First attempt at sculpture

[GrahamGKD]

Hi Folks,
I made these last week:

I'm not sure how to finish them - they are made in plain old mild steel? Regular forum readers will have seen that Chunkolini leaves his sculptures to rust but I'm not sure if I want to do that. Anyone think of any alternatives? If I clear varnished them then presumably I would need to get an even 'brushed' look beforehand - could be quite onerous (suddenly leaving them to rust seems more attractive)?

Graham.

 

[pedrobedro]

I'd run a blowlamp or burning torch over them to get some rainbow colours then lacquer over it with spray cans.

 

[Dusty]

Like Pedro says, do the wings at least! bright polish eyes, and let the body rust.....

Great work tho' Dusty

 

[Hitch]

Thats a cracking bit of work Graham.
Is it all mild steel?

 

[GrahamGKD]

Thats a cracking bit of work Graham.
Is it all mild steel?

Thanks Hitch, yes it's all mild steel.

Thanks for the suggestions Pedrobedro and Dusty. Still thinking on it. I'll maybe try the blueing on a bit of scrap sheet.
Graham.

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Perhaps cover them or parts of in Jenolite type rust inhibitor ..results in a phosphoric coat that has some interesting colours .

 

[chunkolini]

Looking good, I like the tail on the Mayfly, that is always the hard bit, giving something a clear 'end' rather than just stopping. I would have given the two tail endss a bit of a curve, I have a horror of straight lines.

The eyes are looking good.

Re lacquer, I have tried this in the past and ot always gives up the ghost in the end. is there a clear lacquer that works long term outside? I must make a postre this one in the relevant section of the forum.

This is saleable stuff that will hold it's own in public, if you are after selling it price it appropriately^^^.

Email me if you want to discuss this more in private.

Chunko'.

 

[Balders]

They're cool. What did you use for the eyes?

 

[chunkolini]

The eyes have it.

This one always stumps people. Did you hand file them out of solid bar graham?

Chunko'.

 

[JimM]

These look great - must have a go myself one of these days.

Looking at the body and eyes of the mayfly can't help thinking what it must have looked like if you started with those pieces

Cheers

Jim

 

[GrahamGKD]

The eyes have it.

This one always stumps people. Did you hand file them out of solid bar graham?

Chunko'.

Yes - I hewed them out of a huge lump of steel with my bare hands.....

(.....well that's what I'll tell the customer anyway).

Got some hollow balls from Rourkes, mounted them on the lathe and sliced the end of them (could easily have just sawed a piece off with no lathe), positioned them with the two resulting flats together and put a bead of MIG around to join the two together - then just cleaned them up with a grinder to get a nice profile. These balls came with holes in them so I mounted a rod through the pair (tacked in place) and used this to turn them while welding. I filled over the holes where the rod was afterwards. Hope that makes sense? Graham.

 

[GrahamGKD]

These look great - must have a go myself one of these days.

Looking at the body and eyes of the mayfly can't help thinking what it must have looked like if you started with those pieces

Cheers

Jim

It looked more like an offensive weapon (with the tail on) than a falic symbol, if that's what you were thinking?
G.

 

[badersbus]

They look real cool Graham.... excellent job

 

[GrahamGKD]

They look real cool Graham.... excellent job

Cheers Kirk.

 

[RichardM]

They look good.

Finishes - You could try car wheel lacquer, what about bright zinc plated or galvanised.

 

[GrahamGKD]

They look good.

Finishes - You could try car wheel lacquer, what about bright zinc plated or galvanised.

Thanks Richard, and thanks for the suggestions on finish. A friend of mine says he saw some galvanised stuff at the Chelsea flower show which looked good so I might investigate that.

Cheers,
Graham.