In the Tin Man's garden

You could call Jim Honold the accidental metal designer.

He learned metalworking from his grandfather and father growing up in Arkansas, though he didn't think it would become a career. He wasn't even convinced of it after an Army stint stationed in Germany, though he headed straight for cemeteries in every European city he visited to study the iron work.

When he returned from Europe and went to college, he studied creative writing and journalism.

But after a year managing an antiques store in the Seattle area and doing metalwork on the side, Honold "let go of the side of the pool" in 2001.

He set up a stand in a grocery parking lot on the road to the tulip festival in Skagit Valley, slept in a tent and sold his metal pieces.

"I hadn't had any master plan to do ironwork," Honold said. "It happened because of a lack of any better options at the time, and I decided I really loved it."

Metal as a career

Honold turned a business based out of his truck into Home & Garden Art, a Ballard store he owns with his wife Lisa.

There, they sell gates, arbors, trellises, topiaries and fencing, a few created by him but most are pieces he finds locally, around the country and even abroad.

While Honold, 32, prides himself on being able to make quick, on-the-spot modifications to pieces he sells in the store, adding legs, brackets or even finials while customers wait, his passion lies in crafting custom pieces.

"My main thing was I wanted to feel like I was creating something," he said. "I really liked making things look beautiful and being creative, and I like building stuff with my hands."

In his workshop in back of the store, he bends metal for arches, adds scrolls and other flourishes, welds pieces together and changes colors with chemical finishes. One popular design includes copper salmon that shimmer on bars resembling waves.

"What you can do with metal is amazing," Honold said. "You can hammer it, heat it up. The more you bang it up, the more beautiful it looks."

Home and Garden Art

The 85th Street store and adjacent patio, on the border between Ballard and Crown Hill, overflow with metal objects featuring a traditional, wrought-iron look as well as whimsical pieces.

A fish on a stake ($25) peers out from among dozens of garden-stake choices. Pick up a sea turtle ($110) for your garden or a heron holding a fish ($145).

Planters, trellises and arbors abound in metal, green and white finishes. A typical arbor costs between $150 and $350.

Honold's commissioned pieces usually start around $500. He does traditional wrought-iron style work with scrolls and flourishes, and also creates organic designs with leaves and flowers growing out of rails as well as modern Frank Lloyd Wright-style pieces.

"I feel lucky that I like what I do," he said, "and it doesn't feel like work."