Garden Of Monkey Retrospectus (GOMR for short)

Hello lovers of fine hand-crafted steel!

As the winter begins to pass and the cherry blossoms begin to fall like rain it is time for the Iron Monkeys to get back in the shop and start beating some hot metal.

So what exactly are we up to this year?  Well lucky for you, you're about to find out.

GARDEN OF MONKEY RETROSPECTUS

This year for Burning Man we are paying homage to our Rites of Passage as an artists collective.  The Garden of Monkey Retrospectus is a look back through the projects that have brought us to where we are today.  We will be bringing back a Tree Spire, "The Hand" from Incunabulum, and the Zen Gardens and Columns from The Crossroads to create a sitting garden of our evolution.  This is an amazing opportunity for the Monkeys to rework these pieces, clean them up, and make them *exactly* how we want them to be.  We are also going to work some new fire features into these pieces making the Garden flicker and explode in new and glorious ways. 

We are hoping to bring back "The Hand" to Critical Massive, with new and exciting fire effects.  So get ready to lay your ass under the flames of "The Hand" up in Mt. Vernon this summer.

PLAYA STAPLES

It's time to start thinking about how you are going to keep all of your structures in place at Critical and at Burning Man this year.  Let us help you with that.

Playa Staples are hand-forged, square stock steel tapered to points at each end and bent into a 'candy cane' shape. When hammered into the ground they lay flush with the playa and will not trip or skewer people, like that unsafe rebar stuff. They enter the playa easily and stay secure until it's time to go.  Playa Staples are removed quickly and simply by levering them straight up.  They've been around since 2003 and are time tested and burner approved (with over 7000 made and sold in that time).

Don't be the jerkface whose carport goes flying into your neighbor's camp. That's no way to get laid/drunk/hugged/fed, now is it?

Playa Staples are currently ON SALE, and we encourage you to order early so you can guarantee having your Staples in time for...well...whatever you need them for.

http://www.ironmonkeys.org/Store/Playa%20Staples/

OTHER STUFFS

Many of you have asked us if we are planning on hosting another fundraiser at the shop this year, and the answer to that question is YES!!!!  The fundraiser will be later in the summer, and we will be sure to let you know when it's happening.

We are also starting work on a jewelry line. If you like the scroll pendants we have been making for the past couple years, you are going to LOVE the jewelry line.  More info to come.


Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past few years.  It means a lot to us that you support our work and our visions.  This is going to be another great year, and we look forward to yet again keeping you warm with our art.

Have questions?  Hop on over to our Contact Us page to send us a message.
http://www.ironmonkeys.org/Contact+Us/default.aspx

Grimy, sweaty dust love to you all.

The Iron Monkeys

More fun than a barrel

What are you doing on Saturday night?

As many of you know, the Iron Monkeys have been working hard for the past 5 months building The Crossroads, which is our contribution to Black Rock City this year. The Crossroads is a 40’ steel and fire courtyard, and is by far the largest and most involved project we have undertaken and we are tr...emendously excited to bring it to the playa.

Also, it costs a hell of a lot of money to make.

This coming Saturday night we would like to invite you to come down to the shop for some early evening festivities and a bit of fundraising. We will have the shop up and running so you can see how we make pretty things out of steel. Also, a lot of The Crossroads will be set up out front of the building, so if you missed the fountain at Critical Massive, or want to see how how the project has evolved since then, this is your last chance to sneak a peak before TEITD. We will have the fountain turned on, a couple of columns connected by an archway, and a Zen Fire Garden up and running.

In the interest of supporting the grand diversity of our community, we have a number of ways you can contribute to our fundraising goals:

* We will have a yummy keg of Georgetown brew and just like back in college, we will be accepting donations in exchange for a classic red keg cup which you can reuse throughout the night.
* Cold hard cash or check. Anyone who donates some cashola to the Iron Monkeys will receive a Monkey made scroll pendant. We will be making the darn things right in front of you! Also, if you have already been so kind as to donate to us come on down and let us know. We will hook you up.
* Own a piece of Iron Monkey history! We will be auctioning off one of the three Zen Fire Gardens we are making for The Crossroads. This is a 6-sided steel bowl filled with sand and piped for propane. When on fire, designs can be drawn in the sand creating toasty warm awesomeness. Starting bid is $400. Delivery of the Zen Garden will be after playa. ;-)
* If you can’t make it down but would still like to drop us a few bones you can contribute via Chip-In. http://thecrossroads.chipin.com/the-crossroads
And let us just send a huge THANK YOU to those of you who have already contributed. You = Rock!

Saturday is also the Georgetown Art Walk which means that the whole neighborhood will be full of art, and a number of the other artist in Equinox Studios (where the shop is) will have their doors open. Can your artistic self really afford *not* to attend?

Let’s recap: beer, art, Monkeys, cool power hammer, art, music (yes, we somehow managed to find a DJ), beer, art.

Here is the nitty gritty -
Where: Equinox Studios, 6555 5th Ave S. http://www.equinoxstudios.org/index.html
When: Saturday, August 14th. 5:30pm - 9:30pm
Why: So you can say you saw it first, and that you are a part of The Crossroads

We are excited to open up the shop for ya’all to come take a look. We promise to be filthy and friendly.

Hope to see you Saturday!

The Iron Monkeys -
(2010 Monkey Crew) Tabasco, Alex, T-Bone, Cyra, Kay, Karla, Medic, Kristen, Mark, Steph, Misty, Deanna, Chris, Ryan, Elana, Brian, Gigantic Dave, Just David “Faust”, Cheryl, Scott

Making a finger and then a hand

It was a Busy weekend with 9 people in the shop working like a bunch of bee's.

This included some "tester" monkeys" More Dave is below.

And Just David

Medic using the slip hammer to make some tapers.

Alex is working on making scrolls

Karla is wire brushing a finger getting it ready to add scrolls

Brian is welding on some scrolls for the bone structure

The center line of the bone structure

And the Finger comes together.

Shadows

Turn my head and this is what I got to see

Legs, and detail shots

Placing the scrolls

One brave soul prays they don't get welded while one with at least some skill tries to weld only the scrolls

Don't worry the welds will magically disappear

with pretty wraps

How to make scrolls, sorta

First we taper the ends then scroll them



Then we tumble them and spend hours detangling them

They are stacked and they get added to the cauldron.

Stakes, legs and stuff

Playing the catch up blog, these are soe shots that should be shared


Did I mention how awesome these stakes are....

And then some leg ideas.... just a start, they get better as we go.

Magic scrolls

More scrolls, this time using +10 Iron Monkey Magic

Pretty