Michael Grant Designs Home

Wrought Iron

I never really intended to do metal work but found that I needed to be able to fix things and wanted to make things for the garden. Being able to do a little welding and a bit of blacksmithing to make garden items seemed like a good idea. I took some blacksmithing courses at John C. Campbell Folk School in Murphy, NC (a terrific place to learn all sorts of things) and my desire to do a "little welding and a bit of blacksmithing" turned into a lot of welding/blacksmithing...but it is wonderful. Below are some things I have created. I specialize in cattails because I have never really seen them anyplace else and they fit with the marshy "low country" landscape cut by multiple rivers in Pawleys Island, SC area where I live and work. I also tend to lean heavily toward botanical themes and like to add unusual things from nature on my pieces. But I can fabricate anything a client wants and my goal is to make their dream a reality even if what they want is not what I would normally do.

Here in the low country of South Carolina, we have a lot of cattails and I thought making/distressing them would be an interesting and very local kind of thing. I buy the ready made cattail stems from King Architectural Metals and buy their acanthus leaves and beat out curves until they are flat.

Demilune Wrought Iron Cattail Table (48" wide, 18" deep, 32" tall). Hand wrought cattails and cattail leaves, worm-eaten pine top,

Pair of hand wrought cattail gates (each 20" wide, 40" tall).

Hand forged steel frog on banana leaf, painted, distressed.

Hand forged steel frogs dancing on lily pad, painted, distressed.

Hand forged steel frogs doing tango on lily pad with one frog watching, painted, distressed.

Single wrought iron gate painted Charleston Green.

Pair of wrought iron gates painted gloss black.

Pair of cast iron panel gates with wrought iron scroll tops, painted and distressed.

Single wrought iron gate painted hammered black.

Single wrought iron gate, painted and distressed.

Single wrought iron gate painted gloss black.

Console table of worm-eaten pine, wrought iron cattails and frog crawling onto table top.

Console table of worm-eaten pine, wrought iron cattails and lizard climbing up right back leg.

Hand wrought steel lizard climbing up back leg.

A pair of gates at the top of a stair with a latch to prevent small children from falling down the stair. Installed in a home in Pawleys Island, SC on 11/19/2016. Gates were painted the same color as the wall and trim (with some green and blue added for accents) and then distressed.

A custom made fireplace screen with two doors. Design was plasma cut out of a single sheet of 3/16" steel. Design is of Live Oak trees in front of a winding creek with an old dock, Clemson flag, and seagulls.

Fireplace Screen Door Left Bottom
Note the Clemson flag flying at the end of the dock.

Daylily gates. Display is at True Blue Nursery in Pawleys Island, SC.

Commissioned work: Masonic symbol for local Masonic Lodge.

Wrought Iron Stair railing for Bunnelle Foundation's new building in Pawleys island, SC.

Commissioned Work: Railings for a Charleston style garden.

Commissioned work: Gate for Charleston style garden.

Console table (36"H, 32"W, 14"D) with hand wrought daylily panel, distressed wrought iron base.

Detail of distressed wrought iron daylily panel in console base.

36" wide Wrought Iron Cattall Console table with Walnut top and live edge

Matched pair of wrought iron rose consoles with walnut tops.

Wrought iron rose console walnut top with live edge.

Larger pair (39" tall) of cattail lamps with rustic bases.

Base of cattail lamp 1. Cut section of walnut log with lilypads.

Base of cattail lamp 2. Cut section of walnut log with lilypads.

Pair of Cattail Console Tables (48" long, 12" deep, 35" high). Bookmatched walnut tops with frog (left console) and dragonfly (right console) in painted and distressed steel bases with lily pads.

Completed September 3, 2017 and for sale now at AIM in Charleston, SC