Since moving to Berkeley, where I have more space, I’d been thinking I really needed a trophy wall of some kind. But not wanting to kill any large animals, I put the idea on hold. Until I saw this:
I was photographing two excellent and elegant Hamilton Manufacturing Co. cast iron brackets (circa 1900), for this post, which also explains how I got the brackets. While doing so, the shape of the brackets together reminded me of this “Summer Days” painting by Georgia O’Keefe.
I figured if I could put these brackets together securely so I could hang them together (they’re very heavy, about 20 lbs each), I’d have a respectable trophy. A quick trip to my awesome neighborhood Ace Hardware revealed two small pieces of 1″ galvanized pipe I could use to bolt them together (the guy who helped me was into the project). This was easy:
Then came the question of where to hang it. None of the walls in my house offered the security of a stud in the right place to bear the weight without a lot of messy work or risk. So I opted for the old garage/shed, probably the right place for a trophy wall anyway. A couple quick nails and ta-da:
Come to think of it, it looks a little scary and ominous by itself up there on the wall. Like the bat signal or something. Maybe Georgia was right… it needs some flowers or something to lighten it up. To be continued…