The Wagon has Some New Bling

Last week I decided that the wagon needed a little Texas style bling.  So I started to look for someone that could build us a custom hood ornament.  With a quick search, I came across Kent and Holly of Lucky Devil Metal Works.  

I sent them an email asking if they were able to build a hood ornament for our car.  Holly shot me back an email and was excited to hear about our project.  I could tell these guys were going to be great!  They wanted to build the ornament for us in memory of Tom Jones who was tragically killed by a drunk driver on May 11th of 2008.  Tom was an icon to the Art Car community and loved by many throughout Houston. 

Sunday afternoon my little man, James, and I headed out to the Lucky Devil Metal Works shop to work on the wagon.  When we arrived there was a photo shoot going on for one of the Houston Roller Derby teams.   There were a bunch of beautiful bikes, rough looking women in roller skates and lots of metal!  James and I were thoroughly impressed.

Once the shoot ended we pulled the wagon in and Kent started working on the car. 

Kent and I discussed the ornament we wanted and the size.  James wanted the ornament to be really big, but I convinced both James and Kent that a smaller size would be just fine. 

 

Since the wagon is officially the Intergalactic Lone Star Wagon, we presented the hood with an image of our great state of Texas.

Once that was decided on, Kent went to town on the metal.  It was really fun watching him work.  Personally, I had more fun watching my son James see this for the first time.  Kent was really patient with James (and myself) in answering all our questions and providing plenty of safety gear.

We watched the artist work his magic with grinders, torches and saws.

Kent was a master at his craft.  James and I were amazed to see how he could change the metals shape. 

Every step of the way Kent would go over what he was going to do.  You could tell he really loves what he does by the way he would take the time to show James how all the parts and tools worked.   Kent was showing James how he was going to bend the metal for the base of the hood ornament.  

James was mesmerized by the whole process and had the biggest smile on his face the whole afternoon.

He explained to James that the machine was really loud and you had to wear ear protection.  That was an entirely too complicated thing for James but he listened to Mr. Kent’s direction and put on the ear protection.

 

While we were hanging out in the shop, James and I talked about all the different types of flames that were on the bikes, walls and cars at the shop.  James showed Mr. Kent the flames on the wagon and Kent decided to flame up the Texas Plate for us. 

 

After the plate was grinded down, he etched in flames on the raw metal. We decided to go with raw metal because it seemed to have a nice little Art Car feel.

This piece of art was beginning to get us all real excited about the new ornament!

 

After the etching was done, Kent finished it off with a burnished look.  It was just the thing to set this car off.  Nothing better than hot metal on the front of our crazy intergalactic wagon!

We installed the ornament and shut it down for the night.  Holly and Kent were the nicest people.  James poured on the charm with Mrs. Holly too.  She was so sweet to play kick ball with him, set him up with a movie, made him a sandwich and even let him hold their new little chickens.  It was a priceless afternoon that I am forever grateful.  

 

Kent and Holly of Lucky Devil Metal works are two top notch people.  They treated us like family and their love of Texas, art and friends shined through.   Thanks for doing this for us guys!  We are honored to carry a piece of art on the wagon in memory of Tom. 

God Bless Texas and God Bless your local Lucky Devil!