Here is a brief slideshow of some images of how i create a large welded metal sculpture.
     I first chose an illustration i could enlarge and transfer to my work table.

     I then bend metal pieces to conform to the drawing and construct a 3D metal framework of the face and head. The structure shows the basic planes of the head that i use as a reference when adding metal to construct a face. My armature is the framework that i built from the drawing. this I use as a guide when starting to sculpt a large metal face. I have attached the armature to a stable steel base that is a good working height. later on in the sculpting process when the new sculpted form has enough strength to stand on its own, i remove the under-structure or armature and set aside for another time.

The sculpture is starting to take shape.

Now for some buffalo horns and feather head-dress and off to the sculpture park.

     I have just launched a new video blog channel called "Explore Welded Metal Sculpture". It is about Education, Motivation and Inspiration for welded metal sculpture. This You Tube channel is for anyone who wants to see videos of my finished sculptures, sculptures in progress, sculpture and art projects i am working on and education on how to weld metal sculpture.

          It is also focused on helping those of you interested in my sculpting process, the tools i use, arts shows, art shows i'm curating and art exhibits i'm involved in. 
      
        This You Tube channel is also geared to help motivate, educate and inspire those interested in how to get started with welded metal sculpture. The main goal of this channel is to express the inspiration and achievements of what i love to do most and share any  knowledge that can help others get started in this awesome and rewarding art-form.
   
     The video is coming soon. It loaded sideways so i need to redo it. Please come back later to see it. Thank You.

      It's been since 2007 since i've sculpted  a large head sculpture over four ft. tall. The Cloverdale Ca. Sculpture Trail juried outdoor sculpture exhibit is a good opportunity for me to create this new piece for their 2017-2018 sculpture exhibit.
   The sculpture is being made from the usual recycled metal parts and pieces. It's all welded together using mig welding and oxyacetylene cutting and welding. The biggest problem i have making a sculpture this big is finding enough interesting metal parts to use. Just recently A&S metal recycling co. just told me they will not be selling metal to individuals any more. That"s a huge disappointment because now i am forced to find other resources for my recycled metals. I was lucky to find a very generous man who let me take away a van-load of his junk metal that he was tossing out.
    This Indian bust sculpture is titled "Chief Steel Feather" and will be on display this summer of 2017 in the town of Cloverdale Ca. Keep in mind this image is early in progress so its hard to judge how it will look when finished. It will have a large feather head-dress and other embellishments.

        Here it is more progressed.

This figure sculpture Titled "Into the wind" is on exhibit in Cloverdale California as part of the2016/2017 "sculpture Trail"  Cloverdale and Geyserville's outdoor public art exhibit.

This small welded metal rearing horse is different than my usual style. It uses mostly thick wire to form the horses sculptural anatomy. It is hollow and can be seen through giving a very light  and airy feel.

      MIG welding is an ideal tool for welded metal sculpture. MIG  stands for metal inert gas. Not to be confused with TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding which I'll talk about in A TIG welding post. The M in MIG stands for metal. The metal is stored on a roll usually located in or at the machine power source and is fed through a liner to the mig gun.  The MIG gun has a trigger on it which when pulled actuates a small motor with rollers on it that feed the wire through the liner and out the gun nozzle. The trigger simultaneously opens a solenoid that allows the inert gas to flow out the nozzle end where the wire exits and weld takes place.
     In MIG welding the emphasis is on the metal wire which has two main functions. One  is to feed a continuous supply of filler metal that gets consumed and deposited at the weld in the welding process. Two it carries the current for the electrical spark and amperage to heat and melt the metals together.
     The wire feed speed and amperage controls are set in accordance to metal thickness, wire thickness, weld penetration and wire feed speed desired.
      With non-flux core welding wire the  ground cable is negative and is clamped onto the work piece to be welded on.  When the trigger on the welding gun is pulled the wire feeds out and makes contact with the metal. The electrical current wants to be complete but the high amperage and thin wire cause the wire to melt immediately on contact. The electrical current is so strong it even penetrates into the metal. This melting and penetration act to gouge the metal and fill in with the feeding wire causing a weld to be produced bonding the two separate metals as one.
      The inert gas has a roll of isolating the weld area from oxygen. If the inert gas was not flowing out of the welding tip the oxygen at the weld area would cause the weld to be contaminated and result in poor weld penetration, air bubbles in the weld and unsightly weld spatter. The Inert gas is one of the crucial components to allow for a smooth and solid weld.

This stainless steel sculpted face has bronze irises and copper hair. The copper was tig welded to the stainless. Both the copper and the stainless steel are sculpted from recycled  metals.

David Smith is one of the first sculptors to use welded industrial metals as a sculpture medium.
   He has an extensive collection of his sculptures at  Storm King Art Center in New York . http://stormking.org/artist/david-smith/
       

      This painted metal wall art sculpture is hand painted with colorful enamel paint. Since 1992 I have been sculpting welded metal figure sculpture. Durring this time i would clean the finished metal sculpture the best i could with wire brushes or sandblasting. I would then apply a good quality clear enamel spraypaint. This protected the metal sculpture from the elements, made it clean to touch and gave it a glossy apearance. It also let the nice natural color of the raw metal show through.
      It was'nt  untill 1997 that i decided to paint two large outdoor commissioned sculptures. They turned out realy well but i wasnt committed to the process for some reason. I continued to leave my sculpted artworks colorless to keep the integrity of the bare metal look and to not be distracted away fro form with color.
      An artist painted canvas that hangs on the wall is one artistic discipline. Sculpture is very different in the sense that the artist is dealing with A volumetric three dimentional object as oposed to a flat surface.  Its much more difficult to compose paint on  A sculpture than it is to paint a flat painting. I realy needed to study what i was doing sculpturaly and adding paint just threw me off. It was sort of like breaking a hunger fast with a twinkie. It didnt sit right. 
     This artwork titled "Mystery" was intended right from the start to have a colorful painting on it. I thought about it for a long time and finaly figured out how to make it work.

The nickle plating is a very nice look for a small metal sculpture. It looks similar to the raw polished steel but a little brighter. This piece was plated at a plating company in San Jose California. The piece is chemically cleaned then plated. It has a very clean and chrome-like look.