makethe tractors for anyone who wants one, but parting with them, well it isnãt always suchsweet sorrow. [music]most of the time, when i get one made i just
soon to keep it. [laughing] thatãs kind ofimpractical. so and i like that people really do enjoy them so.thanks for joining us for heartland highways, weãre all out of time for this week! weãllsee you next week with a whole new set of adventures.is there a place we should see or a person we should meet, well tell us about it. heartlandhighways covers within a 200 mile radius of our home base in charleston illinois. youcan e-mail us at heartlandhighways@weiu.net, call us at 1-877-727-9348 or send us a letterto 600 lincoln avenue charleston, il 61920. weãre looking forward to hearing from you.funding for heartland highways is made possible in part by sarah bush lincoln health system,dedicated to providing care for all and creating
healthy communities in east-central illinois.offering general and specialty medicine including a regional cancer center, heart and lung center,orthopedics and sports medicine, a center for interventional pain, and a full complementof diagnostic and rehabilitative services. sarah bush lincoln: trusted, compassionatecare.
