Dale Russell Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 G'day all , just wanted to tell you all how my first stand alone demo went today . 1.30 pm is way too late to realy get into the swing of things , but i lite forge , did a warm up piece ( forged a leaf keyring : Thank you Strine for the idea ) But then the people started coming in ,, good ( well not realy ) first thing i was asked was do you shoe horses . My reply " Yeah , Shoo Horse " I was then asked to make a mini shoe ( set realy ) for a rocking horse thats being restored . Customer is going to get back to me with exact size via e-mail . i made her a sample piece which made her happy . Crowd comin' & goin' , kids got leaves made for them while perants looked over what stock i had . Sold some stuff , woulda been nice to sell more . Then this couple came with there 2 kids , boy about 6 , girl about 4 . I asked each if they'd like a leaf ( hoping the patents would hang around & look at what i had to sell ) The boy said " YES " , his sister on the other hand said " NO , i want an Iron Barbie " What could i say ? Her mother told her that the blacksmith man ( me ) couldn't make an Iron Barbie , but could make her a pretty " Gold " ( brass brushed ) leaf . But she didn't want a gold leaf , she wanted an Iron Barbie . Disroute i made the boy his leaf , on handing it over he ran off waving it over his head , smile from ear to ear .I made the little girl her leaf , but i could see she wasn't very happy with it What i'm asking is , can any 1 help , i got the couples phone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 (edited) Boy. That's a tough one but not impossible. First you have to come up with some help from Mon and Dad because an articulated one would be a darned advanced piece of work, take months and cost plenty, a few thousand at least. However an iron representation of a Barbie should be doable with some thought and careful chasing. Perhaps a dainty sort of version of a RR spike wizard but a good looking Barbie in stead. If that makes any sense? Frosty. Edited June 8, 2008 by Frosty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Dale, mate, I thought that was what Mick Dundee put the shrimp on ( Iron Barbie ). Seriously though, I have 5 granddaughters. I have not yet been asked to forge an Iron Barbie. Perhaps some brace wire ( we call it # 9 non plated which is about 1/8" thick ). Cut it up with some good side cutters to make parts and then gas weld together making the carcass ( you could TIG but rusty wire is tough ). Think of it as a mannequin for Barbie clothes. Heat and needle nose to tweak. Heat wash should take care of any rough joints ( smoothing them up ). Using small rod in the vise to wrap hot wire around works good for me. Make the cuts in the wire and then grind to exact lengths for some stuff. The # 0 tip on the henrob torch is smallest I have and sometimes it is still tough getting set up to weld and the flame pressure wants to push the joint apart on really small parts. You got to sneak up on them sometimes. Good luck mate. I call this kind of work "runnin down the street with my hair on fire". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandLordKhorne Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 The closest thing I have ever heard of to what your suggesting was a piece a friend did for a sculpture. It was actually one of those large size GI Joe figures. In the end he took it apart as far as he could get it and made molds from it. He cast the final piece from the molds and then assembled the joints using 1/16” welding wire as a pin to pivot on. When he got it to stand just the way he wanted it he simply heated the welding wire with a TIG torch and locked them in place. To be completely honest if I where you I would probably cast the head and hands than TIG them onto a body/limbs made by hammer. I would even probably make the limbs separate and TIG them to the body. You can articulate it by simply putting welding wire in the joints like a GI Joe is (Barbie has non pined joints in the first place) but that might be really ambitious and I don’t think the little girl will play with a 5lbs Barbie all that much anyways, I think it would be more a display piece. Now the really question is which Barbie are you going to make? Really it would be more like a Nikki doll (the black-esk Barbie)… In the end, just to finish the doll up right I would suggest looking around at doll store, you should be able to fined some doll clothes that look like blacksmithing attire. You could make a blacksmith Barbie! No matter what, it sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you if your going to make one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrickrock Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 make her a BAR B cattle brand. She'll get it in about 10 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awalker Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Look for a BP on a lizard, shouldn't be too different than a barbie, few more fingers and no tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Ideal demo at a show is a ballerina from plate, simple cutting and forging exercise, I have put some pictures of what I am on about in the gallery under Ballerina Barbie They don't take long to do, and may fill the need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 This is a couple of pics of what with a bit of imagination from the little girl could be a Blacksmithed Barbie, finish it in dayglo pink, Ironwork does not have to be black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Russell Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Thanks blokes , this kept me wake 1/2 the nite " trying to figgure out how to do it " Got a couple of ideas , wont get to try any of them today , as i'm off back to the musuem Dale Russell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Hey Dale, I wish I could help you. John B's iron thing looks pretty good there, but I say, don't go pink. Also, in case you haven't thought of it, you might do something like the rail road spike wizard. The big features with the spike wizard are the tapering for the hat, punching for the eyes, and chisiling for the mustache and beard. I would think, if you can chisel out some hair and chisel and punch the face, and brass brush the hair, it would go a long way toward winning a little girl, or a least a little girl's parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmonds Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 :) Sorry Dale, but this is just darn FUNNY!!! An iron Barbie! Ha Ha Ha. Surprised that little girl even thought of that. LOL Doesn't even sound safe as a toy. Gonna weigh about 2 pounds when finished....I feel sorry for Ken. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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