Cutthroat: 25" x 7" x a couple ". Cutthroat trout wall hanging. Basic body and head forged from mild steel and built-up with mig. Plasma cut stainless steel and copper overlay. overlay splattered with mig (mild steel wire and silicon bronze). Brazed with brass rod and silflow. Patina from forming process and heat. Raw organic carnuba wax finish.This piece marks an important evolutionary step in my work. I have always been experimenting with mixed metals, this idea of “painting with metal”. I think that the important thing for me to own is that I am an artist, not an architect, engineer, or ornamental metal worker. If you ask these folks if you can weld stainless steel with mild wire. They will tell you, “it is just not “sound”, they are different materials all together.” All that I can do is respect their point of reference, know my limits, and reflect back my own reality.

hammered copper, forged and fabricated steel.

Sacred Heart: 36" x 36" hammered copper and fabricated steel St John Vianney Catholic Church Sedona, AZThis piece was hammered out of .050 copper sheet. The pieces were cut out and scored with a plasma cutter. Then fit together and braised. The thorns and cross were forged and fabricated out of cold rolled recycled bed rails. The blood and water is represented by melting copper wire, brass rod, steel and phosphor copper brazing rods in with a torch and mig welder.

Copper Cornstalk: 55" x 92" x 18" Hammered and fabricated copper.This is an early work. It is .050” Copper sheet. The sheet was cut out with a plasma cutter, then cleaned-up with a file. I broke the leaves down the center with a brake. I annealed the copper and hammered them, repeating the process twice. The copper forms the structure of the piece.

I'd like to know more about copper casting if anyone can fill me in. I have a few days of reading behind me and no experience.

I recently got a kiln dirt cheap and would like to try out sand casting using pure copper. I just wanted to know if anyone here has tried this?