March 11, 201313 yr In my opinion Karl, if your craft has reached the stage that you're at now it becomes art .... by it's own virtue.
March 11, 201313 yr thats absolutely wicked kustom! i particularly love the curve of his tail with the bowl because it makes the sculpture really sit brilliantly kind of balances it - totally inspired addition!! and also the curled back fist - infact this whole thing looks incredible. i absolutely LOVE him! what do monkeys smoke...? :/
March 12, 201313 yr Author Laertius, Wroughton, Tilaru, and Beth thank you for the compliments! My answer when asked what the monkey is smoking is "the stuff in the pot". When asked what's in the pot I say "the stuff for his pipe" :P
March 12, 201313 yr perfect smoking stance! good for him :) looked at your other work too - sure i saw the door pull wings on here when you did them - particularly fabulous and evocative!!
March 13, 201313 yr WOW... I dont know what else to say! Looking at your website its full of amazing artwork! Great job, Nailed the monkey!!! All your work is outstanding!
March 13, 201313 yr Author Thank you very much SC, and you too Beth. I am thinking of incorporating another set of wings in a sculpture, we'll see!
March 13, 201313 yr Brilliant work kustomsteel!!! It is obvious that you have an incredible knack for visualization.Even after seeing the completed photos it was hard for me to see while it was progressing.Were you working from drawings/sketches,clay model,or some other means?I am just curious about your method.It really is a fantastic piece.
March 14, 201313 yr Author Thanks for your comments Tantofolder. Most of my sculptures come 90% out of my head and 10% sketches. Then add 200% working out issues directly in the metal. This is a horrible business model but it leads to some interesting designs/ shapes/ forms. This project started out as a spider monkey swinging on a vine. I googled spider monkey, found and printed out some photos that showed the monkeys in positions that showed how their anatomy worked in the pose I wanted. I did a super loose sketch of what I thought I wanted and started sculpting. this is the basic armature 1/4" pencil rod 3/4" sch 40 pipe front view of armature. You can see variuos monkey pics in background more rod added to define areas of the body. I had the head half built and tacked on to see how it fit the body more anatomy now I start making paper templates of areas that need to be filled, cut them out of 1/8" plate, then heat and form them in pipe ends, on the anvil, whatever helps raise the shape more plate work this pic illustrates how I attach plates. I get them fairly close to fit, tack in a good corner, then heat and peen it until I have all the corners tacked and all the edges flush with the pencil rod thigh musculature being added. At this point I welded up all the seams and realized it was heading in too serious a direction, whereas the head was more whimsical. So I cut off his head and started over, ending up with the other monkey. I hope this helps a bit, every time I do this It seems my process changes slightly so it's hard to give a formula as to what I do.
March 14, 201313 yr Author Sorry Danger, I didn't do any preparatory drawings for the bronze wings, worked it out directly on the metal. One could say I winged it... :P I don't have any process shots either, I'll try to put together a tutorial on that soon.
March 14, 201313 yr Thanks kustomsteel!!!.......you were more articulate about your process than I could have been.It's apparent from your progress shots that its all about the journey. Kudos!
April 21, 201313 yr Great work! Beautiful detail! Would you be selling them? Putting a price on that type of work would be a challenge.
April 26, 201313 yr As so many have remarked, but it bears saying again and again...Your work is AMAZING! What type of welder are you using, I'd assume a MIG or OA? While I can't envision ever possibly having your type of skill and talent to create the works of art on your website, I do see this as something my 13 yo son would be interested in and might excel at. He is exceptionally good at drawing, painting & sculpture as he can take what he sees and put it into whatever media he's working with. When I taught him how to arc weld he had paid so close attention that he picked it up almost immediately. How did you get started? Dan
April 27, 201313 yr Author Thank you Paul and Dan! Yes I am trying to sell my sculpture, and yes pricing is very difficult. I would like to get $2200.00 for the monkey, that price is based primarily on hours to build and a bit extra for it being one of a kind. I still have the dragon and praying mantis, they are big ticket items. My plan is to create enough pieces to have a show and maybe do an etsy page. Whatever I have in artistic ability I completely lack in business savvy! Most of my smaller pieces are tig welded. I have a mig as well and will use that to lay beads to build up areas quickly and run long beads as well. But you really can't beat a tig for control when doing things like welding eyebrows on a face that's only 2" across. I learned to weld on an OA set up, and that has served me well, and while I don't weld with it any more it is invaluable for creating sculpture. But the real trick to getting the look I like on my pieces is the grinding. I spend a lot of time refining/ cleaning the surface and carving details.
June 21, 201312 yr Wow, I'm sure your getting sick of all the praise ;), but your attention to detail is incredible! Great concept and amazing workmanship! Thanks for sharing all these pics and info, I'm sure you have inspired many folks with them. P.S any shop looks great with a nice acorn table!
August 18, 201312 yr Author Thank you Loyd and Buffalo, yes I do love that table but it does have a slight hump in the center. When I find the time I'm going to get it blanchard ground.
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