By Frank Ross
This copper repoussé of a Native American dancer is filled with intricate detail.
Kirk Sullens has a gift when it comes to seeing the hidden beauty in metal. He is the sole proprietor of Kirk Sullens Metal Arts, located in Mount Dora, Florida. His work, over the past two decades, marks the waypoints in a long and winding path that began by simply turning the pages of a book. Sullens describes himself as a bookworm, a dedicated bookworm, and relates back to the tome that started him on his journey to becoming a gifted metal artist. For him the first step toward his future was taken innocently during the 70’s, in what he described as his “back-to-the-land movement.”
“I picked up a book titled The Complete Blacksmith by Alexander Weygers and that changed my life,” he said. To him, blacksmithing looked cool and from the moment he read Weygers book he said, “I was hooked.”
He started out in his backyard and then got some instruction. Now, some 22 years later, he says he couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Sullens was a long distance operator for AT&T when the company began cutting back its work force and offering to retrain their employees in another field. Seeing a great opportunity to further his passion for metalworking, Sullens asked if he could be trained as a blacksmith. Although he was told that he could never make a living as a blacksmith, and should choose some other line of training, he persisted and ultimately convinced them to finance his new passion for metal, heat and hammer.
Before his boss cooled on the concept, Sullens struck while the iron was hot.
This Native American themed lantern is one of a pair that graces the entry of the Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World store in Broken Arrow, near Tulsa Oklahoma.
“I started looking for a school to train me and discovered the Blacksmith’s Gazette, published in Washington State. There was an ad in it for a school near where I lived in Missouri, but when I called about enrollment the instructor said that ad was old and he had stopped teaching,” he explained.
Either Sullens was destined to be a blacksmith and nothing was going to stand in the way, or he is one persuasive salesman because he convinced Bob Patrick, one of the country’s top blacksmiths, to teach one more student and he was soon pounding out 6 weeks of one-on-one training.
One thing led to another and Sullens found his way into a great job building custom designed metal art for Bass Pro Shops/Outdoor World many retail stores. After 15 years of creating all types of animals, countless metal railings, fireplace doors, lamps, lanterns and assorted decorative items he decided it was time to open his own studio.
Sullens uses a torch to bend a piece of steel forming a pair of antlers.
While his goals is to develop a trade catering to the horse people that are abundant in central Florida, he also creates commissioned projects for clients around the country, as well as following the many ideas that take root in his fertile imagination.
He is currently working on a sign for St. John’s Cycles a bicycle shop located in a nearby town. As fortune often smiles on Sullens, he was in the cycle shop to get a bike repaired and struck up a conversation with the owner, who was looking for a metal artist to build him a sign from an 1880’s advertising. The work features a steel shield, a bicycle and a copper repoussé of a naked woman with long flowing hair. He has completed the copper repoussé and expects to have the entire project finished before the February 14th grand opening.
This copper repoussé is part of the bike shop sign, and measures approximately 29 inches wide.
Sullens picked up his copper working style over time but he feels that his techniques became more refined after attending a workshop put on by George Dixon, whom he says is currently one of the best in the business. “I enjoy working with copper but it presents different challenges from doing repoussé in steel. Copper is very yielding to the tool and tends to show every tool mark, while steel is a much harder metal and doesn’t show the telltale lines created by tooling the metal into a raised form,” he said.
It was during the process of ordering materials to build the bike shop sign that he became involved with Storm Copper, and true to Sullens’ luck, this relationship has become one of tremendous satisfaction.
“I was ordering copper from another source but after several frustrating experiences I became very dissatisfied with their service, so I started surfing the Internet and that’s when I found Storm Copper. There was a little mix up with my order and I called their customer service department and spoke with a very nice lady who took down my information, then I got a call from another person who quickly followed up with more details. It seemed to me that everyone in that company had taken ownership of my problem and took a personal interest in resolving it and making sure I was happy with my purchase. I haven’t seen customer service like that in a very long time. I’m a Storm Copper customer for life,” he said.
This ornate metal screen features a copper repoussé of a four-foot alligator.
Although Sullens prefers to work in heavier gauges of copper, the airborne copper lady for his latest project was made from 18 gauge copper sheeting. Should you have a copper project in mind, Storm Copper has the perfect piece of copper to meet your needs and expectations. But if something should go awry between the order and the execution, one thing you can count on as sure as copper’s golden hue, the customer service can’t be beat.
You can see more photos of Sullens’ artistry at his page on FaceBook.
Order on line, or call our friendly customer service department toll free at 888-334-2177.
Calling out the gauge of the metal is another way of saying the thickness. It is important to keep in mind that with gauge, the larger the number the thinner the material. 30 gauge copper sheet is much thinner than 16 gauge. To make matters even more confusing, the roofing industry measures copper thickness in ounces per square foot! 16 oz copper sheet is a very common size of roofing copper. Use this cross reference table to help you convert gauge to inches to ounces.
