Attempting a bird sculpture

[Norm]

I've been wanting to try and make a bird sculpture for a while now having seen some fantastic examples made by members of this site. I was fortunate enough to have been given some money to put towards the purchase of a plasma cutter for xmas so I thought i'd make a start.

I decided to try a kingfisher and a plastic figure from a garden light became the model.

The body skeleton was formed from some 4mm square bar bent to shape and tacked together

The Guinness box in the background is to make carboard templates from and has the added bonus that you must drink the contents first. It's the first time I've attempted anything in 3 dimensional form and no doubt it will need to be cut and shut along the way but the basic form is there.

I then started to cut the wing feathers from some sheet steel using the new plasma cutter, I never realised my hands shook so much until I started cutting and made a mental note that I must cut down on the amount of guinness and coffee I drink before attempting any more plasma cutting .

I've started to weld on the first set of feathers and that's all the progress for now, Hopefully I will post more as I progress.

Cheers for now, Norm

 

[eSCHEn]

Cracking start Norm. So envious of all you talented burgers who can make things that look like what it's supposed to be!

 

[chunkolini]

The shaky shaky thing?
Before you start make yourself relax, take deep slow breaths, stretch and relax your shoulders and see if you can find a support to use as a guide, not to lean on just to guide your hands along. There is a nack to getting rid of the tremors but it takes some finding.
It also helps to think where you are making the cut, and even to rehearse the movements first to get that nice smooth flow.
It can look a bit Karate Kid like but it does help.
Looking good the body supports are really nice and you have the shape spot on.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Excellent!! Where's the finished product destined for?

 

[skotl]

Great work, Norm! Keep posting the updates

 

[roofman]

Great work Norm....how are you btw

 

[Norm]

Thanks for the nice comments guys very much appreciated, cheers for the advice chunko I shall work on relaxing more prior to cutting, I've not got a home planned for it as yet, if I can complete it without it ending in the scrap bin I'll think about how to finish it and where It will live, not bad thanks RM hope your well.

 

[strada]

Looking good norm
How are you mounting it ?

 

[Norm]

Looking good norm
How are you mounting it ?

Hi Strada, I haven't quite figured that out yet, I have seen one where they had made some bullrushes as the mount so it looked as though it was just about to land and I have perused a number of your post's to see if their was something I could copy, I may well be pming you for some advice in the coming weeks

 

[chunkolini]

Bullrushes, grass, sticks etc.
Then the mount is part of it. I hate sculptures just stuck on a pole sets me off terribly.

 

[strada]

Hi Strada, I haven't quite figured that out yet, I have seen one where they had made some bullrushes as the mount so it looked as though it was just about to land and I have perused a number of your post's to see if their was something I could copy, I may well be pming you for some advice in the coming weeks

No problem norm, love to help if I can

I have made a humming bird but don't have pics,it was one of my first.
I made it so it looked like it was taking nectar from a flower. I made the birds beak longer than it needed to be, I then made just a flower head and put the birds beak through the centre of the flower, I welded it from the back at cut off the piece of beak that protruded out the back.
Then just a simple bracket welded to the flower to attach to a fence post.
Hope this makes sense

 

[Norm]

No problem norm, love to help if I can

I have made a humming bird but don't have pics,it was one of my first.
I made it so it looked like it was taking nectar from a flower. I made the birds beak longer than it needed to be, I then made just a flower head and put the birds beak through the centre of the flower, I welded it from the back at cut off the piece of beak that protruded out the back.
Then just a simple bracket welded to the flower to attach to a fence post.
Hope this makes sense

yes that makes complete sense, thanks for the offer of help, I'll be in touch

 

[Norm]

Managed to get a couple of hours on this today, first job was to tack a temporary scrap bar onto the frame so I could support it in a vice to work on as can be seen in this photo.

Then next job was to figure out how I was going to infill the body, various cardboard shapes were tried until I found a shape that I thought worked OK, I settled upon a small oval that gave the impression of a feather and as I would need a lot of these I cut myself a template from some 6mm ply and this allowed me to cut repetetive items with the plasma easily. A fair few were cut out and then I started to infill the body tacking each one in place and shaping as I went and this is were I'm at so far.

This is the underside.

and this is the back

my plan now is to continue infilling the body in the same manner while I think about the head and finishing the wings.

 

[Norm]

managed to get a second set of feathers on the wings and a bit more infill on the back.

think I'm going to have to add a few more bars to the skeleton to suppport the legs for mounting this as it's getting a tad heavy and lots more to do yet

 

[strada]

The feathers are a bit tedious ain't they lol.

I'm going to have to add a few more bars to the skeleton to suppport the legs for mounting this as it's getting a tad heavy and lots more to do yet

What I do norm is, after I've made the basic shape in bar,I then cover it sheet ,just in pieces but keeping the shape of the bird.
You can just layer the feathers,without worrying if you have anything to weld the feathers too.

 

[Kent]

That's really good and for a first effort - stunning! How did you form all those bends so well in the body frame? I have a plan to do something like this myself over one of our ponds but lack both the courage to try one at present

 

[fixerupper]

Looking good , I think birds, animals, and fish are great things to make ..wish I had the space for a plasma cutter ....jeff

 

[Norm]

The feathers are a bit tedious ain't they lol.

I'm going to have to add a few more bars to the skeleton to suppport the legs for mounting this as it's getting a tad heavy and lots more to do yet

What I do norm is, after I've made the basic shape in bar,I then cover it sheet ,just in pieces but keeping the shape of the bird.
You can just layer the feathers,without worrying if you have anything to weld the feathers too.

what gauge steel do you use when you make these Strada ? I'm using 20 guage as it was all I could source locally and I feel it's maybe a bit heavyweight for this

How did you form all those bends so well in the body frame? I have a plan to do something like this myself over one of our ponds but lack both the courage to try one at present

I made up a gizmo I think it's called a bending prong, it's a short length of 16mm diameter bar welded to a small angle iron off cut you make two and then these go in the vice and you bend the bar between them, I think it was Hitch the moderator on here who I got the idea off.

Looking good , I think birds, animals, and fish are great things to make ..wish I had the space for a plasma cutter ....jeff

Mine's just a small 30 amp unit jeff not much bigger than a car battery.

 

[strada]

I get my sheet from a car paint/accessories supplier norm, I think its 1mm

 

[Norm]

thanks, mine came from an auto place as well so must be the right stuff,