A NINE foot tall Celtic Cross sculpture made out of horse shoes has been attracting admiring glances in recent days.
The artwork has been created by William McCracken in his shed at the rear of his home in Ardagh, St Johnston.
A welder and fabricator with Fleming Engineering in Derry, William stumbled upon the idea for the sculpture while he was making a Christmas tree.
More than 400 horse shoes have been welded together to make the piece.
“I dropped a nail on the ground, drew a circle round it and I came up with the design. I had a few horse shoes lying about the yard and put out an appeal for more and before too long bag loads arrived.
“Every horse shoe had to be handled two or three times. Some had to be closed in and others opened up before they were all joined together. The end result is a nine foot high, five foot wide Celtic Cross. I got it sandblasted last week and it really cleaned it up. I don’t know yet whether to get it powder coated or to galvanise it.
“I put photographs of the finished piece up on Facebook and there’s a lot of people out there who would like to buy it although no one has come up with the value I’ve put on the artistic piece just yet,” he laughed.
The striking piece took William six weeks to make and he had his two young children Blake (11) and Abbi (13) for company out in the shed for much of the time.
While William also runs a small business, Weathervane Deigns, where he makes ornamental weather vanes, bird feeders and farm signs, the size and scale of this latest project is new.
“I’ve a few horse shoes left over and I would love to make a full bodied horse, a horse’s head or a stag,” he said.
“I really enjoyed working on this piece and I’ve been stunned by the amount of positive comments it’s received online from people all over the world,” he added.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)