Lin, that sure is a different concept to make a bowl. It will leak out all of the soup. I like it because of the texturing in the welds, sure looks like a lot of work. How deep is it?

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

Hi, Warren. Yes, the bowl leaks alot! It takes too much time to make, but I enjoy doing it. It is made drop by drop of melted welding rod. That bowl is about 2'' deep and has 3 legs to support it. It can also hang on the wall. I am still kicking around the running horse design and will probably start it as soon as I finish some commissioned pieces. Lin

Thanks, Chuck. It is small pieces of stained glass that I soldered in place.

Hi Lin,
Hey I forgot earlier to welcome you to the Artmetal site. Yeah when you get the horse up and running let us know what it looks like. I am dieing to see a horse person do a horse.

www Metalrecipes -- heat and beat to the desired shape, repeat as necessary.
warren

Hi, Warren, I replied to your comment and posted a picture of Driving Miss JJ, a sculpture I did last year. For some reason, the photo was posted, but not my reply. You can check the photo out on recent images. Lin

I incorporate glass into many of my railings....love this combo. Your bowl is beautiful. I'm hoping to be able to cut and solder my own glass...right now using a stained glass artist. Do you solder directly onto the steel????
Thanks. SteelyJan

Hi, Jan, yes, I solder directly to the steel. I wrap the glass with copper foil from the stained glass supplier and use 60/40 solder to keep the glass in place. I don't think the solder melts into the steel but forms around it so the joint is as strong as the solder. It was pointed out to me that the 60/40 solder has lead in it so shouldn't be used in the bowls if they come in contact with food. I can't really imagine anyone putting food into the bowls but I got some lead free solder from my glass supplier and it seems to work very well. Doing the glass just takes practice, with your talent you would have no problem with it. Lin

Welcome to ArtMetal. Thanks. I used a plow disk as my template. You can use any steel that is thick enough so the welding rod you are melting onto it won't melt into the template. There is a better picture on my web site and also a photo of similar bowl where I filled some of the voids with 20 ga. steel and melted glass chunks onto. Lin

Thanks for the welcome :)

Your work is great, I love the mix of steel and glass. The flowers and masks are beautiful and Spirit Warrior cracked me up. 41" wow!

So you didn't have expansion issues with the steel and glass in 'Random Thoughts'? That effect is very cool. I thought the COE would cause the glass to shatter as it cools though or does it and its held in place?

I just got a MIG a few months ago and have been working on some stuff with it. It is a very fun tool...everything metal in the house is at risk of being stuck together :)

Funny! I love my MIG, too. Random Thoughts may have been just dumb luck because the glass stuck. I had been using leftover glass from my college days (late 1960s).When I bought new glass, I haven't had much luck, which is why I used the stained glass in Monsoon Sunset. It may also be that the steel I filled the openings with couldn't expand or contract as it was welded to the bowl structure. When I get more time, I will play some more. Someone suggested burying the piece in vermiculite to cool slowly. Lin

Yes, or possibly in a kiln even. I have done a little hot glass work and vermiculite works well for that on small pieces of glass though it will tend to stick a bit if it touches very soft glass. I believe it is the lower the COE the less it changes, you might have luck looking for low COE glass. With all those little pieces of steel going off, you have basically made a giant heat sink so sitting out that heat is going to go away fast. You know thinking about it, your oven will get up to 500 too...I can't remember exactly, but I think the finish kiln is at like 800 when you are blowing glass but that is far far more picky because its so thin. I wouldn't think that would put off anything you wouldn't want in your stove, but it might. I do powder coating so I have a separate stove for playing in :)

I want to try some build up techniques like that. I just moved up to a auto-tinting welding helmet and that makes all the difference in the world! I can't even believe I was able to weld with a tinted helmet! I am basically doing unstained glass :) though I think I am going to add glass to the equation but more like your bowls or those awesome stairways someone here does than a 'real' piece of stained glass, just accents.

here is a link to what I have been working on. http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo133/nolatodd/

I got the sculpture part down, I love the result, but now I have to perfect my powder coating before I can really finish a piece. Back out into the shop today to practice more masked lines!

When I get some time i want to try out something like that bird you have the demo of. I need a plasma cutter, well that and about $50k in other fun tools too, but the plasma cutter is on the short list :)

You are right about the auto darkening helmet! I can't imagine not working with one. I also just changed out the protective covering in the front and it made a huge difference. I couldn't get your link to work, is there a letter or number wrong? I don't have a plasma cutter in my home shop and have been cutting with my O/A torch. Slow, but it works. I also just bought an electric nibbler that should handle 16 ga. steel and am looking forward to trying that. Lin

hmm let me try that link again:
http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo133/nolatodd/

I recently got a pneumatic shear and if you don't have one...run don't walk and go get one! I haven't tried mine on anything quite that thick, but it cuts 20-22 like butter with pretty nice control once you get the angle down. It was like $80 and apparently if you spend a bit more, you can replace the blades a lot cheaper. I have heard that the nibblers are a bit rough and don't leave a clean line but @ 16g a shear might not work...

*edit* wow I got curious there, there are shears that will cut 14g even...

toolfetch

Hi, Nola, I do have a shear and use it for the thin stuff. I find it hard to get some of the curves, etc. The air nibbler is rougher, but can do tight turns. I also bought a throatless shear from Harbor Freight and love it. The blog I read about shears warned that the original blades would not stay sharp (so I bought extras) but I have had no trouble with it. I am intrigued with the powder coating. Why can't you use your kitchen stove?

ohhhhh its toxic hehe

It puts off some fumes which aren't to bad as long as you have some circulation, but you wouldn't want food in there absorbing it up. I think it would mess with the taste more than anything, but I wouldn't want to risk it. I got a free electric oven from craigs list and just wired it in to my garage. Mine doesn't have a glass front, that is 1 thing that would be real nice, but at that cost... :)

I might almost be done with marilyn, check out my thread http://www.artmetal.com/blog/nolatodd/2009/02/billy_jean_in_steel