July 30, 20169 yr I've 99% finished my 2nd sculpture commission, a spread wing cormorant. I drew up the outline shape with my client so I knew they'd be happy with the proportions & posture. (In the pic of the drawings is a sample piece I whipped up for them). It's head was always going to be turned but I'm not that good at drawing. They've seen it now & are very happy. They just want it to rust so no weatherproofing. The small section of light gauge railway it's on will be welded to a verical post of light gauge railway so it can be stood up in their garden.
July 30, 20169 yr Author She loves it. It's a wedding anniversary present to her husband - the Iron year. When drawing it up we joked that the front on view looked a bit like the Wallace and Gromit penguin & she was worried it could look a bit 3 Reich eagle like...but all those fears have completely gone now she's seen it.
July 30, 20169 yr Awesome work Joel. Are the toes on the feet just weld beads? If so that worked out great.
July 30, 20169 yr Good fun. I trust you happened to notice how visually powerful and effective your armature is. You should definitely log that away for the future. Alan
July 30, 20169 yr Author Cheers. No the feet were rods of 8mm (5/16th?) round bar which got kinda lost so I ran some weld beads over the top & it worked out well. A fluke I'm happy to take. Especially as it's all stick welded as i haven't yet got my MIG up and running so the whole job was a pain in the genitals. 2 hours ago, Alan Evans said: Good fun. I trust you happened to notice how visually powerful and effective your armature is. You should definitely log that away for the future. Alan By armature do you mean my sample piece? She wanted so keep that but I said no because I keep all my sample pieces for my "stock room" so that I can snare future clients by saying "it'll look like this..." I have been known to tactfully leave nice sample pieces positioned around the workshop so when clients come to collect commissions they spot them and their idea juices get flowing again...
July 30, 20169 yr Author Doh. Oh yeah, they're in a sub folder of "Cormorant", in "Making". The "In Situ" folder is to come. I even number images 001, 002, 003...ex media studies student with film editing ambitions before illness struck. Old habbits.
August 11, 20169 yr Author These pics don't really show anything different, just show it in a nicer light. I wanted some shots of it before it rusted in my client's garden so I ran it over to my folk's conservatory for some quick snaps. I also wanted some pics of it with eyes as my client doesn't want it to have eyes, so I will be filling in the small drilled indentations to meet their wishes. Without eyes I feel it looks blind.
August 16, 20169 yr I hope you make a good profit, blacksmiths and starving artists are related I think?
September 11, 20169 yr Author In it's final home. If interested in seeing it next to the 2 other commssions I have completed for these clients YouTube search "Joel Blacksmith repeat clients". I attempted a link but it failed.
September 11, 20169 yr Nice one Joel, always good to see final item in the place it belongs and was made for. Good job.
September 12, 20169 yr That's quite the body of work in one yard Joel. Beautiful one and all. The video really shows it off nicely. Frosty The Lucky.
September 12, 20169 yr Author Thanks. A series of 1sts for me; my first gates, my first well cover & first bird sculpture.
October 6, 20169 yr Super nice Joel. I like how it looks like its steel in the wings, the body transitions into life-like and the head and feet are life-like. Good stuff.
October 9, 20169 yr Spectacular! You have the proportions spot on for a cormorant hanging out to dry! Nice how you have lapped the feathers. I wondered why you didn't forge an eye, but on admiring the finished sculpture, I really don't think it needs eyes. The focus of attention is on the pose, and you have captured that so well.
October 18, 20169 yr CT, I'm thinking your hooked haha. Joel, if I havnt said so before, It is beautiful and an amazing work of art.
October 19, 20169 yr Author Thanks folks. On 09/10/2016 at 9:56 PM, ausfire said: I wondered why you didn't forge an eye Well funnily enough the plan had always been to make eyes, but the client came round just before that stage and said she didn't think it needed any. I had planned to drill into it's head and recess some small ball bearings which I'd then weld in and then drill countersunk dimples into for pupils. But all I ended up doing was lightly drilling small dimples into the head to suggest eyes (in the shiney pics), then I filled them back up with weld and ground back flush for the client as I showed her those pics and she preferred without eyes.
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