"Cast Iron" Spiral Stairs

"Cast Iron" Spiral Stairs

There is a balcony off the parlor which needed a spiral staircase to give access to the garden.

To make the cast iron spiral stairs I followed the tutorial http://pequeneces-maragverdugo.blogspot.de/

I found that the fragile bits of fan often split when I tried to drill the hole in the treads for the center pole, so I doubled up the treads and glued them together before drilling.

Instead of using wire for the raining balusters I used Tiny Turnings cut in half. The little points on the bottom fit into the holes in the center of the circle on outside edge of the stair treads and which was really helpful in spacing them evenly and holding them in place while the glue dried.

Before attaching the balusters I used a tiny round file to file a grove into the top of each one to hold the banister. I struggled with the wire for the banister. I couldn't get it to follow the spiral of the tops of the balusters and the circumference of the staircase and  the angle of the rise of the stairs. So I switched tactics and used a piece of round leather lacing which was much more flexible and easier to glue in place.  I glued one end into a curl for the bottom of the banister. I then attached the leather lacing to a few balusters at a time, starting at the bottom and waiting for the glue to dry before doing the next few.  I left a long tail at the top end so I could fit it in place later.

I spray painted the whole thing with flat black paint and voila!

Only one problem... When I went to put it in place I realized that it spirals the wrong direction and would dead end into a wall. Sigh.

So I made another one going the other direction and now have an extra one if someone out there wants it.