Sculpture Time: sculpture

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Metal - construction

Bending the metal rods to get the exact curves I wanted was challenging. Also, as the round form of the rods make it hard to hold together, I needed a second pair of hands to help me hold it while I used the torch to weld it together.

Now time for the waves! Experimenting with paper a little bit.. I did not want to waste the usage of the metal, even though I had extra. Using Bristol board, I cut a sample shape. At first I was planning to trace the shape exactly, but I found it easier to free-hand the design.

With Mike's help, I learnt how to use the plasma cutter!

The first few tries came out terrible...

... but after switching to the other machine with a better tip, the cuts became much more smooth.

before polishing and after polishing the metal.

note to self: don't wear rubber-soled shoes when dealing with hot metal..

Did not take photos of attaching the waves to the main structure..which was also a struggle because again, due to the round edges of the rods, it was hard to hold together.
It came out alright, and again, I feel that if I had cut one more piece, it would be more complete.
overall, even though it came out quite different from the sketch, the piece turned out pretty well and I was able to utilize many of the workshop's metal tools.

Metal - Joints & Sketches

here goes... here is the beginning of the process log of Assignment Metal.

Wahoo! almost done for the arc-welding exercise. It's hard to see through the dark mask and the rod kept getting stuck to the metal... but for a first time handling of these equipment, it's not too bad and I can get the hang of it after a while. Still needs much more practice though.

here's Mike making the metal edges real nice for the arc-weld!

If I had time... I want to make those edges smooth...

Below are my ideas for the sculpture. Since we have to "create a piece that uses some form of soft sculpture", I wanted to challenge myself to give the illusion of softness using just metal. Smooth flowing forms appeal to me very much, so I thought of using air and water as the theme, inspired by Chinese elements..