Damsel and I drove to Congress, AZ today to work with the artist who is building our custom courtyard gate for the archway. He presented several sketches on tracing paper from which we were to select the art to be carved on the gate. We furnished him with some photos and ideas based on the southwestern motif of our house and furnishings. He did the rest and today we made the choices.
Image – rough layout of the lumber with the sketches placed at their approximate locations – click to enlarge
Damsel made the choices for the artwork. At the top of the gate, just above where the saguaro ribs are going to be, is an image of a quail. Below the ribs, in the center of the door, there will be a kachina. The bottom panel will contain images of a bear and the famous dancing piper, Kokopelli.
Other features we negotiated were to install iron straps for strength, wrought iron above the top of the wood, antique hinges and gate latch and, as previously mentioned, saguaro ribs at eye level to allow us to peep through the gate.
In a week or two, we will have the gate installed in the archway. We will certainly post about that when it happens.