Jim creates our copper house numbers

During early 2018 Jim and I house-sat for friends in California, one hour north of San Fransisco in Sonoma County. The rolling green hills were covered with cattle farms and vineyards. It was lovely and we enjoyed the different scenery, walking on long sandy beaches near jagged outcroppings and visiting the local cities like Petaluma and Santa Rosa. But Jim and I are both project driven people and Jim had just the project to work on. Something for our future home.
Jim designed and built our "400" house numbers for Sointula. Here's how it went.

Taking advantage of moderate California temps, Jim worked outside
tracing the numbers onto copper we purchased in Petaluma.

It took a long time to hammer the copper for the right look.

Jim designed wooden "0" and "4" forms and began shaping and hammering
the copper around them in Fred's diesel mechanic's workshop on the property.

Jim's a skilled artist and craftsman and these hammered numbers show what he's capable of.

Moving inside to the breakfast bar to work, Jim prepared for a row of LEDs for night illumination.

Clamps were used to hold everything in place for soldering the little tangs used to hold the LED's in place.

LED's are placed under the copper tangs. The numbers attach with the copper tubes; wiring runs through the tubes.

Set up in California on a piece of driftwood we found on the coast, which later became firewood.

The camera doesn't catch the effect accurately. The light is really much softer and warmer in colour.

Next photo in this series will be when the numbers are mounted on a piece of driftwood on our house. We found a special piece of wood on Gonzales Beach in Victoria, where Tricia's family grew up and where Jim and Tricia lived for over 18 years. Taking a piece of our old home to our new home.

We'll do more short blogs like this on specific things. Here's a sneak preview.