Finished Gazebo

This final stage of building the gazebo involved designing a copper dome. Many gazebos have wrought iron domes in a very symetrical patters. Even though we liked the open concept of the wrought iron, we were not thrilled with the symetry. Since the freeze on the side of the headers was a grape motif, we decided it would be fun to continue this motif on the dome which would lend itself to a more realistic interpretation of grape vines growing over the dome as they rise from the ground around the selected columns. And we chose copper as it is a fun material to work with, very durable, and had great potential for patina over the years. To see a video of this whole process copy this complete URL to your browser;

https://quik.gopro.com/v/cpA89FVkFI/

Basic copper dome structure of 1" type L copper bent to the specified curves and then covered with variors sizes of copper tubing and wire to create grape vines.

Leaves are then annealed, a process where the copper is heated until red hot, then left to cool. By slightly heating the leaves again these great colors can be achieved. This will only last for a short while until the atmosphere takes over and the copper turns dark brown, and after about 50 years, and beautiful turquiose. I doubt if we ever see this patina!

This stained glass piece Joani made for the top center of the dome. It is the logo she designed for our home, La Casa del Wacho. We wanted it to be a surprise when you step into the gazebo and looked up.

After the annealing, each leaf must be hammered with a chissel to create the veins in the leaf. This process also moves the leaf out of a flat state and brings into a very 3 dementional state. The annealing makes the copper soft, but after several hits from the chissel, the copper once again gets very hard. After this the 10 gauge solid copper wire is brazed to each leaf to form the stem and then the leaf is brazed to the vine in about 3 to 4" increments. I might mention here that we started with 250 leaves, but soon realized it would take many more. We are now up to nearly 1000 leaves!

Copper leaves were cut from sheets of 12oz. 3'x10' copper used mostly for roof work. We used a machine called a CutAwl for this process. We have been using this machine for many years in our construction of theatre scenery and can cut most any material with it.

We built the dome in my warehouse space. The basic structure hung in the ceiling for nearly a year before we could get time to start working on it. Because is is nearly 12' in diameter, it was built in two halves so that it could be moved one side at a time in my small truck. So each of the vines had to be cut and then once on the property, could be brazed back together before craning up to the top of the gazebo. For this we used my articulating Genie lift which could easily move the 200 lb. dome

One of the best views of the dome is from the inside looking up against a smooth blue sky. The siloutte of the grape vine is very free, delicate, and open

Before I installed the stained glass piece at the top of the gazebo, I knew I had to shoot this picture looking down from the top at Joani's stained glass floor. It would be the only time this view of the floor would be seen. ANd what a spactular shot of Joani's floor. The idea for the floor was presented to us by an artist friend who said,"how about doing the floor as if looking at the cactus logo theough a kalidescope".

While cutting one of my topiaries in the front of the house, I stopped long enough to take this picture. I am sure I will replace this picture with one that is more colorful in the spring or summer.

We are very proud of our gazebo. It has taken us three years to complete and I am sure it will last long after we are gone from this earth. The 30 thousand pounds of concrete are probably not going to blow away in a hurricane and unless someone physically destroys the gazebo, it will probably be on this earth for a long time.

We hope you have enjoyed this detailing of our construction. Now on to another creation, or maybe just cutting the topiaries!