Ornamental Ironwork

Perry Ornamental Iron/Roberta Millis Schneiderman and Mark Millis (Perry, Michigan)
The Millis family has been welding iron for three generations. As children, Mark and Roberta worked with their father in his shop making trailers and railings and then, using leftover steel fragments, creating ornamental objects. Like his father and his grandfather, Mark Millis made his living as a journeyman erecting steel high rises around Michigan. All three generations of the family also used their welding skills to make iron tables, railings, and gates.

In 1997 Roberta and Mark started doing custom ironwork through their company, Perry Ornamental Iron. Some of the traditional tools they use to craft their designs are a coal forge to heat metal rods and an iron anvil to help bend them into shapes. They also use modern welding equipment like torches and plasma cutters that combine compressed gases to "cut out" figures and designs.