Bespoke Weathervanes - Three Different Projects

This month we have designed and manufactured three interesting bespoke weathervanes. This blog goes into detail about the different challenges we overcame with each of them, and how we turned each customers idea into a stunning and functioning weathervane, completely personalised to their requirements.

1. Lord of the Rings Weathervane

Our customer wanted to commission a Lord of the Rings weather vane as a wedding anniversary gift for her husband who is a huge fan of the films. She sent a sketch from a well known poster showing the film’s characters walking uphill and suggested the whole image could be a weathervane sail, forming the shape of a sword.

It sounded like a great idea however, the original image she had sent wouldn’t have worked as a weathervane; it contained the two towers plus several dragons flying above, there was far too many individual elements in it so the design needed scaling back or everything would have been tiny, and there was no way to attach the dragons. The sail also did not have enough surface area at one end, or a shape at the other that could easily be cut in thicker steel to balance to sail.

So, though we loved the idea, there was a fair bit of working out to do in order to make the sail function. 

Why is it important to have a weathervane sail that turns into the wind?

In short, if the sail doesn’t turn into the wind, the side of the sail will at some point feel the full force of the wind. Strong wind is definitely capable of bending steel, and once it’s bent, the wind can catch it and lift it off the pole completely. So if your weathervane does not accurately read the weather, it is much more susceptible to taking storm damage.

Turning a great idea into a functioning weathervane

We simplified the profile, bearing in mind the importance of keeping the entire fellowship, and drew a hilt and handle for the sword that could easily  be cut in 8mm steel. We had the concern though, that this would leave too much surface area underneath Gandalf, meaning the front would catch the wind, so we decided that some sort of cut out design would solve the issue. We suggested either something personal like a memorable date, or something relating to Lord of the Rings could be added. In the end I drew an impression of the Leaf of Lorian, which is both a nice decorative touch but also adds an additional aspect of the story to the weathervane. And, importantly it made the weathervane sail function. Our customer was delighted with the finished bespoke weathervane and has promised a photo when it is on her roof - cannot wait to see it!

2. Animals Weathervane

We’ve quite often swapped the NSEW for other letters to fit with various languages – it’s no problem to do a bespoke cut like this at no extra cost. We recently had a customer asking for animals in place of letters to represent each direction, which we thought was a fantastic idea. He’d travelled a lot, and each personally meant something to him – the weathervane was a special birthday gift for his wife.

He asked for Penguins to show South – I already had a nice drawing of a Penguin on file from a previous project. The Polar Bear and Buffalo were no problem to draw, (it was just a case of working out how much to cut out of the polar bear without it being too weak) but when it came to the Tiger, I really struggled to get the stripes looking right! As they would need to be cut out, I didn’t want to go over the top with the amount of detail, so I found it tricky getting enough in to be distinctive. It was one of those designs that I had to come back to several times, the wonders of a fresh pair of eyes! At Black Fox Metalcraft we do not use AI, so it’s a case of trying different things until it looks right.

This weathervane also features four hand made scrolls underneath the cardinal points. I've made them from 12mm square bar - it's never difficult to draw a scroll in chalk on the workshop floor and make it, it's getting a matching set of four that is the challenge!

We were also asked to gild the Elephants and arrow on the sail itself, so it’s ended up being a really unique, special piece. It glints beautifully on a sunny day so will stand out and command attention wherever it is mounted. The photos below show the weathervane mounted outside our house on a rare sunny day just before we packaged it.

3. Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration Weathervane

A Black Fox Metalcraft bespoke weathervane now sits on top of the new Quentin Blake centre for Illustration in London. The building it is mounted on is the base of the oldest surviving windmill in the capital, dating back to 1707, so it has loads of character.

One of the contractors for the site being renovated contacted us with an initial sketch drawn by the children’s book illustrator Quentin Blake – it included custom parts for the cardinal points, arrow and tail as well as the sail and the fixing. We had a zoom call to discuss the project as there were so many different aspects to consider.

Quentin Blake’s style of line drawing is incredibly distinctive and his work is well known alongside most of Roald Dahl’s stories, however the nature of his hand drawn style did not necessarily suit being cut in metal. Whilst it looks fantastic and expressive on paper, we had a number of concerns with the strength, durability and functionality of the initial sketch, for example the eye and pupil within it not being attached to the rest of the bird, and there being a gap between the sail and the legs, plus there is very limited surface area for the wind to catch.

We debated how thick we could make the lines on the bird without them losing any of their character and distinctive style, and made a couple of suggestions for where additional lines could be joined to add strength to the piece, but other than this we needed to get in the workshop and just try it.

We also discussed making the shape of the bird bending by hand 6mm bar as this would be in keeping with the hand drawn feel required, but this would have taken an unrealistic length of time. In the end we cut the bird in both 5mm and 8mm steel as we knew there might be a bit of trial and error in this project, and we also cut two arrows so we’d have options balance wise. We had intended to weld rods up the legs of the bird if it was still a bit wobbly, but this ended up not being necessary. 

The bar on which the bird sits had also been hand drawn. This is an element of bespoke weathervanes that we’ve not really messed with before, but it felt like too much of a weird contrast to have the hand drawn bird, letters, arrow etc but then a perfectly straight bit of square bar linking them all. So, I heated a length of 16mm square bar in the forge and upset the end, and generally hammered it subtly out of shape to remove it’s engineered precision.

We did weld the two arrows together to add weight to the front end, and happily the balance point was exactly where we wanted it to be – something we certainly hadn’t counted on!

In the end worked together with the contractors at QBCI to create something that the design team was happy with, and would also function as a physical piece – we were delighted to have been a part of this interesting project. One day we’ll get down to London to see it in person!

At Black Fox Metalcraft we go over and above to ensure that all of our customers weird and wonderful ideas can be turned into bespoke weather vanes that not only look fantastic but also that function, and lasts. Our attention to detail sets us apart from our competitors, and we're massively proud of all of these projects because we know we put 100% effort into each of them.

All of Black Fox's weathervanes can be bespoke with a small alteration to personalise the design, or a custom fixing to mount exactly as you want it. There is no extra charge for this service – contact us to discuss your ideas.