learning sculpture

[cookiemonster]

Ok I was on here cos I am learning to MIG weld and am not yet that great at it but getting there - I saw some of these sculptures you doing and wow - I am blown away - I so want to try some of that - the giraffe one was particularly inspiring but I am impressed by loads of peoples work. I was wondering if anyone could tell me is attempting sculpting at this stage perhaps to ambitious for me - I am new to welding, I don't know how to metal bend or shape, I don't have a forge and I cant draw - never tried art in my life. Should I stick to just the welding just now -so amazed at what you guys do but thinking maybe I need a bit more experience under my belt first.

 

[chunkolini]

Hi cookiemonster.
Starting off sculpting is a great way to learn.
You can get quick results, if something fails it wont kill anybody (think car repairs).
You can experiment, balls things up and redo them indefinitely.
When I started out I thought I might try and do a bit of sculpture. I had never been interested in art, I still cant draw or paint.
I had no metalworking skills or tools. Well a file, a hammer, a vice and a hacksaw.
There are lots of simple metal bending jigs that you can make for yourself.

You sound to be in exactly the same position I was when I started out. I was surprised when I started making nice things and even more surprised when people started buying them. Now I am constantly surprised that I do it for a living.

Go for it, it cant hurt (too much) and you will get lots of support on here and dont be shy of showing your work on here.

You have PM.

 

[strada]

Cookie monster, i agree with chunkolini,give it a go,nothing to loose. Start things simple so you don't get frustrated,im far from an expert myself and allthough i can weld ive only recently started to make stuff

Love to be in a position like chunkolini and do it for a living,beats production welding any day.
loads of nice guys here to help if your stuck.

 

[RonMig]

I bought my mig thinking, "next time the car sills need patching I'll do it & the mig will pay for itself" and got into making my metal models really for practice.
In the meantime I'm having great fun making stuff out of old rusty parts - they all clean up nicely with wire-brush drillbits.
You should Definitely give sculpture a go, who knows where it will lead you to?

 

[chunkolini]

Cleaning your rusty bits?
go on fleabay, buy a kg of citric acid, dissolve some in water soak your bits over night (not those bits!) job done and no elbow grease.
or you can buy DeoxyC, a wonder drug that appears to be exactly the same for lottsamoney.

 

[chunkolini]

Where might it lead you?
Well it ruined my life, 20 year career down the pan, I was on the ladder to management, and security and a nervous breakdown.
Now I work in a shed, play crap music fullblast all day, wear a bucket on my head and talk to myself.
Just like the guys I used to look after.(ex care worker).

 

[cookiemonster]

hi guys, thanks so much for the enormous amount of support and making me so welcome. I think you have given me the confidence to try some things out. My new welding mask comes tomorrow and I plan to have a play around and see what happens over the next week. Thanks so much for all the advice and tips really helpful ideas. Is there a good place o buy old scraps to have a play around with

 

[strada]

Just try your local scrap yard / breakers yard ,they usually have stuff lying around other than car stuff.
Ask your mates if they have anything you could use.

 

[naughtyboy]

our local scrappy will sell you car roof panel for £2.
might be worth asking or pick up cheap mot failure useful for allsorts of useful brackets/ steel.
+ you can sell bits on and recover some of your money.

 

[chunkolini]

Kill kill Kill. Three things.
Just remember never copy anything.
There is no such thing as a stupid idea.
People like weird stuff.

 

[naughtyboy]

tell me about weird.
moo (5 ) spent ages hitting pce of ally with mallet on large sandbag then wanted to give it to her nursery teacher.
didnt see it again teacher tells swmbo today that its got pride of place on her shelf as its first thing a pupil as ever given her.
it was literally a bent and dented bit of ally

 

[Malvern]

Evening Cookie Monster and welcome. As a relative newbie myself to welding all I can say is give it a go. I'm doing this for myself and not expecting to benefit financially but I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Some stuff I do I'm pleased with but others, well I'm glad I'm the only one who sees it. However whether I like the end result or not I learn something each time and hopefully with practice and time I'll improve. Lots of great people on here with good advice and encouragement. Go for it and enjoy it regardless, it'll be a great skill to have.
Malvern

 

[Shedendman]

Oh deffo go for it,say sculpture to me a few years back and i'd have said "er no ta" arty farty rubbish,but being here and seeing the wonderful stuff the normal guys turn out made me give it a go,glad i did,damn well enjoy it.
I read on some sculptures guys site where he quoted "make something you like,not what you want others to like",oh welcome to the mad house

 

[chunkolini]

Backing up Stalwart's comment
I was at a show this year, a guy new to the game (damn genius) sais will people this weird stuff pointing at his beautiful beetle.
A well established artist I know said 'People buy weird s**t'.
It sold on the first day.
Get an idea and go with it.

 

[pondman]

Cookie Monster I can only agree with what everyone else has wisely advised. theres no harm in starting now, in fact could only be better because the more you practice the better you'll get! I didnt know I had an artistic bone until the recession hit and I decided to making nut and bold figures. Now I have my own workshop and like Chunlo' am a little mad and spend my days talking to a face drawn on football. well maybe not that mad but not far off. Good luck with it I look forward to seeing your first piece!!

 

[cookiemonster]

Thank you so much for all the encouragement folks. I have some metal horse shoes arriving on Monday to play around with and see what happens and will follow the advice given of some citric acid to clean things up from fleabay and will dig my drill out of the "Scary cupboard" and get myself a wire drill bit. I don't expect to be able to make anything to awesome with my first attempts but have a lot of ideas on my head which I may not quite be capable of making but will post some pics once I have made my first attempt x

 

[strada]

post some pics once I have made my first attempt x

Look forward to it,
Horse shoes Mmmm, i did make a few name plates for horses stable doors,the horseshoes were made in single or interlocking hearts with the horses name over the top, forgot to take pics

 

[cookiemonster]

that sounds really cook - wish I could see pics of it - how did you form them into interlocking hearts as that sounds lovely

 

[strada]

I didn't actually bend them,i didn't even have a vice big enough to put enough pressure on to bend em.
I just cut them in 3 pieces if i remember correctly them welded them back up,i might have 1left in garage,i will take a pic if i can find it.

 

[chunkolini]

There are some pictures somewhere in the sculpture section of hearts made of horse shoes
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=20765
or a more ambitious project
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=36563&page=2

I remember the hearts were very popular, I reckon there is a market for keepsakes made from people's own horses.