Whirly Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Yabby (Freshwater Crayfish)Again like the ‘Male Box’ this is fabricated and not forged, but I was pretty happy how it turned out. This I made for my eldest daughter, as an under-water theme lamp. The hollow log has a light in the bottom, shining up and the light reflects down from the ‘Lilly pads’. The Lilly pads and the Yabby are made from thin sheet metal, cut from an old sign and oxy welded together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jocko 58 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Very Nice Work well done Cheers John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oof Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 that is one exquisite mud bug. mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matto Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 looks good enough to eat make make some more and we can have a boilen head sucken time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postleg Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Very cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Great job on the crawdad. How did you make the legs? They don't appear to be sheetmetal like the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 G'day Fellas, yes, a couple of buckets full of the real ones make numba wun wulitch (a good feed) Bugger! Yer right Big Gun, I DID forge some of it, legs and mouth bits..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRobb Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Very nice! Really life like. I'm sure your daughter loves the lamp. Well done. Mitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzonoqua Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Very nice work!!! Love the detail, you've done an awesome job!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 hey whirly i love that! you made him with a really nice touch - just hangs together great! loving that red creature on your photo too... ! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 I'd eat it , good job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Mitch, thankyou and yes, she does love the lamp. Colleen, Beth, Ta, that's praise indeed coming from artist blacksmiths! Gibbo, as soon as I saw 'Gibbo" I thought 'That's gotta be an Aussie'. and I got a cack outa your comment - "I'd eat it" Mate, the height of compliments... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 My friend, you have real talent, and an eye for detail. Awesome work. Just needs a dragonfly on the tip top...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Great work something you are no doubt proud off and so you should be cheers ps now looking at my yabbies in my fish (yabbie) tank in the lounge room mmmmm wonder if I could do that,,,thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted June 17, 2012 Author Share Posted June 17, 2012 Thanks John, but the dragonfly ended up on a mirror frame for one of the younger kids :P Bully, yeah you can Mate. Just need some thin metal, a set of snips, (left, right, straight) a dead yabby (easier to work with), some paper , scissors and a pencil. Oh, and an oxy acetylene set-up with a really fine tip.....oh, and some really thin welding wire........ How it came about was, I had a bunch (of Yabbys) in the freezer ready for the next time we wanted some cooked and it was about September or October and Christmas had just started to poke it's head over the horizon and we wern't that financial that year, Sooooo..I called the kids and said "No bought presents this year, we all need to MAKE things for each other" The younger girls got Ironwood framed mirrors with metal vines to hang bits and pieces from (necklaces, broches, etc) and one had a Dragonfly and the other a Butterfly, with metal fine-mesh wings to put ear-rings on. The second eldest and her husband were keen on fishing, so they got a full sized (1m +) Barramundi to wall mount, made of metal and timber, with the metal parts made the same way as the Yabby....which brings me back to the Yabby What I did Bully, was wrap paper over sections of the critter abd draw around those bits onto the paper, then cut out that template and copy it onto the tin, cut out the tin and bend, twist, heat, hammer, shape it 'til it looked like the bit on the Yabby. When I had all the body bits made, I Oxy welded it all together. The rest, legs, eyes, mouth parts, feelers, etc I copied from sight and shaped so it suited the piece of wood it would all hang on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 ...and this is the 'Barra' No. 2 daughter got for Christmas. Next time I won't 'Gape' it quite so much.... and as you can see (or squint) I haven't yet got the hang of adding photos to an ongoing post...perhaps someone will take pity and explain in REALLY EASY to understand steps, how to do it on this site. (Like a lot on here, there was no such thing as a PC when I was younger) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil H Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Redclaw? Excellent work. That's a real talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Nice work on the crawdad and yes, it does look real enough to eat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapartoz Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Whirly , you really have talent. the detail is great and very accurate . looks to me like a cherax desructor but could be one of those 'redclaw' we dont have down here. well done mate,........................... wotz next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whirly Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Phil, yup, it is and thanks much, I appreciate your comments... Thankyou Bentiron, I was trying for a 'real' look.. G'day Andrew, "you really have talent". Maaaaayte, coming from you, I'll take that as a major compliment, thanks :D. Phil had it right, Red Claw Cherax quadricarinatus, the tropical variety of your beasties down there....wotz next?...Who knows? I'm getting into this forging stuff at the moment, so...maybe a solid one??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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