First products - metal crafts were made in ancient times by skilled craftsmen. Gradually artistic forging turned into a real work of art and, starting from the 11th century, became an integral part of the architectural structures of Europe. Today, metal products have a high cost, but at the same time they can emphasize the exclusivity of the exterior or interior of an apartment or country house. We offer you several master classes that will help you make metal crafts with your own hands.
Metal owl
Materials:
- sheet of paper;
- pencil;
- sheets of cardboard;
- scissors;
- sheet metal 1.5 mm thick;
- Bulgarian;
- chisel;
- hammer;
- welding machine;
- chemical rust remover;
- 2 washers and 2 bolts for them;
- rod 6-8 mm.
Let's start making metal crafts - an owl
1) Using a pencil on a sheet of paper, draw an owl.
2) We visually break the owl into separate elements and transfer them to sheets of cardboard into the life-size owl. Cut out the templates with scissors.
3) Now we apply the cardboard templates to the sheet metal, transfer them and carefully cut out each detail of the owl with a grinder.
4) In the part that is the eyes of the owl, we make holes for the bolts. We make them using a chisel and a hammer.
5) Now we make feathers on all the parts of the owl. To do this, take a chisel and make notches.
6) Paws are easy to make from a rod. We cut off the pieces needed for the paws from the rod and weld them together to form a paw. We do the second one in the same way.
7) Make a beak from a piece of sheet metal.
9) Now you can connect the parts into one whole. To do this, carefully weld each of them to each other in the required sequence on the back side of the owl. Then we weld the beak and paws to the finished owl.
10) Now, using a chemical solvent, we clean the owl from rust. Follow the instructions on the solvent. If you don't have a suitable solvent, make a solution of baking soda and water at home. It should be so thick that it spreads easily over the surface. Clean the owl with an old toothbrush, and then rinse thoroughly. It is recommended to wear gloves when working with solvents.
11) When the cleaning process is completed, cover the entire owl with a special varnish. It can be purchased at a special store.
Metal owl craft ready. It will become creative, made with love and skill, and will keep memories of the master forever.
Metal figurines look original in a flowerbed or in a garden. summer cottage, so with the help of our step by step instructions you can easily make a rat or some other animal out of metal.
Material:
- Bulgarian;
- drill with metal drill bit;
- metal scissors;
- electric welding;
- grinding circle for grinder;
- rods with a diameter of 4,6,10,12 and 14 mm;
- 2 mm metal sheet;
- wire;
- metal ball from the bearing 3 pieces.
1) Take two pieces of metal pipe (this rat is 50 centimeters high). We make a head from one of them: we cut out identical segments along the entire diameter and get a blank, as in the photo. Then we weld and, using a grinder with a cleaning circle, clean this part. We make the body and also clean it in a similar way. Consider the proportions: the head is larger than the body. We weld the head to the body.
2) Transfer sketches of the rat’s ears and paws onto a 2 mm sheet of metal and cut them out. We roll the paw blanks into a funnel. We scald them and clean the seams. Then we electric weld each leg to the body and clean the seams again. We weld the ears to the head and don’t forget to clean the seams too.
3) Now we make the rat’s paws and hands from twigs. For the upper legs, a 4 mm rod is welded to 10 mm, and for the lower 6 mm legs, it is welded to 12 mm. We insert it into the holes of the funnels and scald it with welding.
4) We make the tail from a 14 mm rod and weld it to the body.
5) Let's move on to the rat's face. First, let's make two holes in the head for the eyes. They should be smaller than the bearing balls. Now let's drown these balls in the holes and weld them neatly and thinly. We electric weld the remaining ball in place of the nose. Drill holes for the wire whiskers and insert it.
7) Then we make longitudinal welds close to each other throughout the rat. This will create an imitation of wool. Now we clean the whole craft again using a grinder with the required disk. This is necessary in order to rid the product of scale, slag and add shine.
8) At the end of the work, we apply a special varnish to the metal rat, either colorless or with some kind of effect. It's up to you. The rat in the photo is coated with colorless varnish with a satin effect.
Now all that’s left is to figure out where to put it or who to give such a wonderful gift to.
Rose- This is a unique flower, the beauty of which I would like to preserve for as long as possible. Metal rose will make you happy for many years and will decorate the classic bedroom interior.
Materials and tools:
- yews;
- sheet metal 0.5 mm;
- metal scissors;
- steel wire 6 mm;
- grindstone;
- pliers;
- hammer;
- Bulgarian;
- metal paint;
- welding machine.
Master class metal rose
1) During work, follow safety precautions, use gloves and a welding mask.
2) Using special scissors, cut out petals for a bud and a couple of leaves for a rose from sheet metal. We cut out the petals in the following sequence: from smallest to largest, starting from 15 mm and ending with 80 mm. You need to cut about thirty petals, then the bud will be dense and full.
3) Then smooth the edges of each petal using a sharpening stone.
4) From the remaining scraps of sheet metal, cut out triangles - they will become rose thorns. Their size should not be less than 10 mm.
5) We make a stem blank from steel wire. Our task is to get rid of its flat state. To do this, we can use a hammer to bend it a little so that it looks like a real rose stem.
6) Create a bud. The first two smallest petals need to be clamped in a yew and bent in half. Next, we begin to form eight petals in an arc relative to the center of the bud, but be sure to grab each part by welding and then clean it.
7) All subsequent petals are also formed in an arc, but bending the top of the petal. We do this procedure with a hammer. And just like the previous petals, we weld them and clean them again.
8) Now we weld the thorns to the already prepared stem. Then we clean them with a grinder.
9) Rose leaves. You need to squeeze and release the leaf in a yew to create a vein. Then we bend the edges using pliers. Now we weld the leaves to the stem and clean the seams.
10) We weld the rose bud to its stem, carefully clean it at the joints and cover the entire rose with metal paint.
A beautiful flower that combines the tenderness of beauty and the rigidity of metal is ready. An original and such a painstaking gift will delight the female eye for many years.
Metal crafts: Panel - fish
Panel is a decorative composition that serves to add beauty and comfort to the home. It can be a carved or ceramic composition, bas-relief or stucco. Panels of tiles are often found in the architecture of buildings. different colors or using the mural technique. We offer to make crafts from metal: wall panel from metal frame with your own hands.
Materials
- thick wire;
- thin wire;
- beads, a lot of beads;
- a dozen beads;
- sheet of paper;
- a simple pencil;
- scissors that can cut wire.
1) The very first thing to do is to draw a sketch of the fish that will occupy a central place in the panel.
2) Based on the sketch, we begin to make a fish frame from thick wire. At the same time, we make curves, as in the photo. In paragraph 5 you will understand what they are for.
3) From the same wire we make jumpers that will increase the rigidity of the structure.
4) Thin wire is needed to fix the frame.
5) Now we begin to fill the fish with beads and beads. To do this, we attach a thin wire to the curves on the frame and begin to string beads onto it. So we braid all parts of the fish with beads, while securing the wire with the beads. To make the product look aesthetically pleasing, do this on the back side of the fish. The beads will help highlight the large scales of the fish, and one bead will be used to make the eye. The color of the future craft depends on the selected beads, so use your imagination and don’t be afraid.
The finished fish can be hung on the wall in the nursery or hallway. It will become not only an interior decoration, but also a pleasant gift for a fishing enthusiast. We recommend making several fish so that you can create a whole one on the wall.
Metal crafts parents can do it with the whole family, as they need to follow safety precautions when working with a welding machine. If you do not have special skills in working with metal, you can make a craft from wire or a tin can, which will also look exclusive. This concludes our article about DIY metal crafts; see more crafts on the website.
"V1.ru" - information portal of Volgograd
[December 15, 2019]
Quite unexpectedly, I came across the page of the Japanese artist-sculptor Noriyuki Saitoh on Facebook. Link to his profile - www.facebook.com/noriyuki.saitoh. Looking at this page, I realized that Noriyuki is engaged in sculpture and in 2018-2019 he created miniature sculptures of insects from bamboo. He also passes on his skills to his students.
[December 11, 2019]
The working title of this sculptural composition is “Chukotka”. I received an urgent order from Chukotka friends in October 2019. The composition was supposed to represent Chukotka at the Days of the Far East in Moscow in early December. I had to speed up the work process and make a fairly large (height - 3 meters) sculpture of a walrus and a couple of seagulls in a short time.
[December 10, 2019]
Fair on Novy Arbat: 12/04/2019 - 12/08/2019.
Festival at the Expocentre: 12/10/2019 - 12/14/2019.
“Days of the Far East in Moscow” is a large-scale event in which all 11 Far Eastern regions are represented. In 2019, this event is taking place for the third time and this time shopping pavilions Far Eastern fairs are located in the very center of the capital - on the territory of New Arbat. I brought there the sculptural composition “Walrus and Seagulls” created especially for this event and one of the Chukchi dogs.
It was not possible to take good photographs from the scene, so I suggest looking at photographs of the sculptural composition
Photos of Alan Williams's wonderful sculptures, created from scrap metal by welding. But we decided that translating an interview with this person would be much more interesting.
Anyone who wants to admire metal art and read about the sculptor is welcome!
Welding Exhibition - Alan Williams shares his story
At our last exhibition and presentation we were joined by a very talented man, Alan Williams.
Alan's mostly animal-themed sculptures are made from some very interesting and unusual "found" and reclaimed metal, breathing life into what some might consider scrap metal.
From a rhinoceros made from old trolley shields to an eagle made from cutlery, Alan's unique sculptures exude life and character! Come on, get started, Alan!
Tell us a little about yourself!
I graduated from the University of Brighton in 2001 and have lived in Brighton ever since. I write and perform music, enjoy walking, traveling and photography.
How did you get started in welding? What attracted you to this profession?
When I was about 8, I remember seeing a man on TV creating a horse from pieces of scrap metal. This was the first time I saw someone weld. I remember everything - his protective clothing and welding helmet, everything sparkling with the blue light of a semi-automatic machine. I thought it looked unusual and just like science fiction. When I was 16 I took my first forging and welding class and I pretty much knew it was what I wanted to do. I've always loved making noise, but combining it with fire and sparks really caught my attention.
Tell us a little about how your business started - what did you do before setting it up?
As soon as I graduated from university, I wanted a workshop. I had several of them in different parts of Sussex, ranging from garages to warehouses. The one I'm in now is an old milking parlor on a former dairy farm, and without a doubt it's best place which I have had so far. There were times when I did more mundane work on short-term contracts to pay the bills and give me more creative freedom in my work.
I have always been fascinated by the natural world since childhood. I was a typical boy who loved bugs, insects, and was interested in the weird and wonderful. I think what most kids did, I just maintained an interest that has completely carried over into my adult life. With a tube of super glue, I would salvage bits and pieces from old toys and transform them into new creations.
Your sculptures are often made from weird and wonderful found materials, what comes before the inspiration? What's the strangest object you've made a sculpture out of in the past?
I love working with junk and scrap metal. In the form you will find absolute inspiration for what you want to do or the project you are working on.
The weirdest material I've worked with is definitely the old minecart I used to make the life-size Rhino. It was hard work.
Do you have a favorite project that you have created?
The project I work on is always my favorite piece. Especially when you really get into the creative zone. This "zone" does not depend on When or Where You. Inspiration comes and goes, but with some projects it can really guide you all the time.
The projects you have worked on are very varied, from small ones to your huge dragon sculpture, gates and furniture - do you have a preference for certain types of projects or do you prefer variety?
I like to make things that I can transport fairly easily, but logistics aside, I'm currently really enjoying making smaller decorative pieces. After a while, I'll probably turn around and say, "Okay! Time to do something massive."
Do you have any treasured commissions or projects that you would like to create?
I would like to do more public art and more commissions with some heavy lifting equipment ie. Dinosaurs (I'm a big kid, right?)
My biggest inspirations for the project are styles and genres and these are mainly illustrative images of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Steampunk and Fantasy.
For those looking to get into welding, I would say there are many hobbies and career opportunities to choose from. It all depends on what you want to come out of it. It's taken me a long time to develop my work and generate income from the art world, and at times it's been a financial struggle, but I do it because I love it.
Since interesting stories happen all the time, I think all I have to say is that the path that led me to what I do today is thanks to all the people who told me I couldn't do it, from my art teacher at school to my teacher at Institute. I've heard of many creative people who had an influential teacher or teacher who helped them develop, but to me it was all about anti-establishment.
Thanks again for joining us, Alan! If you would like to see more of Alan's sculptures, visit his website
Usually the word “welding” is in no way associated with beauty, romance and high art. But welding is not only about iron frames, bridges and pipelines... in capable hands metal melting under a welding arc can take on any shape and turn into flowers, animals, elegant statues and decorative elements.
Appreciate the works of Kiev resident Dmitry Kushniruk, made using an innovative method of artistic titanium welding. They captivated not only visitors to the exhibition in Kyiv, but also became a sensation at shows in Helsinki, St. Petersburg and a number of US cities.
No less amazing are the creations of Russian Yuri Shurupov, who, using plasma cutting and welding, creates fantasy sculptures that have already decorated more than one private collection.
The work of Grigory Dochkin, the head of the welding school at the Institute named after. Paton. He creates elegant flowers, vases and boxes from cold metal.
The artist became interested in artistic welding in his youth when working on the design of the Lunokhod. Different temperature conditions make it possible to obtain interesting color shades on metal, which prompted the idea of the possibility of creating unusual sculptural works. The idea was brought to life. Look what happened.
One of the most interesting areas of metalworking is artistic welding - a method of manufacturing original steel products that are distinguished not only by high strength, but also by a unique appearance.
With the help of artistic welding, you can create both decorative objects and things that perform a practical function. The production process is carried out using an argon torch.
The most popular products that are created using welding are practical household structures, furniture items and decorative elements.
Household products include elements of fences, gates, as well as small products such as boxes, containers for food and other things. The artistic welding method allows not only to give the desired shape to the product, but also to create an original pattern or texture on the surface.
Metal specialists can produce decorative and coffee tables, chairs, hangers, shoe racks and other things that serve a practical function and are used indoors or outdoors.
Such artistic furniture has an original appearance, is not afraid of moisture when properly processed, can withstand heavy mechanical loads, and has a long service life.
The cost of artistic welding cannot be called low due to the material used in the work. These are mainly titanium and stainless steel. Zirconium is used to obtain color shades.
Artistic welding allows you to create a variety of objects used for decoration. These can be animal figures, ornamental details for decorating walls, ceilings, columns or arches, details in the shape of flowers and plants.
The number of options to choose from depends solely on the wishes of the client and his budget, as well as the style features of the interior. Most often, decorative items created by welding are ordered by people living in luxury cottages and who want to demonstrate a sense of taste and originality of design. But everyone can afford a small stainless steel craft.
Advantages of welded products
One of the main advantages of things created using artistic welding is considered to be beautiful and original. appearance.
This method allows you to produce hundreds and thousands of options. finished products and parts that can perform a practical function or serve solely as decoration. Welding allows you to create elegant and attractive objects that cannot be replicated exactly.
Although this is relative new look art, unlike forging, it is increasingly attracting attention. One of the centers of artistic welding is the Paton Institute.
Another advantage of iron products made using artistic welding is their high strength and reliability. Such items, be it ornaments for decorating a fence or furniture for the street, are not afraid of increased mechanical loads, have a long service life, do not require specific or complex care, maintaining not only their physical qualities, but also their appearance. For additional protection of artistic products, you can use special compounds to repel dust, dirt and moisture.
Metal crafts go well with other items and various materials, including brick, block, stone and wood.
If, for example, welded decorative elements are intended to decorate a fence or gate, they look great in combination with corrugated sheets, red and facing bricks, concrete and other materials.
Furniture created by artistic welding looks beautiful in classic interior, Baroque, Romanesque, Greek style, and small items can decorate a room decorated in the High-Tech direction.
Tools and drawings
To practice artistic welding using rolled metal, you need the following devices and equipment:
- a machine for manual argon arc welding (they use it to weld non-ferrous metals and stainless steel), a torch for it, filler wire and an argon cylinder;
- paper. Without it, it is impossible to draw drawings with determination of dimensions and small nuances that are difficult to take into account when visualizing without a plan. However, in modern world You can also use computer programs;
- stationery for marking (pencil, ruler, protractor);
- working surface, which must be made of materials resistant to high temperatures and flames.
Before starting work on artistic welding, it is necessary to make a drawing and think about what size the product will be, what it is intended for, and what style it should be combined with.
The finished image is only part of such a drawing. In addition to the sketch, it is necessary to draw individual details, indicate connection points and their number, and examine the object in several planes.
Main work
At this stage, the master selects the material. Thus, for small and elegant figures or sculptures, titanium can be used in its pure form or with small additions of zirconium, which gives the products a special shine.
When artistic welding is used to create a fence, gate, furniture or other large objects, steel is usually used as the base material. The stainless steel construction is not susceptible to negative influence moisture, resistant to accidental and targeted impacts.
After determining the materials, shape and dimensions, the master, using a welding machine, produces the desired item.
Depending on the complexity and size, artistic welding can take from 1 day to several weeks.
The surface can be polished or engraved; in some cases, individual fragments are decorated with tarnish colors. This is an effect in which the steel surface becomes iridescent and iridescent, and is achieved through exposure high temperatures. After the product is ready, it must cool.
Safety precautions and processing nuances
Like any other welding work, artistic welding requires strict adherence to safety rules.
If you use the equipment incorrectly, you can get an electric shock, become partially or completely blind when exposed to ultraviolet radiation or scale, get poisoned by fumes arising from metal processing, get burned as a result of the melting of the material or an accidental explosion of the cylinder.
Such consequences are dangerous to health and life, therefore You must use a mask and protective clothing. It is best to choose a product with chameleon glass, which changes the degree of darkness depending on the amount of ultraviolet light hitting the surface
Before you start welding steel, you need to clear the work area of foreign objects. It is better to start experiments in artistic welding with products of simple shape.
It is also necessary to study welding techniques well in order to firmly connect structural parts and spend a minimum of time on this.