learning sculpture

[strada]

Hi chunko ,yes seen these a while back, i had plans to do a horses head out of horse shoes,i used to get shoes off the lady who's land i do vermin control on,but she does something called pirreli natural horsemanship or something like that. Part of this is they don't have shoes anymore she has got the rest of the girls to follow suit so no more horse shoes for me.

 

[cookiemonster]

wow at the two links that Chunko has shown me - I am in love with the two hearts but how did they get bent into half a heart to weld together - would I need some oxy or a forge as I don't want to invest in too many new toys straight away as I not made a thing yet. I am awestruck by the cheetah and nothing I make will ever look as good at that but hey - I not competing as I remember the first advice I was given when I came on here by a wise sounding guy was three rules...one of which was never to copy anything so if I doing something totally different and its not so good its not as sore a loss..hhmmmm in my head anyway - Strada I am looking into a few avenues for sourcing horse shoes and the farrier is out tomo and bringing me some when he does my horse so will get some horse shoe sourcing advice from him

 

[strada]

Hey cookie,ask your farrier where he gets his steel for his shoes,he must be able to buy it new.

 

[DrNik]

wow at the two links that Chunko has shown me - I am in love with the two hearts but how did they get bent into half a heart to weld together - would I need some oxy or a forge as I don't want to invest in too many new toys straight away as I not made a thing yet. I am awestruck by the cheetah and nothing I make will ever look as good at that but hey - I not competing as I remember the first advice I was given when I came on here by a wise sounding guy was three rules...one of which was never to copy anything so if I doing something totally different and its not so good its not as sore a loss..hhmmmm in my head anyway - Strada I am looking into a few avenues for sourcing horse shoes and the farrier is out tomo and bringing me some when he does my horse so will get some horse shoe sourcing advice from him

i made my own tool to bend horseshoes, its on another thread on here, but as i love drawing pics i will do a drawing for you to copy

 

[cookiemonster]

Hey I not too good at understanding diagrams but it would still help. Strada the farrier was out at half past eight before you saw the post so I didn't ask him your question but I need him out again in a couple of weeks for another horsey so will ask him then. I was so pleased when he gave me a nice box of them - shame you seem to be so far away as I would have been prepared to share

 

[DrNik]

there you go, sorry chunko for not posting it sooner

 

[cookiemonster]

Dr Nik - this is incredible - I am not sure I have the skills to make this tool however - what did metal did you use to make this? where could I buy the bits to give making this a bash x

 

[Shedendman]

Hey cookiemonster,get on with ityou have a welder yes?,get some metal and bash away and have fun,stick things together,to much info at this early stage can do your head in,go on give it a go,you know you want to,lol

 

[bigegg]

My very first sculpture was entitled:
"Some scrap I welded together for practice".

Ended up as a cup hanger in the warehouse.

 

[outofthefire]

The horseshoe hearts are mine they're heated up with oxy acetylene, some people cut them in half first but I think they look far better forged from a complete shoe. Here's something else I made from horseshoes not sculpture but a fairly easy project to get you going.

A tip if you don't have lots of different tools and equipment "yet" use thinner stock so you can bend it easily either cold or with a blow torch. This is a bangle made from an old fork I made for our lass. I used an old pair of circlip pliers picked up from a carboot for pennies and propane torch

 

[cookiemonster]

wow some really inspirational ideas. I was all excited as had finished the job which took me a bit of reclaiming the horse shoes - removing the nails and rust etc and got my welder all set up and was itching with excitement to have a play and two major issues cropped up. The first one was I haven't lone welded before haha - so I couldn't get the CO2 on - it says turn the thing right to turn on but I couldn't so don't know if I am supposed to press or lift something or there is a safety device or if I wasn't using enough force and the second problem was then I arced it and I think a blew a fuse or something as I totally killed it so off to the shops for some fuses and have another try tonight. Loving the creativity of the bangle

 

[DrNik]

lol, if you can drill a hole in a bit of metal and use a hacksaw you can make a horseshoe bender, in fact i'll make you one if you like,(stupidly offering ones services, making work for myself,should have kept quiet, lol) it aint difficult

 

[outofthefire]

lol, if you can drill a hole in a bit of metal and use a hacksaw you can make a horseshoe bender, in fact i'll make you one if you like,(stupidly offering ones services, making work for myself,should have kept quiet, lol) it aint difficult

Does your horse shoe bender fold the shoe in half or are you just using it to put more curve into it?

 

[strada]

Outofthefire,Never mind horse shoes,where's the dragon???

 

[DrNik]

Outofthefire,Never mind horse shoes,where's the dragon???

you cut the shoe in half, bend both sides and then where they then join i cut the pair to get a nice tight centre of the heart, its easier to tack them together so they look nice and then cut with a hacksaw the overlap

 

[outofthefire]

you cut the shoe in half, bend both sides and then where they then join i cut the pair to get a nice tight centre of the heart, its easier to tack them together so they look nice and then cut with a hacksaw the overlap

Oh I see, my hearts are forged out of an uncut horseshoes.

Outofthefire,Never mind horse shoes,where's the dragon???

That dragon is doing my head in, i'm on my fourth head now. I haven't given up yet though

 

[chunkolini]

Spare heads? I know that problem keep them somewhere safe, preferably where you will see them now and again.
Eventually they get used up.
On the fourth model now? get the first one get mad with it and it will do fine.
Nobody else will ever guess how much you hated it.

 

[cookiemonster]

wow a dragon!!! cant wait to see that. Dr Nik such a machine would be so greatly appreciated it would be unbelievable. Been tinkering around with the gas trying to get things sorted with the gas to welder issue and I think I need a washer for the regulator maybe so off the hardware shop as soon as I can get there with work and stuff and have put wd40 over the valve of the canister and trying to see if I can loosen it off enough to turn it

 

[Metalsculptor]

Hi Cookiemonster,

Welcome…

You can pick up lots of discs, spheres and other shapes from companies like F H Brundle, who supply gate and railing components.
They are well cheap, and can be welded together to make interesting structures without any need to pick up a pencil.

Not that I'm saying that you shouldn't pick up a pencil - 'can't draw' usually just means haven't practiced enough. There are exceptions though, my brother for one was the only one in our whole family who couldn't draw. Instead of a life as a starving artist the poor thing had to go off get a proper job and make loads of money.

 

[cookiemonster]

Hi, I thought after all the support and encouragement I should show you my first attempts...they are not to master welder standard by a long stretch but I learnt so much making them and have loads more ideas now to bash on with and really enjoyed it. I no there is a lot of mistakes on them but here they are hope I have attached them correctly