ABOUT 2nd TIME DESIGNS ARTISTS AND PROCESS . . .

None of the Hagen's sculptures are quick-fix creations. Even with periodic painting help from Judy's Mom, 88 year-old Hazel Keen, who visits every couple of weeks from Morgantown, PA, many 2nd Time Designs sculptures take literally hundreds of hours to create.

Lou does the welding. Judy does the painting. Both do the creating and all the in-between steps.

Lou Hagen learned welding in high school and developed that skill into metal sculpting over the years.

Much of what the Hagen's use for raw materials needs to be scraped, bucket-rinsed, sand-blasted, grinded, filed, sanded, and sprayed even before welding . . . and long before painting, with two coats of metal primer, two coats of enamel, decorated with oil and watercolor paints, then protective-car finish coated.

Each finished piece is numbered, signed, dated and has a certificate of authenticity. And each sculpture has a story…just ask!

2nd TIME DESIGNS NOTORIETY . . .

Some of the Hagen's work can be seen at the DuPont Nature Center at the Mispillion Harbor Reserve (a giant Red Knott bird at the entrance steps), at the Wilmington Blue Ball Dairy Barn Folk Art Museum, the Waterfowl Ward Museum in Salisbury, MD, and 15 pieces are exhibited at the Children's Guild in Baltimore. Their creations are also on display internationally in both Great Britain and Moscow, Russia.

Their work has been featured on WHYY News, WBOC-TV (FOX and CBS Network), WMDT-TV (ABC Network), Delaware State News, Wilmington News Journal, and in the book, Delaware Curiosities by Beth Rubin.

They have also been spotlighted on HGTV's "Offbeat America" program. Judy and Lou are members of Delaware By Hand artists and artisans of Delaware sponsored by Delaware Division of the Arts.