An interesting project turned up recently.  My cousin, Jane Crawford, a stained glass artist in Columbus, MS, had some large pieces of fused glass (around 3' long) and wanted some help deciding what to do with them.  Together, we chose a frame to mount the glass on so it could be hung in a window.  An alternative idea was to use the basic frame, add legs, and make a table.  The "window frame" is shown both with and without glass to show the structure. It is primarily 3/4" tubing and weighs about 20 lbs.  The pictures of square steel and green glass show a proposed collar that would be applied in at least 4 locations to provide mechanical fastening through 1/4" diameter holes on each side of the chosen tube locations.  This would augment a solid bead of clear silicone between the glass and the frame. 

    

Frame with glass	Frame alone	Collar for mounting	Sketch of table

  

        The table needed sufficient mass and strength to serve as a coffee table.  The oval steel would be about 36" X 22" of 2" wide steel, and about 16" high.  Legs would be 1" square with flared feet and cross members of 3/4" square.  These would have square tenons and holes that would be riveted together.  
        My initial attempt at these designs used copper tubing.  My roll former flattened the side of my attempts. I tried using
soft copper, hard copper, and even packed sand in one test piece.  I decided steel was a better choice!

   

Another recent project started out as one I nearly turned down.  A customer    called,asking if I could fix the springs on an antique daybed.  This isn't my normal   type of work, but I let him bring it by and fixed it for him.  He mentioned that he   didn't have ends for it, and so I designed the ones you see at left.  This needed to   be a combination of structural fabrication of the frame to provide structural   support integrity, and the hand-forged center scrolls to provide a balanced   appearance.  The hot-collared scrolls soften the angular frame and give it a period   look.  The customer had asked for something simple, yet attractive, and was very   pleased.