Metal Sculpture How To

Keyword Research Deconstructed

johnsearles — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:05:05 +0000

Introducing a simple mathematical tool that facilitates picking the best keywords for your on-line business. Discussing how to use Google AdWords with Excel and Rankerizer. A must for every on-line entrepreneur.

Learned This Week 3-16-2012

johnsearles — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:22:26 +0000

Welding Tips, Shop Comfort and Safety, Time Management and various recommended products useful for the sculptor and metal artist.

Wall Sculpture Jig

johnsearles — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:14:30 +0000

Wall Sculpture Jig – New Idea I’ve discovered a wall sculpture jig that has elevated the precision of my wall sculpture layouts to a new level. I was first drawn to studying the Kreg jigs, then found the Rockler catalog online and saw that this jig would be better. This wall sculpture jig is a Rockler product. It comes as a 4′ length of Universal T-Track, eight various length T-bolts, eight jig clamps and 8 knobs. the whole 17-piece kit is about $30.00 plus shipping. I bought three of these kits and cut the 48″ lengths of T-track into 6″ lengths, then screwed these to the table. In some cases I needed a special length clamp. I cut 1.25″ widths of 1/4″ aluminum to the size I needed, gave them a slight roll through the roller, drilled a hole for the 5/16″ bolts and that was all it took. Wall Sculpture Jig – How It’s Used I normally do my layouts on clear mylar placed over white pegboard. The mylar is for tracing the outline of the design – I first do the design right-side up, trace it, then flip everything because most of my work is done from the [...]

2-15-2012 | Learned This Week

johnsearles — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:02:50 +0000

Details about fabricating an aluminum sculpture, welding aluminum techniques, shop safety and comfort, avoiding burnout, website titles tips and WordPress newsletter how-to information. Also thoughts about the black residue outside the argon-protected area when welding aluminum.

Crack Detector Disaster

johnsearles — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:22:20 +0000

While butt-welding 1/4" aluminum, I found voids and small cracks when I ground the welds flat. To help me find these voids and cracks, I tried a commercial crack detector - Magnaflux's SpotChecker system - disaster! I also discuss the sculpture I was working on, porosity and several other tips for Mig and Tig welding aluminum

Sculpture Photos

johnsearles — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:00:11 +0000

Sculptures are three dimensional, therefore it makes sense to show photographs of your sculpture from every angle. A simple fun way to do sculpture photos is with an animated gif. This is a relatively easy approach, using a lazy susan and Photoshop CS5.

1-15-2012 | Learned This Week

johnsearles — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:28:25 +0000

What I have learned the week ending 1-15-2012: improvements in my painting technique, refined my skills for cutting aluminum, a better and easier copper blue patina, plus major improvement in my web site speed. All useful information for the metal sculptor and metal artist.

Copper Green Patina

johnsearles — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:09:53 +0000

A possible client wants me to do a Waterfall Weaving for him, but before he orders he wants a sample of the copper green patina with various light copper browns. Unfortunately, it's winter in SW Michigan and the shop is on the cool side. Normally I can get a great green patina on copper using Sculpt Nouveau's Tiffany Green. When it's 90 degrees, I actually get the beautiful grayish green, my favorite. 60-80 degrees and I'm getting fairly neutral greens. Any temperature below 60 and I'm getting bluish greens. This gentleman does not want any bluish-greens.

Copper Red Patina

johnsearles — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:02:24 +0000

Copper Red Patina – Prep Cut the copper – this is best on copper at least .015″ thick if you are planning on having it water jet cut later, add at least 1.5″ to your sizes Sand the front with a 3M coarse grinder pads. This will hide the scratches that copper inevitably gets and create a nice pattern in the metal. Alternately, use an orbital sander, 50 grit. This is an attractive pattern. If you are planning on brazing decorative lines – e.g. ovals, circles, zig zags – on the copper, now is the time to do that Typically, this copper red patina is done near the garage door opening with the garage door open for ventilation also to facilitate taking the copper outside to wash with the hose afterwards also, we want the salt to be as near the door as possible. Salt tends to absorb water from the air and it is hard on the concrete when it gets ground into it. Sweep it us or out as soon as possible. Set up some concrete blocks on a table or sawhorses with bricks on top of the concrete blocks You want the copper sheet to be just above the height of [...]

Water Jet Cutting

johnsearles — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:43:30 +0000

Water Jet Cutting – Introduction see update below October 2011 I used to only use thin copper laminated to 1/2″ plywood for my wall sculptures because I knew I could cut it myself with a scroll saw. At the time, my concept of an artist required me to do everything myself, which precluded my having someone else do my cutting for me. This was when I was just starting with my wall sculpture puzzle designs in 2000. I cut all my copper-wood laminates by hand with a scroll saw and as thin a blade as possible. I drilled a 3/64″ hole and used a #7 or smaller blade with a 22″ Delta Scroll Saw. This was very high-focus work, trying to keep that skinny blade inside the extra-thin sharpie line. It took a long time, was arduous physical labor and was difficult to do accurately. Many, many blades broke, some of which scratched the surface patina. It required much sanding afterwards, and the combination of the cutting and sanding necessitated a lot of re-gluing. I actually got very quick and good at it. There were other good reasons to use the copper-wood laminate approach. I achieved the beauty of metal with the lightness [...]