Deer Skull

This was a fast order. Was under a lot of pressure to get it done on time. Being full-time employed only left my weekends to work on it. Proud to say I finished it on time.

Will be shipping this today to get to a trade show in Orlando by December 3rd.

Last years theme was football. The year before was their mascot, Cooper the French Bulldog. This years theme was hunting. All the same pieced rough style. Norton has been good to me!

Only cut into one knuckle once with the grinder. Sounds bad but it is healing nicely. Did hurt a lot tho…. 

A new commission from Norton. This year the theme is football.

This is just the start. I will have finished photos later.

 

A few more photos taken today. The welding is done. I have to work on a logo in brass or copper and grind down and polish the piece.

Finished the final polishing and adding the logo, she is ready to ship!

Cooper’s child Sebastian

I got an order for this after the first FABTECH show where Cooper made his debut. Like Cooper I am keeping track of his gestation as he is being made.

Had to make some adjustments, a fatter belly and neck extension was off a bit. The latter made for a very long neck and after 1/2 hour work I got it redone to looking more like the dog itself. Now for more features after this step. 6 more hours added to 3 so far. The bottom 3 are just about 1.5 more hours more of getting the face rounded out and filled in some before features go on like ears.

 

 

Most of the features are finished. The next step is grinding it down to get rid of excess weld spots. Some of which are hindering the effect of some features like the wrinkles on the brow. Need to wait for a non windy day to get the grinding done. Must be done in the morning to avoid wind. I may have to wet down the grounds before I start.

The longest part because of fire caution is the finishing part. I have to start early in the day and only work an hour. Plus I have to wet down the grounds so I do not start a fire. So after 2 hours of grinding welds this is what is done so far. After I grind the welds I polish the piece which takes less time and has fewer sparks.

 

One last step after these up coming photos. That will be a brass envelope chewed up hanging out of his mouth. Polishing done. I did not like the brand of tools I used compared to what I got from Norton. Dewart just does not add up. But at least it turned out good in the end.

And that is how you build a bulldog. Fini!

 

 

 

French Bulldog, 2016 fall break

I was found by Norton via the last bulldog I built and posted on this blog. They hired me to make a French Bull Dog to be a featured piece in their booth at a trade show in Las Vegas this coming November. I gave them a quote and they added a few items like finishing him with their abrasive products and showing their logo some where on the piece. I chose using a dog collar for that feature. The following pictures are the progress I made in making they piece from beginning to end.

 

Cooper was picked up on Wednesday the 9th of November 2016 to travel to his next destination the FabTech show in Las Vegas. The following pictures are of the promo pieces Norton made about Cooper.

Cooper was a hit at Fabtech 2016 at the Las Vegas convention center. At times 10 people were lined up to take selfies with him. He has a few more trade shows to do this coming year before he retires. Photo of him working in his booth  below.

After Las Vegas Cooper traveled to Vancouver Canada for another convention. From there he traveled to Nashville TN to do one more show. He will be retiring to Brownsville TX where Norton has a major plant/factory and will reside in those headquarters in his retirement.

Celebrate March 2015

Spring break and no traveling; so I get to weld and make art. This piece is meant to sit on a block wall and act as a trellis or in my case a block for a wall jumping dog.

 

A few months later I made a few more trellises for the plants. Celebrate was more to keep the dog from jumping on that area of the wall. It still does not keep the dog from escaping, but at least he avoids that part of the wall. SO the whole line up is pictured below with one close up of one of the squiggles.

Baby Dragon, 2-23-14

I had a few days off work and felt like welding up some scrap metal I had hanging around. I spent about 5 hours dredging through scraps and came up with Baby Draco. A smaller version of the large dragon I recently finished. I decided to keep him simple color wise. He is meant for indoor display.

New Dragon, The sequencing of a recycled metal sculpture…

This is the start of a sculpture I have been working on this summer. Monsoon has slowed down progress as well as his weight. I need help moving him in and out of the studio to weld.  I do not want to leave it outside till it is in the painting stage and ready for his final installation. It is a test of balance with what I add to him. I want to finish it as soon as possible and yet I want to take my time and get him just right. It is made of all recycled items. I am still thinking of color schemes. I am leaning towards metallic.

The top photo is just the start of the head. The next photos is more detailed. The second to last photo is just before I added small arms and hands and a walking stick for him to balance on. The last photo is not the greatest. Was hard to photograph with the light entering the window and I do not want to move him outside till I can work on him again. He will also have wings and an extension for the hip area and feet. As soon as I finish him I will post more. I just like showing the progress of a piece as it is being built.

9/15/13, the welding is finished. Pictures are at the bottom. Next will be the painting. I hope to have him finished in October. We will see how it goes time wise. I do have a fall break where I might just have enough time.

9/22/13 primed and ready to paint a color. He is now outside for good!

September 2, I had time to weld today. The result is below. All that is left are the feet. Plus I need to figure out a color for this guy. I am thinking purple or silver. I will have to paint a primer first so there is plenty of time. I hope to get him painted before October so I can display him at the end of the driveway.

Only one more picture to post and that will be when this dragon is in his permanent place. Right below this comment is him in his finished paint job. He will blend in pretty well in this desert when he gets set up.

Draco is finally home. Placed at the end of a driveway this morning, 11/11/13.

 

Low light photo taken later on a rare cloudy day:

Dish Bug, Recycled Art

I had a break in welding time since the weather has been so windy and dry. Now that monsoon came I was able to get back to some welding projects.

Made of a 5 wood, chair legs, welding rod, lug nuts from our Jeep, a fence post, bolts, blades from a defunct pair of scissors, round grills from a smoker, and well, …what Dish TV left behind after we cancelled them, thus the name of this piece. (Guess it sounds better than Direct TV bug).

I just finished working on a tessellation project for my 3-6 grade students. I decided a tessellation would look great on this guy so I incorporated a simple one for texture. As usual the most fun other than welding that I had with this piece was mixing colors and painting them.

The final “Dish Bug”:

 

 

Custom Recycled Art Mailbox, “Puff the Magic Dragon”

I was asked to create “puff the magic dragon” as a mailbox. The top photo is of a partially finished piece. The mail box will attach to the appendage past the basket. The basket is for filling with sphagnum moss and growing air plants. This piece is in a rural area of Florida between Tampa and Orlando.

Recycled Art Lizard

These two photos are of a piece I made when I was taking a welding refresher course. It is a recycled piece using the nails and various metal scrap pieces left by the contractor that built our house plus some barbed wire a fence post found on the property. It was first made to be a sign out by the road to identify our location. Later I changed it using some rebar left in the wash by our HOA and it now stands near the house as a lizard crawling up a flower.

This piece stays with the house since it is made from left over components.