With the improvement of living standards, the owners of garden plots are changing the direction of their use. Today, the cottage is less and less a source of income. People come here to take a break from the city bustle and worries, to feel their unity with nature. The site is needed exclusively for aesthetic pleasure or as a place to realize your creative potential. DIY forging is one of the options for embodying your own skills and abilities.
Elements of landscape architecture such as forged arbors, bridges, pergolas and arches gained great popularity not only as an investment, but also as a means of author's expression.
The Importance of Style Matching
Forged forms used in the design of the garden should in no case fall out of the general style in which the main structure and the entire plot are designed. Otherwise, even a beautiful product may feel alien. Therefore, when making an order or choosing an ornament for independent work, you should carefully study the art of forging.
The appearance of the forged elements must comply with the general style of the garden
In general, forged elements fit perfectly into any type of landscape. They are appropriate in the precise clarity of French parks, perfectly combined with the emerald green of English lawns, deftly fit into the familiar Russian manor comfort, and even for the fountains and marble of the Italian garden are simply an integral part.
Here the number of elements in the forging and the ornament itself are important. A lot of small details, splendor and volume of the product are not suitable for every garden. A heavy baroque style is appropriate on a large area, where there will certainly be details that overlap in ornamentation and a house made in the same spirit. But for a light and thin forged product, special conditions are not needed - it fits perfectly into any landscape.
What forged items can decorate the garden?
The most commonly used to decorate a garden plot and a house located on it are:
Option # 1 - gates and fences
Forged gates look very decorative and attract everyone's attention. This element should sufficiently combine elegance and reliability. It is not so easy to be simultaneously a part of the protection of a summer cottage and its decoration. The gate is built into the fence or gate. If Europeans prefer to use fully forged openwork fences and gates, then in Russia a combination of materials is more common. But the fence is often forged only in the middle or upper part.
The forged gate framed by masonry or brickwork looks like a lace insert, while the forging in combination with wood or metal gives the impression of a gate to a medieval castle - monumental and strong
Option # 2 - garden furniture
Long-lasting and durable - these are the first words that come to mind when you see fully wrought iron garden furniture. As a rule, forged benches and tables are placed in a recreation area. Fully wrought iron furniture is not a very common option. A combination of metal and wood is considered classic, and glass-forged forging is used for a hi-tech garden.
Shod furniture can become a real decoration of the garden, if you do not forget about the sense of proportion
Option # 3 - garden bridges
The bridges are gracefully curved and decorated with delicate delicate details - this is what you should think about if there is a stream on the site. In any season of the year, a forged bridge will give the garden aristocracy.
Such a bridge will look especially poetic in the fall against falling leaves or snowy winters.
Option # 4 - stairs and supports
Inside the house, the stairs will serve as an elegant support when climbing to the second floor of the cottage, but at the entrance to the house forged stairs that form the porch look very organically.
Stairs to the garden - another decoration of the site
Option # 5 - pergolas and arches
These small architectural forms of the garden landscape are extremely popular and are widely used for zoning the site, forming corridors twined with plants. A feature of forged products is that they are not just a support for climbing plants - they are aesthetic in themselves. Their goal is the formation of volumetric space. A wrought iron lodge decorated with grapes or roses creates a shaded transition filled with the honey aroma of greenery heated by the sun.
Arches can be folded by the entrance from the patio to the garden. These garden elements are a durable decoration that does not require special care.
Option # 6 - country barbecue
Outing with many people goes well with the preparation of barbecue. In this case, barbecue is often used. An ordinary brazier does not fit well with the country landscape, but you can’t say the same about the forged product. It is during the incarnation of garden barbecues that the whole artistry of the forging process is manifested.
The combination of functionality and beauty is the main idea used to create a forged country brazier
Option # 7 - garden lights
Tastefully selected wrought iron lanterns on the walls of the house and the paths of the plot give it a special charm and create a romantic mood.
Such an element as a forged lamp looks good both separately and together with other forged products.
Option # 8 - arbors and awnings
Forged arbors are most often placed at a distance from the main structure or near a reservoir. It also serves to isolate the recreation area from the main site. The gazebo or pavilion makes it possible to fully realize the imagination of the designer. It is here that it is possible to use the forging ornament in all its diversity. A graceful, airy structure should create a feeling of soaring and festivity.
Light, openwork, airy - that’s what a wrought-iron arbor should be
Forged visors and awnings not only protect against rain, snow and icicles, but also successfully perform a decorative function.
In combination with pendant lights and a framing of the porch, the canopies can create a single composition, forming the unique look of the house
Option # 9 - Accessories
Not always the owners of the garden plot have the opportunity to buy expensive forged products in the right amount. In this case, you can try to make them with your own hands or limit yourself to forged accessories. Small but pleasant forged door knockers, lamps, holders for umbrellas, garden figures or flower racks will serve as a worthy decoration of any site.
Shod accessories can transform not only a garden site, but also the house itself
What can you do yourself?
Many people think that it’s impossible to create a high-quality forged product with one’s own, others believe that there is nothing particularly complicated in blacksmithing, since our ancestors successfully dealt with it in ancient times. Both those and others are mistaken. In order to forge even a small element yourself, you need not only tools and skills, but also knowledge of the properties of metals. Hot forging is hard work in conditions that are very far from office. What to do?
If there is no desire to build a forge and master the technology of blacksmithing, you can restrict yourself to an analogue of art forging. We will create a welded structure from a metal profile and metal rolling, which can be decorated with finished art forging details. For this we will need: a source of electricity; flat surface for assembly of the product; grinder with metal brushes, stripping and cutting wheels; unstretched rope, marker; a hammer, two hairpins; welding machine with mask, gloves and electrodes.
Even without a forge, you can learn to make real masterpieces over time.
As a material we will use a metal profile, as well as metal. The latter is better to take a smaller section, because then we can bend it without resorting to special heating conditions.
- Select a picture. Do not complicate the sketch that you have to draw, because this is your first product and metal is not a particularly plastic material.
- We buy metal. It should be assumed that the length of a standard rod is six meters. You need to calculate your need for metal and take it with a small margin.
- Treatment. The delivered material should be cleaned immediately of rust. Then it will be more difficult to do. To do this, use a metal brush worn on the grinder.
- Assembly frame. On a flat surface (slipway, workbench, table) we make the product frame. Its dimensions are taken into account on external surfaces. Each of the 4 corners of the frame will have a weld. So that the frame does not skew, we first grab one of the sides. Which will be the first - anyway. For a few drops of welding, we drip not the upper and lower corners, after which we align the diagonal, tapping on the welded corners. Then we weld the two remaining corners.
- Measurements. We put on the surface (table, chipboard, asphalt) a future drawing in a 1: 1 scale. To measure its elements we take a rope. We attach the rope to the elements of the picture, as to a stencil. So we find out the length of the segments into which we cut the rods.
- Deformation. To deform the workpieces, you need to create a fixture: on a flat surface we weld two studs 2-3 cm apart. Using them and a hammer, we gradually bend the rods, constantly comparing the result with a stencil.
- Assembly and welding. We lay out the elements on the stencil, collecting the drawing and cutting off the excess. Carefully weld the product on one side, and then on the other.
- Cleaning. We clean all the excess.
- Finished parts. We buy ready-made forging elements that will serve as a decoration for the base. We weld them to the places intended for them, we clean the welding places.
- Primer and painting. Soil is used white to see defects when painting. The properties of the paint should be combined with the primer.
- Chic and shine. Attractiveness will be given to the product by special aging or gilding.
The resulting product in appearance will not differ much from the forged one, and with certain skills that are developed with experience, you can learn how to create real masterpieces.
Garden forged products
Forged products also require minimal, but care
Forged products also need care. When in the garden, they are exposed to changeable weather. They should be painted at least every two or three years. The rubbing parts of forged gates, gates or swings must be lubricated. Then they will last a very long time, invariably delighting their owners.
