Ever since our visit to the
dinosaur lady out Iron Springs Road last fall, I've hankered to visit the source of her huge metal sculptures.
The chance came last week on the return trip after we saw the dotter and GD off to Alaska. There it was, on the west side of I-17 at the main turn-off to Anthem. The Metal Corral, the place is called. A veritable zoo of B*I*G rust-colored animals for your yard and mine.
A veritable Serengeti, it was. And as hot as the South African desert, too. The niece and I hurried to take our pictures so that we could get back into the air conditioned car!
The one disappointment -- far more modern animals than saurians, dragons or unicorns.
Here the critters were lined up to use the facility.
Even though I'd prefer a unicorn or stegasaurus, I'd sure settle for a lion, a bighorn sheep...
...or this eagle (or is it a roc? I can't be sure.)
Nice horses. The granddaughter would be freaked out to own one of them. Wow!
The cobra overlooks a collection of beasties and iron mariachi musicians lying down, awaiting shipment to a buyer in California. A blacksmith works in the shed at left; yes, in mid-summer. In Phoenix. However, only ornamental iron work is made here in Arizona. The animals come from a facility down in Baja near the border. I'd love to see that animal works!
Ever since our visit to the dinosaur lady out Iron Springs Road last fall, I've hankered to visit the source of her huge metal sculptures.
The chance came last week on the return trip after we saw the dotter and GD off to Alaska. There it was, on the west side of I-17 at the main turn-off to Anthem. The Metal Corral, the place is called. A veritable zoo of B*I*G rust-colored animals for your yard and mine.
A veritable Serengeti, it was. And as hot as the South African desert, too. The niece and I hurried to take our pictures so that we could get back into the air conditioned car!
The one disappointment -- far more modern animals than saurians, dragons or unicorns.
Here the critters were lined up to use the facility.
Even though I'd prefer a unicorn or stegasaurus, I'd sure settle for a lion, a bighorn sheep...
...or this eagle (or is it a roc? I can't be sure.)
Nice horses. The granddaughter would be freaked out to own one of them. Wow!
The cobra overlooks a collection of beasties and iron mariachi musicians lying down, awaiting shipment to a buyer in California. A blacksmith works in the shed at left; yes, in mid-summer. In Phoenix. However, only ornamental iron work is made here in Arizona. The animals come from a facility down in Baja near the border. I'd love to see that animal works!
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18 comments:
An interesting collection. Did you note that the sign-writer stuffed up the word 'wrought', the 'g' is omitted. Picky, picky (pickey, pickey--spell check won't tell me).
Maybe the folk who make the animals are related to those who carve the birds in ironwood.
Hermano
A whole zoo of metal creatures! I'll take a giraffe or two..
Neither eagle nor roc.
Griffin, I think.
Cool zoo.
I've always wondered what the price rate is for these things. I'm guessing that they are pretty expensive.
I love the elephants and the big-horn sheep!
We have a couple of Deborah Butterfield horses at the Portland airport... neat!
Thanks for sharing Granny J! Really neat spot. Next time I go that way I'll be stopping in as well. :)
Picky Bro -- Yes, you are! As for the ironwood carvers, they come from a tribe in that big canyon in mainland Mexico.
Brain-- aren't they neat?
pb -- thank you, I knew there was an imaginary critter I was forgetting.
QD -- Oh, they must be. Besides, they have to be installed so that a high wind doesn't knock them over. Niece and I bought a couple of ants for $10 each.
Kate -- I especially liked the wire horse.
Gadget -- it's well worth a stop, but do wait until it cools down!
Gadget -- in the meantime, you can see several of the beasties the next time you go climbing in the Granite Mountain area. They're at an estate out Iron springs Rd.
WOW! And that about covers it. Wow, wow, wow!
Mari-Nanci
Wow! What amazing beasties. I like those see-through horses. It probably wouldn't take much engineering to convert a horse to a unicorn...
SnS & Lucy -- I agree completely -- WOW! Though it was a tad difficult to maintain the WOW! point of view on that very hot day in the desert...and yes, the see-through horse would convert into a cool unicorn.
Oh, I'd love to have one of those big-horn sheep!
Thank you for sharing these. Amazing. I wouldnt want to own one though. I am not up with the modern trend to want something rusty about.
You commented; "Thank you for reminding me that I've started collecting new uses for old gas stations. We have a lot of those here -- I'll bet you do, too."
Nope, we really don't have a lot of them. Guess they all got torn down, except this adorable one, that is. :-)
Mari-Nanci
Stitch -- I'm with you; a bighorn sheep up my hill would be perfect!
Meggie -- what's a little rust amongst friends?
SnS -- Our local conversions have been to run-of-the-mill business uses, tho I've heard tell of antique stores and even coffee houses (the jutting roof is perfect for outdoor tables for smokers...)
I love those sculptures & distressed metal work in general. Great pics (as usual!).
These are amazing. I wonder how long it takes to make one of the smaller ones.
Steve
Steve -- No idea, but I'd bet they have several artisans at that animal factory down in Baja.
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