Madeleine Crowdus and her husband Jay have turned metal canvases into rusty gold.
What started out as birds to mount on a fence branched out to include squirrels, bunnies, cats, dogs, roosters, cows, owls, old cars, trees, leaves, wreaths and anything they can draw and carve using a plasma cutter.
These unique artifacts are for sale at Rusty Garden Gifts, 6711 NE 219 St., west of Battle Ground. Madeleine Crowdus said the store has been open for about a month. She enjoys Jay’s latest creation – the story window.
“It’s putting all our skills together and making a story in a window,” she said. “We’re just taking beautiful elements of nature and creating them into little masterpieces of rusty art.”
This hobby started in their backyard, rusting the objects on their driveway and storing them in their barn. Then they rented a friend’s warehouse and continued to expand. Madeleine said their art is a hit at trade shows, especially along the West Coast, but she always wanted to open her own store. She’s now living that dream.
“We do shows and we bring it to life at those shows and then it gets dismantled,” she said. “The store is fun because it’s permanent. We don’t have to tear it down every weekend.”
The first birds they sold were primitive, or carbon cut-outs. Once they experimented with little creases, nooks and crannies, the possibilities seemed endless.
“The neat thing is you can bend the metal and you can give them a life of their own,” Madeleine said. “At first, we designed it without thinking about that. We wanted it to look real and recognizable, so it was like … ‘Ooh, if this bends then their wings can come out.’ It’s amazing. Even with one bird, you can do a whole lot of different things.”
Rusty Garden Gifts should hit its stride by springtime, when the garden outside begins to bloom. In the meantime, Madeleine encourages Battle Ground residents to drive down to Dollars Corner and see what her store has to offer. They might just find the perfect Christmas present, she said.
“What’s appealing to people is finding stuff that’s very unique, decorative for indoor or outdoor, and they can enjoy year-round,” she said. “Visually, it’s fun to see how somebody has put all of this stuff together. It’s intriguing. Even if they don’t buy anything, it’s a treat for the eyes.”
