Recycled art from the past

[pondman]

I've seen a few threads lately buy members wanting to try their hand and sculpture and other things to try sell or just learn sculpture. It reminded me of when I wanted to start making small bits of art to waste the time the recession gave us at work. Maybe it can give some of these members inspiration to start making their own thing. We all start somewhere and the beginning usually isn't pretty

 

[pondman]

I've tried to make so many different things just to see whether they would sell so I could try make an extra buck here and there. The good thing about it was the more I made the better they became so some of them actually sold. The top photo of the dj and mc was the fist ever piece I made, I'd seen one of these nut and bolt men and thought I'd love to have a go! I then started making them as gifts (I bet they weren't all well recieved ) and then a friend approached me and asked if she could buy one off me! That was that, I was hooked

This thread is just for those members who want to give something different a go but don't know where to start, you start at the bottom making anything you like and if you work hard enough at it you can end up doing it full time! If thats what you want. It was for me.

 

[Norm]

Excellent work and very inspirational, thank you for posting. I particularly like the photo frame that's very clever.

 

[cumbriasteve]

They are all spot on, the scorpion is really good..the picture frame is the one I like most though, mirroring the photo to the metal figurines is very clever.

 

[Premiershipman]

I am currently in the middle of a sort of nuts and bolts scene as a christmas present for my brother in law.

Still haven't finished it. And I started it in June !!

I am using leftover hex bolts and some 15mm plumbing fittings, I would love to get into it more but as per usual after getting 3 kids to bed and sorting dinner its getting near 9PM and I tend to head to bed for 10PM knowing that at least one of the kids will have us all awake by 6AM !!

Weekends are absorbed with DIY work on the house.

Cracking work though pondman, I hjave a few ideas along the same theme as I get scrap from a local bike shop so lots of chains and sprockets etc..

Shady

 

[pondman]

I am currently in the middle of a sort of nuts and bolts scene as a christmas present for my brother in law.

Still haven't finished it. And I started it in June !!

I am using leftover hex bolts and some 15mm plumbing fittings, I would love to get into it more but as per usual after getting 3 kids to bed and sorting dinner its getting near 9PM and I tend to head to bed for 10PM knowing that at least one of the kids will have us all awake by 6AM !!

Weekends are absorbed with DIY work on the house.

Cracking work though pondman, I hjave a few ideas along the same theme as I get scrap from a local bike shop so lots of chains and sprockets etc..

Shady

I know what you mean, luckily I started making these things when the recession took us from 50hours work a week to 6 hrs so I had to find things to do to keep my mind for dissolving! I then found myself doing it as a job which gave me loads of time to try different things. Most didn't stand up in a world where people are trying to get everything as cheaply as possible.

 

[pondman]

Excellent work and very inspirational, thank you for posting. I particularly like the photo frame that's very clever.

They are all spot on, the scorpion is really good..the picture frame is the one I like most though, mirroring the photo to the metal figurines is very clever.

Thanks very much fellas! They were all fun to make

 

[Premiershipman]

Most didn't stand up in a world where people are trying to get everything as cheaply as possible.

Ain't that the truth !!!

My wife does crafty stuff in her spare time but to me she sells it too cheap as she argues that 'people won't buy it if its too expensive'.

But to me, if you mark your 'art' too cheaply then people think that you don't value your time and effort.

There are plenty of websites from people who do artwork full time vs 'hobby' people.

The problem arises when the hobby people aren't interested in much profit or don't value their time effectively and so sell items cheaply (normally as they already have a full time job), this is then against people who do artwork 'full time' as their job so they need to factor in the hours of work taken, tools, materials and profit.

You end up with the 'HOW MUCH?' comments from people that don't appreciate the time take to craft such items, especially when it looks expensive against the cheap 'hobby crafter items' or even worse the mass manufactured chinese cr*p.

Shady

 

[pondman]

you're not wrong! I was at craft fairs every other weekend and had a few things in a craft shop that was selling quality arts and crafts. They wanted near enough 50% of the sale price they had them in the shop so they would just sit. They were lovely ladies but the shop is now closed because its hard to compete with mass produced stuff! And like you say some of the crafters sell there work for almost nothing, it used to blow my mind! If I could get £10/hr making the men I'd be lucky so eventually I stopped. The key is to either make things that are not easily mass produced or made too cheaply or make really arty cool stuff like Chunkolini and others like him that is unique.

 

[stuvy]

top work mate, the scorpian, ship and picture one are great! and the dj's and the spider and... there all lovely!!

 

[MattF]

Some cute pieces there.

You end up with the 'HOW MUCH?' comments from people that don't appreciate the time take to craft such items, especially when it looks expensive against the cheap 'hobby crafter items' or even worse the mass manufactured chinese cr*p.

Even when there's an obvious quality difference between the cheap and expensive stuff, there are an awful lot of people out there who wouldn't know quality if it slapped them and aren't willing to pay for it. They'd rather spend N times as much replacing cheap crap over the years than if they bought quality first off. It's stuck between a rock and a hard place. If moneys needed, waiting for the ones who will pay for quality can be a risk, but conversely, selling stuff for nowt ain't going to pay the bills either. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

 

[pondman]

Some cute pieces there.




Even when there's an obvious quality difference between the cheap and expensive stuff, there are an awful lot of people out there who wouldn't know quality if it slapped them and aren't willing to pay for it. They'd rather spend N times as much replacing cheap crap over the years than if they bought quality first off. It's stuck between a rock and a hard place. If moneys needed, waiting for the ones who will pay for quality can be a risk, but conversely, selling stuff for nowt ain't going to pay the bills either. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

To a certain extent you're right, but all it takes is one idea to be seen by the right person and you can be set. If you make 100 things and one of them sells well it could change your life. It might not happen but I'd like to think it might that's why it's good to make things that are different and unique.

 

[urban]

Quality that man, nice one.