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Funding for Heartland Highways is made possible in part by Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System,
dedicated to providing care for all and creating healthy communities in East-Central Illinois.
Offering general and specialty medicine including a regional cancer center, heart and lung center,
orthopedics and sports medicine, a center for interventional pain, and a full complement
of diagnostic and rehabilitative services. Sarah Bush Lincoln: trusted, compassionate
care. Coming up on this episode of Heartland Highways
weíll meet Neoga, Illinois scroll saw artist Rick Wallace and learn first-hand how he creates
his intricate pieces. Then weíll revisit Mark and Mindy Gardner at Flood Plain Forge
where they specialize in artistic and functional one-of-a-kind metal work in steel, wrought
iron & copper. And finally weíll head to Shelbyville, Illinois, to meet Roy Gaunt!
He makes display tractors out of sewing machines! Stay tuned, thatís next on Heartland Highways!
[music] Thanks for joining us this week on Heartland
Highways. Today weíre back in the Doudna Fine Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University.
Inspired artists walk these halls every day, which makes it the perfect spot to talk about
all of the inspired artists and artisans in todayís show. Our first adventure took us
to Neoga, Illinois, to meet wood carver Rick Wallace. Rickís intricate creations are all
done with a little scroll saw and a lot of imagination.
>>Narrator Rick Wallace of Neoga, Illinois is used to work with his hands.
[saw buzzing] >>Narrator As a machinist, he uses them all
day to make the precise parts required for his job. So, for him, a hands-on hobby wasnít
much of a stretch. Scroll Saw art uh itís basically taking a
sheet of ply wood or any type of board or material and uh putting a pattern on it and
cutting it out. Throughout the years, when I was in like woodshop and metal and all the
different classes back in high school and junior high I learned a lot of stuff there.
And then my father taught me a lot of stuff too. Uh he had a scroll saw and it sat in
the garage for years and years and then one day I thought well Iíll try it out. And he
showed me just a little bit and it took off after that. So, Iím basically self taught.
>>Narrator Rick first taught himself basic scroll saw cutout techniques, but has moved
on to a variety of woodworking projects. [saw buzzing]
Youíve got your basic scroll saw cut out, which thatís where you cut your pattern out
and there you have it. And then youíve got fret work and thatís just intricate cuts
to form one picture. Um intarsia it just goes on and on. Iíve been more experimenting with
the intarsia art. >>Narrator And what is intarsia art?
Itís segmented cutouts where youíre using individual boards to form one piece of art.
You design your pattern and then uh after you have your pattern designed you write the
pattern out on the board. And then you individually cut each piece out and uh after you have the
pieces all cut out then you uh piece it all together and doing all of your shaping. And
then you piece it together and you stain it and it takes a lot of time.
>>Narrator Rickís pieces vary in how long they take to create. Some take only 5 hours,
while others can take up to 50 or more depending on the difficulty and number of cuts. Rick
hand-draws some of his patterns and orders others from magazines and the internet. He
can also make portraits in the wood from photographs. Iíve done pictures for people at work and
sold them and theyíve given me a really good picture. You know it has to be a professional
picture mostly or like a school picture or something like that thatís professionally
done. And then I can turn that into like a one bit image and your darker areas of the
one bit image is whatís going to be dark stained and the rest of it will be uh just
left the regular wood color. Thatís how see your eyes drawl right to the black you know
in the picture. So, it just captivates you. >>Narrator And using an artistí eye is what
helps Rick shape the portrait and intarsia cutouts and gets them to fit together just
right. See each piece is individually shaped and
then you know you look at the diagram and then it tells you you know it doesnít tell
you how much to really shape it, but thatís kind of something you do on your own. You
got to pick one piece up and shape it to fit. And sometimes the cuts come together all right
if itís cutting the same piece of board but then when you have to merge the other piece
together youíre cuttiní and shapiní. So, that way they fit tightly you know.
>>Narrator And shaping is actually Rickís favorite part of the creation process.
To sculpt the wood I use a drum sander to the curves and shapes in the wood. Itís just
thatís my favorite part of it is the shaping and watching it turn out. Itís just incredible.
>>Narrator Rick has made over 300 pieces so far. Some he has given as gifts, others he
has sold, but heís still managed to keep a few for himself. He generally works on one
piece at a time with the exception of one specific time of year.
Most of the time Iím doing the one piece and thatís it and after I get it done I start
on another one. Except for around Christmas time and Iím [Laughing] itís like Santaís
workshop out there you know. >>Narrator Rickís favorite subjects include
birds and celebrities. More recently he has begun to experiment with wood dyes, stains
and paint. He also uses a variety of woods to give each piece a unique touch.
I usually use a lot of Walnut, oak, maple, uh some cherry uh you know your basic woods
that you can easily get around here. One of these days Iíd like to use exotic hard woods
and stuff like that. Like cocoa boa, rosewood, stuff like that just stuff wood that you would
get from other countries that you canít get around here. And they have different grain
patterns, different colors. There are a lot of beautiful types of colors that you can
get with those woods. >>Narrator For Rick, the more challenging
the project, the more intrigue he finds in it.
Some things can be really easy maybe four or five different cuts and youíre done. And
then there are some that are uh hundreds of cuts. I go for the pieces that have hundreds
of cuts because they are more of a challenge. Thereís not a better feeling in the world
than to create something you know even for everybody else to see too.
>>Narrator Rick is currently working on more ways to get more people to see his work. He
takes suggestions and posts photos on his Facebook page and also displays a few pieces
at an art gallery in Sullivan, Illinois. I would like to actually start a website where
I could actually sell my stuff you know and get it out there so people can see it more.
>>Narrator In the meantime, Rick plans to continue doing his work for friends and family.
After all, they all feel the same way about his work.
They love my work and everything. My kids you know they ask me to do stuff for them
too you know and Iíve done stuff like that in the past too for gifts and you know. Itís
something they respect it. They donít like tear it up or anything like that you know.
Itís just endless the things you can do with a scroll saw.
Want more information on the story youíve just seen? Head to our website at weiu.net/hh.
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Now we head to Farmer City Illinois to meet a husband and wife metalsmith team. Mark and
Mindy Gardner create both functional and artistic pieces, all under the roof of their historic
blacksmith shop. This building has really a fantastic history,
as far as blacksmithing is concerned. Thereíd been a shop here; as far back as weíve gone.
Since 1892 and it was owned by the Gould brothers. >>Narrator And today, Mark and Mindy Gardner
are continuing that history with their own style of metal work. Located just off the
downtown district in Farmer City, Illinois, the Gardnerís happily spend their time heating,
shaping, pounding and forming ordinary metal into extraordinary art. They started working
out of their home, but when they encountered a problem with their forge, they came to this
building for the solution. And Mark knew this had been a blacksmith shop
and he asked the people at K&S Furniture if they would let us come in here and see how
the chimneys were built and how the forges were built and they said ìYeah.î And we
came in here on an incredibly cold day, and were looking at everything and was like, ìWow,
this is ñ this is really neat, this is a neat building.î Um, we went home, kind of
played around with the chimney we had, um, later on Mark asked them, you know, ìIs there
any chance you would considering selling this building?î And they said ìWell, yea, we
would sell it but we need a warehouse for all of our furniture.î So, I was talking
with *** Maxwell at the bank and telling him the situation and he said, ìWell, why
donít you buy the building across the street, fix it up for them and swap buildings?î And
basically thatís what we did. >>Narrator That was in 1998 and since then
Mark and Mindy have been working regularly out of what they now call Flood Plain Forge.
Inside, the building is like taking a step back to an earlier time of a busy blacksmith
shop with forges, fired by coal and heavy, belt driven machinery. When this shop closed
in the 70ís all of the tools and machines were sold, but the Gardnerís have amassed
a sizable collection of presses and power hammers that fill the shop.
Uhhh, the first, the first batch we got was uhmm, we went to an auction at Metamora near
Peoria, and to buy the line shaft they had it advertised in the newspaper and uhmm, we
went for the line shaft and came home with a 1918 South Bend Metalloid uhhh, camel-back
drill press and a grinder and a line shaft and several other items. Well, some people
have come in here and said, you know, ìYou can have this anvil, or Iíll sell you this
anvil as long as it always stays here.î So some people actually care about the equipment
and just want it to have a good home and not be put into a scrap yard and just destroyed.
>>Narrator Mass production of metal goods, made blacksmiths obsolete, but now there is
resurgence in artistic metalwork and blacksmithing as an art form. Flood Plain Forge is now a
creative workspace for Mark and Mindy, who each have their own style and specialty. Markís
more practical and more functional. Um, I think he does more of what you would
think of as blacksmithing. Uhhh, gates, railing, chandeliers, uhhh, spoons, knives, forks,
hinges, umm, I do something totally unusual. Itís called ìchasingî and itís usually
used for creating jewelry, but Iím doing it on steel. And umm like I said, I got interested
from seeing what was done, probably, uhhh around 1920 in that era.
>>Narrator Chasing is a process that moves metal; where as something like engraving actually
removes it. To make her creations, Mindy first starts with a drawing, the uses a foot powered
treadle hammer to create the design. This husband and wife team often pools their talents
on projects, like this sizable arch built for Sugar Grove Cemetery.
And it took a year to make, it was a huge project. It was what twenty- twenty ñ between
twenty-four and twenty-six feet tall. Twenty - over twenty-six feet tall. Twenty-four feet
wide, yea, so it was huge. There was a lot of working together on that, a lot of designing
together, drawing it out on the floor because we didnít have anywhere else to draw it.
Yea, where you guys are was all a big drawing of this cemetery arch, all pieces of it. Yea,
it was an interesting project. >>Narrator They also like to collaborate with
another Farmer City Artist, Glass Blower Todd Manicki. Their work resulted in a beautiful
6 foot high floor lamp. In 2002 Mindy was chosen to create an ornament for the official
White House Christmas Tree, an honor given to one artist from each state.
That year, the theme was ìAll Creatures Great and Smallî and the tree was decorated with
different birds indigenous to the state the artist was from so I did Indigo Bunting sitting
on Purple Coneflower with a Yellow Coneflower in the back with some prairie grass kind of
to, umm to go along with being the Prairie State and the Bunting is a bird that is indigenous
to Illinois. And we did get invited to a reception at the White House and we did go and that
was an awesome experience. And now it in a permanent collection, I guess permanent ornament
collection at the White House. >>Narrator Thereís no doubt that metal work
is labor intensive, a continual learning process, where the results are not always instantaneous.
I mean you never stop learning. Iíve been blacksmithing for 38 years and
I learn something new every time I pick up a hammer. Uhh, it just takes a very long time
to learn. I think you have to look at everything you make as a learning experience.
>>Narrator Work like this takes time and patience and for the Gardnerís, support from one another
and a good attitude are essential. Thatís my side of the shop! The term ìartistic
temperamentî comes to mind. Most of the time we get along very well. Occasionally weíre
both quite headstrong and weíll both have our ideas of how something should be and those
donít always jive, but most of the time we get along very well, and uhhh, its fun.
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Over in Shelbyville, Illinois, we met Roy Gaunt. Roy makes display tractors out of old
sewing machines. He says deciding which sewing machine should be which tractor is kind of
like putting a puzzle together; you just have to have a little bit of vision.
[Music] >>Narrator Roy Gaunt of Shelbyville, Illinois,
has spent most of his life around agriculture and farming, so it was only natural that when
he was looking for something to do a few years ago, he flipped through a farming magazine
and was instantly attracted to an article about a man who makes display tractors from
sewing machines. I looked at that and I thought, ìI could
do thatî. So, I made one and it looked pretty good. So, I made some more and then I got
to finding people that would want them. And uh I found more sewing machines, so I just
kept at it. >>Narrator Now, 50 tractors later, Roy is
well-immersed in the hobby. First, you tear the sewing machine clear apart.
And then I wash and clean them up and decide on what tractor theyíre good for. Some work
better for a certain brand of tractors rather than another brand. Then, I start putting
it back together using all the parts that I can like needle shafts and uh the covers.
Excess covers I try to use them. Uh the bobbin plate, I use to make a platform on the rear
end if I can. Uh then I drill the holes for the actual shafts. Uh then, theyíre painted.
Uh The tires, the front wheels are normally a Nurtle tire. That I get from a Nurtle supplier.
And the rear wheels are six inch lawn mower wheels. And most of the time I have got to
repaint them, ëcause theyíre always white. And then, just put everything together and
hope it works. [Laughing] >>Narrator Roy uses just about any kind of
sewing machine to make his tractors, but says simple ones work best.
It works better if they donít have a lot of doodads and adjustments and stuff on ëem.
But, uh olí Singers work good, olí metal types do. The newer ones work good like the
tractors you have here. Uh the newer sewing machines like most of them donít have a lot
of the adjustments and extra things on ëem. >>Narrator Roy gets the sewing machines he
uses from auctions, yard sales and his customers. A lot of ëem come from people that have a
sewing machine and ask, ìCan you make this into a certain type tractor?î So, probably
a third to a half of them from that source and they want the same machine back. Itís
been in their families for years and they have a special attachment to it. So, they
want you know, ìuse my sewing machineî. [Music]
>>Narrator So, how does Roy decide which sewing machines should be used for each tractor?
Well, a little imagination, he says, is all you need.
You look at it and you see what it looks like. You know, I know what the tractors look like
and like that white tractor has a distinctive front end. And uh the International tractor
thatís back there wouldnít look very good with a white paint job. So, the front endís
not right. You try to match it. Youíve got to use your imagination, but uh itís kind
of you look at it and think about it. It comes out.
>>Narrator Roy has made everything from John Deere, to Case, to Oliver tractors and beyond.
It takes him about 2 weeks to get one finished and he usually gets about $70 for one. But
for Roy, itís not about the money. Well, I think the best part is when people
come to pick them up. You know, they you get some stories behind them. And uh plus you
know itís something that I can pick up and do and if I want to drop it I can leave it.
You know I donít lose anything. I can come back and pick it up where I left off. You
know if I spend two hours a day on it you can do quite a bit. So, uh you know itís
just something different to do. Itís related to agriculture, which is what I grew up in.
So, uh plus I like tractors of course. So, you know itís kind of a hobby I guess.
>>Narrator Royís hobby keeps him busy, so busy in fact that he barely has time to make
and keep any of the tractors for himself! Iíve got one thatís a junk yard dog. And
itís a machine that didnít look like it would fit anything. So, I just got together
a half a dozen cans of paint and just sprayed it any which way, put a crooked exhaust pipe
on it. And I like to make a 70 for myself, which is a tractor that I upset when I was
almost 21, but [Laughter] other than that you know I just do it for the people.
>>Narrator Those people that Roy makes the tractors for generally have one thing in common.
Theyíre mostly ag related people. And most of them are looking for something. Well, what
do you buy your husband after youíve been married to him 40 years or 50 or whatever.
And this is something that is different, especially if they are still farminí or involved with
farming or have been. So, uh you know itís kind of just a natural progression. Theyíre
not an actually tractor but put your imagination to work they come out pretty good.
>>Narrator Roy says heíll continue to make the tractors for anyone who wants one, but
parting with them, well it isnít always such sweet sorrow.
[Music] Most of the time, when I get one made I just
soon to keep it. [Laughing] Thatís kind of impractical. So and I like that people really
do enjoy them so. Thanks for joining us for Heartland Highways,
weíre all out of time for this week! Weíll see you next week with a whole new set of
adventures. Is there a place we should see or a person
we should meet, well tell us about it. Heartland Highways covers within a 200 mile radius of
our home base in Charleston Illinois. You can e-mail us at heartlandhighways@weiu.net,
call us at 1-877-727-9348 or send us a letter to 600 Lincoln Avenue Charleston, IL 61920.
Weíre looking forward to hearing from you. Funding for Heartland Highways is made possible
in part by Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, dedicated to providing care for all and creating
healthy communities in East-Central Illinois. Offering general and specialty medicine including
a regional cancer center, heart and lung center, orthopedics and sports medicine, a center
for interventional pain, and a full complement of diagnostic and rehabilitative services.
Sarah Bush Lincoln: trusted, compassionate care.