Dragon Head: update

Here's an update on the Dragon Head project. I added the eyes and a neck frill. Drilled out a hole for the eyes, surrounded with a bent metal washer. I used the same scrap metal shapes for the jaw, horns and neck frill. I'd like to add some teeth to the upper jaw and a few chin whiskers. I don't want to get too detailed with this thing. It's all kind of stylized. Too much detail would get away from that. Now I need to start looking for something interesting to use as a base for this thing. All in all, as an early attempt at welding, I'm pretty pleased with what I've got so far.
(click on an image to see a larger version of the photos)

Some new mobile's: 7/2014

I made a few new mobile's this month. Here are some photos. See more of them at my art studio web site: http://www.tesserak.net/html/mobiles.htm
The first photo is of the "Acrobats" mobile'. The second photo is another new one; red on one side, yellow on the other. The third photo is a small wire mobile' "Wire Man". 

Dragon head

Here's a photo of a work in progress: "Dragon head". Looking through my limited pile of scrap metal with which to work as I practice learning how to weld with my new welder, I came up with this idea. This is made, so far, with a one-foot long piece of T-stake (fencing stake) and some small pieces of scrap metal, which I have a small bucket full, left over from a metal shop (jaw and horn in this photo). I'm just making this up as I go. My wife thinks it would be a nice hood ornament for her "dragon truck", which she has painted with "dragon scales". I'll post more photos as this project progresses.

Hand-carved wooden spoon #5

From time to time, just for fun, and to keep my carving chops up, I like to carve a wooden spoon. I once looked at a nice wooden spoon and thought, "I wonder how hard would that be to make, and how long would it take". So, I thought I'd try.
Well, with the proper tools (a nice sharp gouge, mainly) and a lot of elbow grease, it's not particularly difficult and it takes from two to four hours depending on how hard the wood I've chosen is and how fancy you want the spoon to be. I thought I'd take some photos of the progress when I made my next spoon (that is, this one).
I've made spoons from several kinds of wood that happens to grow in my back yard. So far I've used maple, birch, plum and eucalyptus wood. So far plum made the best spoons. It's a good looking, hard wood that's not too difficult to carve. The spoon I'll be talking about here was made from plum wood.
The first thing I did was cut a slab of wood from a small aged plum tree trunk. On this blank plank I drew the outline of the spoon shape I wanted.

Then I cut the spoon shape out of the blank.

Then I took the cut-out spoon shape and clamped it to my workbench top and started to carve the bowl. This is easiest done if you cut the bowl before you carve the outside of the spoon, so that you have a flat bottom to keep the wood steady while the bowl is carved.

I moved over to a vise because it keeps a tighter grip on my work, and continue carving the bowl.

Once the bowl is roughed out, I give it a rough sanding.

Then I can start on the outside of the bowl and begin shaping it.

 Then I start on shaping the handle.

Next I begin the final sanding, from very rough to very fine sandpaper.

Finally, I finished the spoon with a couple of coats of hand rubbed boiled linseed oil. That is followed by a fine steel wool rub-down and then hand polished with a clean rag.

The final result is a nice hand carved 12" wooden spoon. Time: about 3.5 hrs. over two days.

Mobile #41

I got a welder recently so I could start working in steel. I want to make more sculpture that can be displayed outdoors. It's also a good tool and skill to have. I've been wanting to learn to weld for a long time. I waited way too long to do this. Anyway, as I'm learning, and making some really horrible looking welds, I have managed to stick together some steel. The item above, the first thing creative thing I've welded, is a small mobile'. It's made out of bits of scrap metal; nails, bolts, wire, sections of pipe, etc. . With a lot of grinding, I got it to look half decent, and with a coat of paint it really doesn't look too bad for a first attempt. The photo below is the final result. The paint is called "hammered bronze".

It's a pivot-on-point type mobile', with the top section balanced on the point of an old drill bit. The stand is made from, top to bottom: drill bit, lag bolt, washer, wire, 20d nails. The top part is made from the bottom of a spray paint can, wire, scraps of steel, and half inch slices of 1 inch sections of steel pipe. It's about 16 inches high. It's relatively heavy but it does turn in the wind.

I've started on another welded steel mobile and I'll post it here when it's finished.

Harmonograph #1

Most of the sculpture I make these days moves in some ways. That movement comes from natural forces like wind and gravity. I experiment a lot with different ways to exploit these natural forces. A harmonograph is a drawing machine that is driven by gravity. I've wanted to try to make a few of these for some time (there are several different kinds). There are two or three more designs I want to make. The thing is they tend to be large if you want to draw on full size office paper, or larger sheets of paper. So I designed one that can be taken apart for compact storage, is easy to set up, and can be clamped to most standard height tables.
I would love to make a large harmonograph. One that is, all by itself, a piece of sculpture. Imagine that. A piece of sculpture that draws pictures. Art created by Art.
So, here's a video I made of me demonstrating this first simple harmonograph.

Working with metal

I've been working with metal more and more lately. I'm really liking it. I have a few friends who have forges and I'm always fascinated with working in them. Some of the most creative fun I ever had was a night working (playing) in my friend's blacksmith shop.We made a piece that night that I entered in an art show.
I bought a welder recently so I could work more with metal and make larger things, and things that can live outdoors. I've been wanting to get a welder for a long time. I want to make larger, more durable mobile's for one thing, but I have lots of other ideas too. More on that later.
In the meantime . . .
I saw this braided metal technique, used for making decorative handles, and I wanted to try to see if I could make one. Here is my first attempt. It ended up being a barbeque fork. The fork is an old stainless steel fork, and the handle is made with four strands of braided and twisted wire. The braided part looks pretty cool, and actually is cool, because the braided part doesn't heat up in the fire. The photos were taken before I cleaned it up, buffed and polished it.  It's not easy getting a nice tight even braid and keeping the whole thing straight without putting a lot of tool marks on it. Not too bad for a first attempt though.
This technique would look nice on jewelry as well.
In the meantime I have to work on my welding skills. I'm still a bit sloppy at this stage. Anybody know where I can get my hands on some free scrap metal?

Close up of the braided handle

The finished fork, before clean-up, and polishing.