Metal Sculpture & Carvings

so tis is the first rose a have made... so plz don't be too critical lol:p

So my mother's birthday is really soon and I want to make her a mini-rose and bend the stem around to make a ring... so what is the easiest rose to make (doesn't need a whole lot of detail, going to be small)?

Kinda new to this blacksmithing thing. I've had the stuff for a long time, but pretty much used it to straighten lawnmower blades and heat treat stuff. Anyway, I tried to make a garden ornament, and I tried to make it look like it was moving. I didn't get the tail bit rounded up enough before coiling, but it's good enough for me. I at least feel like I wasn't just wasting coal.

About a month ago I was involved in a project with my son's Elementary school. Basically they had an art show and auction that benefitted the art department and the teacher had local artisans work with the kids to make some special things to auction off. My particular project was this mobile I came to class one day with my Blacksmithing tools and explained the process of working with metal in the forge, my son helped out as he has been ther right along with me as I learn this stuff. Anyway the school had all these plywood shapes that were kind of organic and they sanded and stained them, my piece of it was to build a framework to support and to make the mobile work. It …

Hello everybody, Here's a new piece that's going to some hotshot architect in Russia. He's really into Art Nouveau and bought 18 of my client's AN ceramic pieces at the show we did in March. The piece is a thank you commissioned by the gallery. His initials are ST so I incorporated them vaguely into the r

This is a commissioned mailbox. The clients go on longer trips from time to time and want to be able to lock up their mail and know it is weather and theft safe. This is all made from 10 guage plate. The main box is 24" square. The opening for the chute is 12" high and 14" wide. They love fishing for walleye and raise Australian Border Collies. They had an old dog that would go on the fishing boat with them and bat at the fish in the live well...untill the day they caught a Northern Pike and the fish bit the dog. They wanted a Ausie batting and barking at a jumping walleye. I am giong to paint the whole works with a black automotive paint. Just thought I would …

I got a job to make a buffalo skull to fit over a harley horn cover. It took me three tries to develop a pattern. Lots of fiddling. Of course I underbid the thing, but I'm happy with the results. More to the point the customer is happy with it. I have welded it to the stock horn cover, and painted it since these pics. Sheet metal work is as much fun as blacksmithing. :o

Here's a couple picture's of my first attempt at a long horn Bull. Thank you Bill Epps and everybody that gave me tips and pointer's. The Mouth is messed up. and the horns coud have used more work.. But what the heck its my first..lol Plus I made the tools to make the eyes. and the punch for the nose.

wings from PW chainsaw chain, body from Wrought Iron Etched in "Muratic" acid & colored with temper colors the colors in the photo are more from the lighting (blue cast was daylight) piece is ~lifesize for average Eastern North America species

Well, I finished my first forged piece today. I spent all these years collecting the tools and building the shop, but I never got around to forging anything until I made this candlestick holder. It was inspired by the items djhammerd produced in the thread about pineapple twists. I was going to send it to the gentleman that sold me my monster leg vice, but my wife seems to have laid claim to it. I guess I will have to forge him something else. The piece is made out of 1" square bar with a 1/4" plate base and a sheet metal top. I learned a LOT in the process, mainly fire maintenance. The first day I spent hours trying to get enough heat out of my coal forge to ev…

I just joined the forum tonight. I have been smithing for about 6 months now and thought i would show some of my creations. I never could find a medium that I felt that I could let my artistic side come out untill I started banging iron.

One of my coworkers wanted a birdbath for his wife. She wanted an organic type sculpture where the birdbath function was secondary. So here it is. A couple tendrils stick out a little to the side and up high to hang bird feeders. The basin is a terra cotta flower pot dish. I tried to talk them into a copper basin, but she liked this better. I suppose if the birdbath function is secondary, then the dish hides better. --Marc

Here area couple of creations I made recently one being a big mossie, the other a Prey Mantis and the third some sort of garden sculpture, cost was minimal as I had it all lying around the house, cheers Bully

I call it Icarus Wyrm I just finished this the other day. 1/2 square stock, a bit of roofing copper, and one strand of copper wire. About four hours work, partly because of poor planning. When I do another of these, I would draw out nearer the head before doing anything to form the head. I would cut the "easy to burn horns" as late as possible. I would add a bottom lip so the tongue is more obviously a tongue. Not sure if this will sell or not. Looking for about $180, but that seems high to me. -Doug

Been making a lot Piggy Banks out of Freon and smog calibration tanks. Daughter's mother in law wanted a COW for her horse ranch. Came up with this. Little bit of forge work, (the horns and tail), little bit of sheet metal shaping, (the ears), and a lot of scraps.

Some time ago I found a web site that had a detailed set of instructions on forging a very detailed dragon head. It was a abana chapter site I think and the artist styled the dragon with long lips and horns. Very nice. If anyone can direct me to the site I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Larry

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slats are made from deck boards i ripped in half and routed edges of, wanted to use a hard wood but did't have the cash for them at the time. all work was done HOT, and by hand on the anvil, with the exception of some jigs i made to duplicate some of the scroll's

I was recently asked to come up with some designs for 160 metres of railings for a cemetary wall in my local town. The drawings were done but the councillers needed something physical to touch and feel! so My friend Matthew Brown (another local blacksmith friend of mine) hepled me to make them today to get them to the meeting tomorrow. Matt will also share the job with me. We wanted to do something simple to forge, simple to jig up and something that will look effective on a long run.

I had to make up a couple more whale shaped flint strikers, so I spent the afternoon ... tinkering. They are patterned after a pair of originals I saw in a book years ago (that I can't find back right now). The originals were dated to the very late 1700's or early 1800's. And there was one of each style - with the tail in the correct orientation with the body, and one with the tail rotated 90 degrees so that it would lay flat in a tinderbox or in a pocket/pouch for carry. These are made up from "agricultural" steel - parts of a bolt-on plow share. So they should be 1080 carbon steel. They run around 5/16 inch thick. The top two strikers are based upon an origi…

When I was sitting in my motel room in Boulder Co. last week, I had an idea for a candleabra, my wife has been asking for one, so I started puttering, and I came up with this, The only problem I see is the curved flat bar that I will have to punch oblong holes into, also I think I will likely dress up the ends of the flat portions, question-- do you guys do this? just scribble something and go for it, or are you much more technical, and measure everything out?

Here I go, doing it again. I never had a need to do ornamental work before, however it's been getting kinda addictive, so, I figured I'd pass along some photo's of a wine rack I worked on today, this is the first time I've attempted anything like this so I'm still considering this a prototype. Any comments welcomed. -J

I was playing in the shop today. Inspired by Brian Brazeal's Squid (from his web page), I tried one of my own... I had a photo of his with me to help, BUT I laid it down on the forge, turned my back and, well- It was a LITTLE too close to the fire... So I had to kind of improvise I haven't done much forge welding in the past- My first couple of tries weren't successful, so I kind of gave it up... But it went pretty well today. I practiced on a bundle of 4 before attempting the bundle of 10 that I did the squid with. I didn't leave as much material as I would have liked for the body, and have a whole list of things that I'll do differently next time, but it's a start!…

I have worked on several flower projects over the last year or two that I thought I would share. The Calla Lillies were made as a memorial for my Great Grandmother. The tulips are all hand hammered from 10 guage plate as is the "vase." The sunflowers stand about 5 foot tall and again are made from 10 guage plate. Your comments and thoughts would be appreciated. John

I have a good friend who keeps me in supply of odd things as he owns a junk yard, so I thought I'd build him a Junk yard dog. It is called "MacPherson" as he was made from a MacPherson Strut among other things like a rabbit trap for his swinging jaw/teeth, trailer ball hitches for eyes, a dutch hoe for a head/face and an assortment of different feet (Character Building). He has a bottle of wine in his belly to encourage him to be kept indoors. He's proudly displayed in my mates lounge and gets a lot of praise from visitors. To date, he hasn't bitten a soul nor made a mess. The perfect pet LOL. Chris