Japanese Calligraphy

[chunkolini]

My customer asked for his daughters name in traditional calligraphy cut out of steel to fill a space 2.7m tall.
He had the calligraphy done by hand at considerable expense.
I scaled it up with my OHP, and by about the third attempt we were both happy.
I cut it out of 3mm mild steel sheet, cleaned it with citric acid, cup brushed it to give a slight surface texture then treated it with gun blue before drying it and coating with Jade Oil and leaving that to cook for two days on a radiator.
They are mounted using Through bolts and stand about 40mm off the wall. I made a jig to get the spacing correct.
Both of us are happy chappies with the end result.

 

[Spark plug]

Top job as usual chunko.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Love that idea and your execution!

So, what does it translate as?

 

[sparkysy]

Awesome! Love it there's something amazing about Japanese calligraphy!

 

[the snooper]

its all foreign to me

 

[mike os]

That looks great

 

[chunkolini]

More detailed shot of one of the characters, and no grinding or finishing just knocked the dross off the back.

 

[Spark plug]

The name translates to India.
More detailed shot of one of the characters, and no grinding or finishing just knocked the dross off the back.
View attachment 58285

Dose make it look like it was painted in thin air.

 

[chunkolini]

This is where doing it by hand beats CNC any day. I scaled it up from the OHP using chalk and spent ages looking at the ends of the brush strokes to get a feel for how they look and had to interpret it to the material working from an A4 printout. So their is an element of randomness as you would get with a brush. I was glad my customer was so particular about what he wanted.

 

[Spark plug]

This is where doing it by hand beats CNC any day. I scaled it up from the OHP using chalk and spent ages looking at the ends of the brush strokes to get a feel for how they look and had to interpret it to the material working from an A4 printout. So their is an element of randomness as you would get with a brush. I was glad my customer was so particular about what he wanted.

I hate it when your doing a job for someone and ask their opinion to be met with "whatever"

 

[chunkolini]

I cant stand that.
Or being asked 'Make this' and being shown a picture of either an older piece of my work.
I enjoy the communication involved in producing the work.
This guy was great, we had agreed a price and delivery date and deposit.
Then wifey left he was ok about a short wait, then I bust my back, cur three month wait.
He phoned me up to see if I was ok and gave me a real pep talk, he even sent me an interim payment to help tide me over while I recovered.
I have always been lucky with my customers. I am just finishing a job I took a deposit on pre accident, again no hassles from the customer.

 

[Norm]

Very nice job Chunko, you must be well pleased with the finished job, did you use any form of guide wheels to help steady the plasma torch or was it all freehand ?, if the latter you've definitely got the shakes under control , does the jade oil dry to a hard finish or will it need to be replenished at some stage.

 

[gordon stephenson]

Excellent Chunko, You are the man!!!

 

[chunkolini]

No guide wheels, I just let the end of the torch skate along the surface, vaguely touching seems to do the trick. I have tried stand off springs as supplied, bloody useless, I fannied about making a set of rollers and gave up on them. It sounds bit 'hippyish' but it is about focus and breathing, practice each cut, avoid sharp changes of direction and dont balls it up. Also sit straight, dont stretch and I find tucking the hose under my arm to apply a little bit of tension steadies the torch. I get my students writing with a felt pen in a length of hosepipe as a practice exercise.

Jade Oil? at room temperature it feels slightly oily, I brush it on, leave it say half a day and wipe any excess off then sit it on a radiator which dries it to barely oily feel. Polish that with a cloth and it feels dry. I have stuff at home that was done like this years ago and is fine.

The gunblue is hilarious stuff to apply, you get greens, bronzes, blues, greys, blacks a whole range of colours over a few seconds eventually you can get a good even tone but it is hard on sheet material. I am planning on trying to fix the part way stages as the colours are great, some of it looks like Hubble photos of gas galaxies. Next time I am under occupied or harassed I will have a go at this.

 

[Norm]

Thanks for that, I was wondering about the oil as at some stage I am sure that those letters will get some attention from a hoover to get rid of dust, cobwebs etc and wondered if it would stand up to that. "don't balls it up" no pressure then

 

[pedrobedro]

Fancy calling your kid Squiggle. It looks good suspended against the blank wall.

 

[pondman]

More detailed shot of one of the characters, and no grinding or finishing just knocked the dross off the back.
View attachment 58285

Wow Chunko' the detail here is amazing!! Really like this, well done

 

[captain-destructo]

Excellent Chunko

Wow Chunko'

wow its a fine line between brave and stupid.... and i see you two are trying to scrub it out with your hob nailed boots

but dont worry it looks like you got away with it but then again i may have just brought his attention to it



wonderfull work as usual chunko ..............oh no you have me doing it now quick hide

 

[Wallace]

Lovely sharp edges, intrigued by the mounting.

 

[Gareth J]

Very smart. How did you invisibly attach it to the wall if you don't mind me asking?