Gallery: Scrap Yards Yield Raw Material for Artist's Amazing Ray Guns

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    *Artist Clayton Bailey and his mustache at his home in Port Costa, California. Bailey's hand-assembled pop guns, which begin as scraps from metal yards, can fire corks, potatoes or peas up to 100 feet.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    02

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    *Cork-shooter made from a hopper gun.*
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    *Bailey's yard is both storage and an informal museum of his works, including much of his ceramic art.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    04

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    *Cork-shooter made from a drill and a two-cycle engine, with walnut wood.*
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    05

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    *Bailey and his wife, Betty, prepare dinner together.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    06

    120203-bailey-guns-036edit

    *Cork-shooter made from a vintage drill and walnut wood.*
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    07

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    *Bailey works on a pop gun in his studio.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    08

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    *Cork-shooter made from a plumber's tool and door knobs.*
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    *Bailey's studio brims with spare parts, nuts, bolts, tools and raw metal -- treasures gleaned from several decades' worth of trolling scrap yards. Here, some unused pieces are home to a pair of false teeth.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    10

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    *Pea-shooter made from a spray gun.*
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    *Bailey takes his dog, Molly, on a daily afternoon hike through the hills surrounding Port Costa.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    12

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    *Cork-shooter made from a car-wash tool and walnut.*
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    *Bailey loads a propane-powered cannon that is capable of launching tennis balls several hundred feet. His dog, Molly, generally approves of this.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    14

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    *Cork-shooter made from a vintage drill.*
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    *Betty Bailey mimics her husband's body language as she jokes with him during an afternoon snack in their kitchen.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    16

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    *Potato-shooter made from a spray gun.*
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    *Bailey walks through his backyard with a rake, tidying up the fallen foliage.*
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    Ariel Zambelich / Wired
    18

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    *Cork-shooter made from a carbonated-water bottle and a power tool.*
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