nelson

Janne I agree with the guys about the simplicity yet beautiful start at your making damascus. Frankly, I love it although never had a try. Your work is excellent in my opinion, and those cracks where the different alloys did not fuse completely, I find them very artistic and appealing, wow! Congratulations. nelson.

Hello Bentiron1946, That snake simbolizes Baculus`mind, after all isn`t it man`s worst enemy (not the snake, our minds) ? Mine bites me too often, one seems to get inmunity but sure hurts, and it definetely can kill... Thanks. Nelson.

Mike I`m hummbly flattered by your comments, specially coming from people like you guys who know what it takes to turn a piece of metal into expression. Thanks! Nelson

Hi Johnny, Yes, thanks God my wife got over well. In regards to that expiritual/emotional touch we manage at times to print on our work, I`m in complete agreement. Thanks for your kindness. Nelson.

Hi Brian, I`m a newbie, and sure appreciate your excellent tutorials on what seems to be very basic for you. Soon I will have a forge (my first forge ever wow, bye, bye O/A torch, that`s very limiting. Congratulations, I love the humming bird, and the octopus is very nice too.Thanks for your generosity! nelson.

Hi Don, Baculus is basically a rebar shaped figure, fill over the surface with plenty arc welding and lots of grinding. The texture was achieved welding and scratching the arc rod over surface. The making was in my opinion too laborious and a painstaking experience, not sure I`d like to employ such technique too often. The finish color, will not be as it is, but had to do something quick to send photo to a gallery. He`ll be sitting over a natural rock, and all fixed to a rustic piece of wood. Incidentally, during the making my wife underwent surgery and nearly died. Baculus was entering a contest, so you can imagine the strange mix of feelings going on at once: anxiety, inspiration, depression, you name it! So the result was this fellow somewhat controlling the rattle snake with a stick (that`s how he got the name, from the latin word "baculum"...), and communicating with the reptile. The curious part Don is that the snake as I tried to project the meaning of that sculpture, is his own mind. Baculus was me at the time, and I believe will be just me, so it is very valuable emotionally speaking. Glad you like it. nelson.

Mild steel sculpture, 2005 64 X 44 X 48 cms.

At first I thought you were joking, but in fact is a great idea specially to give a rose as a gift. nelson.

Hey Craftbender, great man! we`re in for a nourishing journey. Thanks . nELSON.

Hey Craftbender great man, we`re in for a great journey! Thanks nelson.

Hi Frosty, your name gives me chills, LOL. Truly honors that magic state "Alaska", what a privilege for you to live in such paradise man. In fact, it`s one of the places I`d like to visit some day. Nature and art are two of my greatests loves. Thanks for welcome.nelson.

Terry, there`s no doubt in my mind that being here in IFI will be a great learning and sharing experience. Likewise, I feel blacksmiths and artists generally speaking are broad minded and friendly, so it`s easy to get by as we speak the same language no matter what part of the world we stand. As a self taught artist, I value so much any bit of information one may come across, or that`s kindly offered by generous collegues that undoubtly are more experienced. The little time I`ve been reading some posts-long way to catch up with so much info on this great site, becomes obvious how much generosity and sharing spirit there is within the people on this site. Thanks pal ! nelson.

Thanks "Element", sorry I address you by the only name I see identifies you. Probably, we`ll be calling one another by name as we get acquainted. Glad to be here sharing with so many talented people. nelson

Love your gaten, nelson.

Michael very nice work, congratulations. Exhibiting in a gallery is definetely the way to go if an artist wants exposure within the art world... nelson.

Hi kate. Very appropiate and well executed work. nelson.

Thanks 781 ! Nelson.

Hi there, Lovely dragon! Very creative idea, and what about the beast flying into the wind, could not be better. Wouldn`t mind having it over my roof, LOL. nelson.

Hi Rotavia, The vase is made out of mild steel sheet, with a thicker plate and a textured rod around bottom of it. Well, petals and leaves are made out of 3/16" and 1/4" plate hammered for texture and shape using O/A torch. The paint is very easy: if you give it two basic coats of copper paint, before the last coat dries, I mixed three or four tones using same copper paint and black. So as result you have these brownish copper colors (degradation) and simply dub with your fingers over the not dry yet paint coat, and paint and mix over with your finger tips. You may have the pure copper, and black to highlight or darken at will. it`s fun, easy and interesting. The advantage of doing it this way is that you can correct the tones easily at will till you get the desire effect. If the paint dubbing gets sticky, dip your fingertip in thinner or even gasoline better. I don`t use gloves, but may be a good idea.After you get the copper tones you want, let dry well a a couple weeks, dub a mix of bluish green as the Cu sulphate color, and wipe out to leave what you wish. You`ll end up with a finish of nice brigh/dull copper mix finish very appealing that dont age or change to darker, dull or otherwise unwanted tones. Hope it helps and thanks for input. Nelson.

Hi Beth, I was making some changes probably at the same time you were trying to access to FLORA. Please try again, going to Metal Sculpture & Carvings Forum, and please let me know if it shows ok. From my PC, I`ve checked and it looks ok, thanks Nelson.

Hello guys, hope this loads up ok. Flora is my second sculpture ever I made and first one to load up on this site. It`s made out of mild steel and bare hand painted, namely, with the finger tips "playing" with different copper tones, as in a cave man way...Nelson.

hi guys, problems to load up pics.

Hello everyone, I`m new to this site which appears very interesting and inspiring. After studying agriculture and being into farming and the like for almost two decades, I decided it was time to quit and start working with metal, wood and any media to express myself. Incidentally, it was as an ag student in Davis, California that for the first time I had on my hands any welding or O/A equipment. There in an Ag Practices class I learned very basic stuff, and did what I considered my first sculpture, wow ! A little ag tractor made of plate and overly brazed with brass. Ironically, I have pics of all work but that one, shame on me huh. Really want to make a nice pedestal for it before I take a shot. As a little child, I always liked to pick up some of my Dad`s tools and try anything out.Oftentimes, the tools would get damaged from my missusing, and Daddy got xxxxxx, but the end result was a great hands-on experience, lol,that as I grew older turned to be the most enjoyable work I can think of. So at the time, I have a small business in South America (Venezuela) where I live and manufacture sculptures and functional art. There`s not much readily available/afordable tech so unbelievably, I`ve managed to work without a forge, pure O/A torch, no power hammers, plenty elbow grease, so it`s being limiting as to what I`ve been able to do, but at the time I`m making a propane forge and plan on making a mech hammer. As a self taught artist, I value every bit of information one runs into, and it seems to be more a matter of being critical about one`s