St. Brelade's wave

[Buter]

The wife submitted a sculpture proposal to a local hotel a couple of months ago and won the commission against some very good artists. Funny thing is that I actually fabricated the third story extension to the same hotel about 10 years ago when I was still fabricating structural steel.

The sculpture's premise is fairly straight forward: a 1200mm disc symbolic of a wave (was originally 1500mm but we felt it was too large for the setting and would have too much surface area for the strong winds in the bay) with a wooden circle containing a mosaic made from beach glass and pebbles from the beach in front of the hotel. The wooden bit will have a ss band around the perimeter and be connected to the structure with 25mm ss rods. Here's the model submitted:

I'll be fab'ing the main structure from 2mm mild steel. She wants an oxidised copper look which she was going to paint on. We don't really like doing things half-assed so today we found these:

Loaded 'em up and now they're in the drive

It's the thin variety so I'll be putting pieces onto the main wave patchwork style with faux rivets and tig brazing the seams. Should look pretty cool.

I've got no experience using copper so don't be shy with suggestions. I've been watching all the videos I can find on the subject. I'll also be looking for a bit of advice when it comes to getting the patina done on the copper; again, foreign territory for me.

I've done build threads before on other forums but I've always done them after the job was done. This is the first time I've done one in real time so this one will show warts and all.

Tomorrow's job: pour concrete in the shop to level the floor. Next will be building my new welding bench.

Part of the commission was for her to keep a blog of the project. I'm sure she'd appreciate a comment or a share or whatever you do with blogs.

Cheers

Buter

 

[DrNik]

watch them pikeys, coppers still at a premium

 

[Paul.]

Interesting, the patinated copper reminds me of a sculpture I was involved in building and installing for a local artist some years ago, the blue green parts on this are all 2.5mm sheet copper, it was aged for us by another artist who specialised in copper sculpture, it took about a week to turn them green and seemed to change colour every day after, this was the result that the artist we were working for was looking for.
I cant help you with the process but it looks very effective, the photo here dosen't do it justice, its bigger than the picture makes it appear, at just over 3.3 metres to the highest point

 

[madwelder]

Sounds interesting, looking forward to seeing the progress. As DrNik said, you couldn't be leaving nice shiny copper on the driveway around these parts

 

[Buter]

Thanks, guys.

I guess we're pretty fortunate over here. Most of the crime here is committed by guys in suits whilst they're at work. I've not locked my house in 10 years and the keys to my truck and my Jeep are in the ignitions. The place ain't perfect by a country mile, but it is a pretty safe and secure place to bring up kiddies.

Nice sculpture, Paul. Looks like a bit or work went into that.

The sculpture isn't being put into position until the second week in January and I'll probably use up all that time working around the day job.

Cheers

Buter

 

[chunkolini]

Looks interesting, keep us posted as it progresses.

 

[DrNik]

Thanks, guys.

I guess we're pretty fortunate over here. Most of the crime here is committed by guys in suits whilst they're at work. I've not locked my house in 10 years and the keys to my truck and my Jeep are in the ignitions. The place ain't perfect by a country mile, but it is a pretty safe and secure place to bring up kiddies.

Nice sculpture, Paul. Looks like a bit or work went into that.

The sculpture isn't being put into position until the second week in January and I'll probably use up all that time working around the day job.

Cheers

Buter

whats your address again.........

 

[Buter]

Yeah, knew that was coming

 

[adamsmitqc]

I want that truck, is it a hilux? Awesome.....

Project looks good too

 

[Buter]

Thanks

Yeah, it's a HiLux rolling on 35's. It will be subject to a custom frame build (and solid axle swap if I can find one) after I finish this sculpture and a few other projects.

You should see the TJ behind it! I'll put up a shot of it later if ya want.

Cheers

Buter

 

[Premiershipman]

Similar here Buter on the safety front, most issues are vandalism and that's just kids in town.

However the greater safety and lack of crime has to be balanced with the hassle of getting items delivered and courier costs !

There are a few large sculptures around here, not keen on all of them myself but all art/sculpture is subjective.

 

[Psychosaffa]

nice sculpture! would love to see more pics of your truck. i have a hilux mk3 that is undergoing a full re-build. will be getting a 1uz v8 coupled to a manual box and landcruiser 80 axles.

 

[Metalsculptor]

Hi Buter,

Congratulations on the commission.

I patinate metals sometimes, mostly blues and turquoises which are from various mixes of chemicals including copper nitrate and ammonium chloride.
I recommend picking up a copy of this book, which is the patentors bible…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Colouring-Bronzing-Patination-Metals/dp/0500015015

I went to college at Camberwell, where this book was written, so was lucky enough to see all the plates in the flesh, so to speak.

The finish is also effected by the method of application. You can just brush on, but the book has all sorts of other methods.
Attached is a pic of my latest technique...

If the job is too messy/hazardous for your garage, I can recommend Premier Plating in Walthamstow, london. They plate and patinate a huge variety of finishes, though you could probably find somewhere closer.

Good Luck

 

[Buter]

Hi guys

Premiershipman - yeah, shipping sucks. I'm frequently cancelling online orders when they add on a ridiculous shipping charge. I do find if you call them up and ask if they can find a better rate they usually can.

Psycho - I'll post loads of the truck when I start working on it. I'm still trolling through builds on yotatech and pirate gathering ideas for the build. Clever ******* on them sites!

Ms - thank you. Thanks for the info and the link. I'll be ordering the book as soon as I send this. The piece you posted is gorgeous. Good photo skills as well I see.

Still away at work so nothing to report yet. I now have a level (expensive) workshop floor to work on. Welding bench next.

Cheers

Buter

 

[Shedendman]

metalsculptor i've seen that work before on a site is that titled "the wave"?,if so some really nice stuff there,i fancied doing something like that,but of course not copy it,lol

 

[Shedendman]

Doh,thats the place
http://www.philipmelling.co.uk/
i think the Elements collection is brilliant stuff

 

[Buter]

Got back from work last night and had a busy day today.

I've never really been able to work in my garage due to uneven, ridiculously out of level floor. The garage is fairly narrow and the only way to function would be having the ability to move machinery around, which was previously impossible. While I was away I had my buddy come in and tackle the job (at great expense...).

Out went all the bikes, skateboards, surfboards and general household crap one seems to acquire. I now have a fairly useful space that will become even more useful after this project when I can build better storage facilities. Still no idea what do with all my bikes...

There we go; 5m x 2.8m of smooth, level floor and some grey chunks of shrapnel to play with. I think I might find a use for these things as well.

After sticking the other bits together I braved the (seemingly endless) rain to go get some more steel. We had a forklift at the other end; I'm sure a small ratchet strap and the old 'lift the heavy thing and drive out from under it' method will do just fine.

Well, it was a long day but I got my shop ready to work and built my new beer holder.

It's rock solid and 2m x 1m so I can probably use it to weld and fab on when it's not holding beer. That's the metal for the structure there on the right and Santa came a bit early via Rapid Welding so I guess I've gotta actually get started on this thing tomorrow.

Cheers

Buter

 

[Buter]

Put in about half a day today and got done what I wanted to.

This is the wife's project so I put her to work doing the artsy fartsy stuff. I'll take over once the template's done.

We all know how nice of an edge a jigsaw leaves. I told the missus to shape the thing properly while I was at work. Somehow she misunderstood and thought I said 'it's already perfect, sweetie, nothing more to do'. Out comes the long block to fair the edge - a bit...

Template as done as it's gonna be. Break out the double sided tape and stick it to the metal. I was gonna use this drum as a bbq but I changed my mind as it works perfect for a plasma cutting table. First time with my new toy!

With an outside circumference of 4m, there was actually more metal needing cut than I had realised, as indicated by finding the end of the duty cycle on the Lincoln... Anyway, did a few odd jobs in the shop, assed around with the camera and got the 2 sides cut out.

Done for the day and I let my apprentice sweep the shop. Hey, we all had to do it!

Sunday tomorrow and it's supposed to be dry (ish) so I'll be out in the woods on the bike instead of the shop.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Buter

 

[Metalsculptor]

Thanks for the kindness Stalwart.

Buter - garage is looking great, and nice plasma cutting (how much finishing did you do on those edges before taking those pics??!!)

All good progress anyway, and looking good!

 

[Buter]

Ha!

Not touched the edges yet, mate! Even though I don't really like my neighbours (long story) I don't want to ruin their weekend by grinding on these on a Saturday evening. I'll get them cleaned up Monday morning. I don't mind ruining their Monday morning.

Thanks again for the tip on the patination book. Wasn't expecting such a weighty tome, but it has the info I need!

Cheers

Buter