A Hornet Nest Sculpture

Three years ago I was cleaning up an area of the studio where a lot of small pieces of sheet metal had accumulated.  I tried to think of a project which would make them go away and also be educational for me.  I decided to try making a hornet nest sculpture.

After some image searching on Google and other reading I constructed a wire frame for a full sized nest.  The rest was straight forward but a but boring.  Each skin piece was cut with a throatless shear, swaged to radius, fitted and MIG welded in place.  When fully covered I used the oxygen/acetylene torch to fuse some of the seams to make the surface smoother.  It was finished with a rust patina.

The scrap mess was cleared out but the nest moved around the shop from place to place until last week when one of my assistants, Scott, got out an extension ladder and hung the “nest” in a tree south of the building.  I think it looks pretty cool.

http://www.persimmonforge.com/

The Anvil of Damocles

I’ve made a few hollows form anvils as a novelty item and had some fun with them. The first one I made had some defects and recorded some of the difficulties I encountered figuring out how to do it so i didn’t think it was good enough to sell. On the other hand, I didn’t want it sitting around taking up space so I decided to hang it on an outside wall over a door just for mischief. Originally it was over the west entrance and suspended almost invisibly by a length of 10 gauge wire. I thought it was so prepostoursly obvious that the anvil had to be fake that it caught me off guard when a person asked me what special kind of wire I used to hang the anvil.

I got the idea from Roger Denger who brought his hollow form anvil and swage block to a BAM meeting quite a few years ago. He had done a very convincing Job of fabrication and patina perfection but when he chalked on a “$400 Sold” message it was the crowning blow of deception.

Now the original anvil hangs over my east sidewalk by a chain and a still rather obviously inadequate bracket. I suppose now someone will ask about what kind of lag screws I used.

So, have some fun today and try to worry less about the fears we imagine hang over us.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damocles

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Big Knockers

Last summer I was contacted by a client interested in getting a large cow head door knocker. It sounded like an interesting project so I took it on with the understanding it would be some time before I could actually complete the piece. As usual it was longer than I anticipated before I actually started construction although the several months of contemplation had given me some things to explore.

Eventually we worked toward the final plan reviewing details from time to time and keeping track of the running cost estimate. Eventually a wheat motif was added. All along I understood that this was to be a big door knocker but the ending “big” was a lot bigger than my beginning idea of “big”.

I had never made a door knocker on this scale so I created a prototype in which I worked out the mechanics and other details so I ended up with a pair with the clients having better finish work. I met the deadline, got paid, learned a bit more about hollow form sculpture and the physics involved in creating an authoritative knock. All in all it was a satisfying creative experience. Moreover I mounted the prototype on the studio west door.

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Finding a Niche

When I became interested in blacksmithing and started my first first forging efforts I had no sense of direction to the work. I was only interested in acquiring capability in general. As time went on and I accomplished more work I continued to cast a wide net and attempted to make many different things. Eventually I could make a lot of things but none really well.

This wasn't a bad strategy for a beginner in my situation where there was no living-breathing instructor, only books. Progress depends mostly on practice, anyway, I think. My further experience path was directed by the specific projects which clients requested. Some proved more satisfying than others and I started narrowing the vision of which things I wanted to do and which I didn't. By concentrating on the most interesting types of work I improved my skill in those areas and the overall satisfaction of the creativity increased.

Large architectural work is not for me. I mostly work alone and don't have the strength of youth and endurance necessary for heavy projects. I prefer smaller projects involving natural forms particularly botanical elements. I incorporate many different kinds of them into various sculptural decorations.

Currently I'm working three projects which employ forging and fabricating hollow forming techniques which I have developed over the years and enjoy using. One is a large sunflower sculpture which will hang on the outside west wall of my studio. The second is a large pair of interior doors which present a woodland scene. And the third is three runs of grape vine hand rail. All include stem, trunk and vine elements up to 3" round. Obviously, solid stock can't work in those applications because the weight would be enormous. I have encountered this design problem many times and find the hollow forming an ideal solution. The closed shape lends great strength with little actual mass.

I can briefly describe the process as follows. Mostly I use 14 gauge HRS sheet but sometimes 18 gauge if even lighter weight is required. I request the steel supplier shear the 14 gauge into pieces 2' to 3' in length and about 4" in width. This size is easy to work given the tools I use.

The first step is to run all the sheet through the coal forge to fire scale and anneal. Next I run the stock through the tumbler with steel aggregate for about 20 minutes. This knocks off all the scale and leaves the surface with a very fine pitted and planished texture which will eventually be the "tooth" which holds the finish in place.

The second step is to heat the sheets again in the coal fire and boldly texture the surface with one of a number of bottom dies I have made for the power hammers which produce specific bark patterns.

Next, I use the flypress with a bottom trough die and top ball die to bend the sheet into the desired radius of concavity needed for the fabrication of the final form. If the sheet is 4" wide and the final form is a branch about 1.25" in diameter (4/pi) I can completely close the tube by switching the top ball die to a top trough die. I don't strive to create a symmetrical pipe as some undulation will be desirable in the finished product.

Finally I place the tube in the post vise and close the seam with a MIG weld bead then fuse the seam with the oxy-acetylene torch and run the finished piece through the tumbler again.

The final structure will require some tapers and bends rather than just single diameter tubes. Tapers are formed by cutting the sheets into elongated trapezoids which are then tubed. Bends can be complicated but often require removing and replacing various geometrical areas.

I find this building process fascinating and I am happy that I have found this niche technique. To each his own.

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