He lost his footing and the piton failed.

 

At least he knows the position to assume for free fall!

Good to see you back at it Scott!

Frosty The Lucky.

My imagination outruns my ability and scrap pile.  Thank you.

Delightful Scott!

--Larry

  Thanks Larry.  I think I have done enough "faces"...... I am going to start doing fossils now starting with a turtle, I want to find a brown patina to use on them though.  This ones from wikipedia, named "Archelon".

  I am going to work more forging into them as well.

He has that distressed look about him Scott. 

 

Fossils would work well with forging and welding abilities. You could experiment with forced rusting and clearcoat. In my experience it turns a very dark brown. Which would still be acceptable for a fossil look in my opinion. 

Dry uncoated rust would get that color but would be unprotected. Plus working with scrap different alloys will rust a bit different and might not be cohesive through the piece. 

To get that light brown color you might be better with paint.  

Scott, an outfit called Birchwood Casey makes a gun browning solution "Plum Brown."  Some gunsmiths use browning instead of blueing.  IIRC, it is often used on Kentuky or Pennsylvania black powder rifle barrels.  If it is like their browning solution (phosphoric acid) a little goes quite a ways, particularly if you are starting with "white" steel.  Like most chemical patinas I doubt it would work directly over forge black.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

Of course he has a distressed look Das, turtles don't like being off the ground unless they're swimming and are supposed to be. 

I agree with the above opinions, turtle skeletons offer a lot of opportunities to forge, heck almost all of it. An Archelon would be a major undertaking though, maybe start a little smaller and develop a process and sequence? Archelon would be an excellent goal though, it'd be a spectacular display. 

A uniform patina color wouldn't really be necessary, many large fossils have color variations. Some are caused by mineral changes, some are weathering, etc. 

What are you thinking, an art piece or do you wish to model a fossil realistically? s

Fossil sculptures is really wide open and fantasy fossils could be really marketable. Say, bipedal Triassic Mutant Ninja turtles? Heck, put wings on an Archelon and suspend it from a tree. Maybe put red LEDs in it's eye sockets.

Frosty The Lucky.

  Thanks for the input.

  Das, thanks for the tip about different alloys.  I suppose I have noticed that but never considered the cause.  All my past stuff, for the most part, I just let rust.  Worth keeping in mind.

  George, I will find a small bottle and do some experimenting.  I guess I should have said "stain" instead of "patina".  It's just something I have been thinking about for a long time but never got around to trying.  New territory to me.  I'm also considering gilders paste.  I found a cool thread and may try it as well:

https://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/880-gilders-paste/

  They even make turquise color.  It might be interesting to work it into the cracks and crevises on some other project, and buff to reveal steel highlights.  I don't know if I'm envisioning how it would look correctly or not, but a fun experiment, maybe.

20 hours ago, Frosty said:

turtle skeletons

  I want to try realism for a change, something that people can relate to as well, so mayby fossils aren't the best way to go.  I can see it now... "Look dear, a flying turtle skeleton".  I think the fossil aspect would be lost or hard to achieve.  Maybe a fossil embedded in matrix would work, but too involved.  I refuse to make a T-Rex or the like.  I thought fossils would be a nice niche but it's going to be warm here and I may go ruminate on it in the shop for a while.  This is why I like other's perspectives.  It makes me think.  Thank you.  Btw, I will take your idea and make a small one for myself, just because.  But I am ready for something substantial.

Skeletons and fossils are cool but like most artists you make to satisfy that something in YOU. Like Mike Rowe says, "Don't follow your passion, take it with you."

Winged turtles has been done, I didn't realize I was speaking from memory till I re-read my above post this morning. Clyde Wynia's, "Jurustic Park" is where he plants all his wildly imaginative junk art. He expressed an interest in self watering bowls once and before he knew it a scrapper dropped a dump truck load at his place. Anyway, he has a series of watering bowl turtle sculptures. Flying turtles are right up his ally and they're all over his place. 

Frosty The Lucky.

On 1/25/2024 at 11:35 AM, Frosty said:

Skeletons and fossils are cool but like most artists you make to satisfy that something in YOU

  I completely agree with that and I didn't mean to imply I want to create things that please others, discarding my own passions.  I just want to move in another direction.

  I have looked at Clyde Wynia's work and love it.  They are a very talented pair.   I will never lose my interest in the outre'.  Just this morning I was reading of a fossil bird find but I can't mention or link to it as it contains what could be called a swear word.  I'm not sure if context matters..... .  I sure do like making chicken sculptures tho.......

   They say "There is nothing new under the sun" but they are wrong.  Every sculpture and every hook or candlestick holder is unique to the maker, be it it by design or errant hammer blow.  

I think I was over analyzing things, I've been looking at your stuff long enough to know you like new things. 

I just spent some time looking at Jurustic Park pics online and it's sure changed since Deb and I visited in 98. I highly recommend dropping in for a tour if you ever get the chance. 

I'd love to check out the new fossil bird, would you mind PMing the link, please?

Frosty The Lucky.

  I feel bold and brazen tonight.

https://www.livescience.com/animals/dinosaurs/i-felt-my-heart-skip-a-beat-researcher-discovers-dinosaur-chicken-from-hell-after-buying-fossil-online

Thanks for the link Scott, I love it. Paleontology has so many new tools, really cool new details are being revealed every day. 

Frosty The Lucky.

On 1/26/2024 at 4:52 PM, Frosty said:

I think I was over analyzing things

  I get bogged down in minutiae a lot.  Now I'm looking to Greek mythology for ideas and a different path to follow.  The Gods, Titans and so forth.  I like to be careful though, as I don't think idol worship is a good thing.  I look at creating sculpture objects as just making "things".  Fun to make and look at.  Unless it is something I truly believe in. 

  If you want a rabbit hole, look to Greek and Roman mythology.  What a confusing mess.

I'm finally getting my shop, capabilities and interest re-established and it is time to make something.  Not creating is hard on me, and it's been a long dry spell.  Thank you to all have put up with me.

  It's too late to edit.  

  I'm a big fan of Ray Harryhausen. What a life and doing what you love.  That is where I got interested in Greek culture.

Goodness, we have something else in common! I grew up watching Ray Harryhausen animated movies. 

I bought two audio books a couple years back about mythology, starting with the earliest to the most recent. There were only a few memes common through out western mythology. Same for eastern mythology. I think one text is something like 70 hours of listening, the other is more specific and only about 30.

I listen to them every now and then, it's cool to track the same basic story as it evolves in time across many cultures. 

Frosty The Lucky.

  I don't do audio books. Can you conjure up mental images while listening to them?   Just curious. I do while reading fiction.  With mythology, though, I like to see others visual interpretations.  I don't know why that is. Wikipedia and art websites help with that a lot.  Ray was pretty good.

  I guess "conjure" was not the best word to use.  I just looked it up.  Substitute "form".... .  

Oh yeah, I visualize what I read or hear strongly, I always have. Descriptions in mythology have to be massaged for the time frame of when they were written and it still doesn't draw such good mental imagery for me. Fantasy never has where sci fi sings to my imagination. 

Your mental imagery is always more "real." That is why watching the movie after reading the book leaves us disappointed in the movie. Reading the book after seeing the movie tends to fill in the missing pieces making the movie better (More rich?) but very rarely diminishes the book. 

The only example of a movie being better than the book that comes to mind right now is "True Grit" w/ Jeff Bridges. The book is verry short, more of a novelette, good but lacking much of the detail that brings a story to life. The movie supplies that life and more. 

Frosty the Lucky.

  I suppose "Master of the World" movie left you flat.   I love Verne but Vincent Price must have been desparate.

I'll have to watch it again to have an opinion, my memory isn't very clear about yesterday let alone the early 60s when I could stay up late enough to watch old movies on TV. 

Isn't "desperate" about the best one word definition of, Actor"? 

Frosty the Lucky.

  Trust me, don't bother lookin it up.  It's pathetic even with Charles Bronson in it.  I was just poking fun at you.  Vincent was pretty good in "House on Haunted Hill" though.  Corny, but good.  

  Now I'm sorry for poking fun at you. 

  You can always poke some back and make me feel better...