Dragonfly yard art

[AZCoyote]

I made some more Dragonfly's and thought I would post one. I played with some new patinas on this one. The eyes are copper.

The other one is a weather vane mounted on wheel bearings.

[stever]

AW RIGHT! That's great. You say the eyes are copper. What's the rest of it made from, or did I just miss that? Give us some details. I demand details. Brag about it.

I like everything about it. I sold one about a year ago that was all hand forged body. I cut the solid wings out of 1/8" plate and then textured them. I like your wing design much better than the solid plate.

Let's see some more of your stuff.

[AZCoyote]

Thanks Stever!

The body starts with a 3/16 rod skeleton that is covered with 24ga sheet metal. Each sheetmetal piece is hammed with a texturing hammer I made before it's welded on. (mig at 3.5 volts) The piece the wings weld onto is 18ga to support the weight and not burn through. You can't really see the wing design in the photo, but it really looks cool. After I bend the outer frame for the wings, I randomly bend the inside pieces and then just weld them in place on one end, then cut the other end to fit and weld. I feel pure random design creates a better looking piece as opposed to planning each piece when re-creating nature. The head is constructed from two 5" bowls I hammer out of 18ga sheetmetal in my swage block. Like I said the eyes are copper. The legs are forged and necked with a guillotine tool to simulate leg joints.

After sandblasting and soaking with a Phosphoric acid spray, I start with a black patina. I hit all the high spots on the body with the black, and the under belly. Then I clean the piece again. I then LIGHTLY apply a Copper based paint to the top of the tail and various spots on the body so my copper patinas will color those spots aqua blue. I never completly cover an area with the copper paint so that the colors of the steel show through. I was never happy with the color pallete of steel compared to copper, but I don't like paint either. This was a happy medium.

I'm working on a large Hornet and a Monitor Lizard right now. Not to mention still trying to find time to complete my power hammer.

Whew, you asked for details....

[stever]

Let's see some more. You've been holding out.

[stever]

Since we live on opposite corners of the map I figure that I'm not trying to one up you by showing this. Besides, your's is way better than what I've got. Anyhoo, this dragonfly started life as a 2½" diameter pipe and was hand hammered into submission. The body was fullered with a guillotine tool on the treadle hammer. The eyes were fullered then hammered into the body at a red heat.

[stever]

The black paint was required by the client. She hung this on the back of her house so the people on the golf course could view her art.

[AZCoyote]

I like it! When I was thinking up the design for mine, I thought about making identicle wings. I chose my design because I figured it would put less stress on the legs when the wind was blowing. Plus I have a TON of round rod.

I really enjoy seeing quality work from others. It always inspires me. Are you familiar with Enrique Vega? He lives in Apex, NC. I have admired his work for some time now. I will be in NC next year and plan on looking him up and seeing his shop.

[Rocky D]

You sure you're not just catchin' some local inhabitants, down there, and spray paintin' 'em ta look like metal!!!!