As the years rolled by, Rick's collection of items grew from a small pile to a respectable stockpile. Things that others passed over at garage sales and swap meets -industrial junk- caught his eye, and found their way into his possession. And -always- everything was catalogued and filed in military-perfect fashion. Thousands of items...

Over time, Rick found he had a special passion for making lamps. His ability for precision and knack for creative fusion resulted in meticulous works of art. After his wife of 20 years passed away in 1993, he found it therapeutic to organize his new, larger workshop, and begin to seriously create. One of his early ideas was taking an old Oster Beehive blender and rewiring it as a lamp, later adding clear glass marbles to resemble ice. Then there was the 1940's tire balancer that shined up nicely and looked great with a leaf-accented shade. An ornate old hotel kitchen gas jet went vertical, sitting atop an industrial gear; nicely wired and illuminated beneath a custom bear shade. A 1950's brass circular sprinkler, with a satellite (refractive glass) center changes hues as the light shines through where water used to spray. An Iron Studio Light Lamp, Espresso Lamp, Clarinet Lamp with a Megaphone shade, a unicyle lamp with a photographer's umbrella shade... these were early experiments that eventually caught the eyes of discerning local artists. Eventually, a downtown storefront window became a display, and the regional newspaper ran a feature article on the front page of its local section.