Metalsmithing and Related Topics

I just found out there are a lot of greyhound lovers out there. I made this hammer-formed brass urn for a greyhound a couple months ago. I discovered that greyhounds have a most unusual head shape, and their ears are different than most other dogs, so it was a little more of a challenge than usual. I’m happy with the way it came out.

cleo1

cleo2

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This is the third one of these I’ve made, and I Think it turned out better than the previous one, which I have pictured on my website. All of them so far have been made as gifts for very special people. I tried to make the design such that it can be aesthetically pleasing whether it is being viewed as a religious symbol or having no symbolism at all. Made from three pieces of 16 gauge brass sheet formed into tubes and then twisted together. It is made to hang on a wall. Dimensions: about 9″ x 13″.

back side, showing hanger

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Here’s another dog, different from the other one I posted (a huge great Dane). This one is a little dachshund. The base is about 7-1/2 in. square, and total height is about 4-1/2 in. I just shipped it on Wednesday.

Small Dog on Pillow

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I first developed my method for making brass pillows about a year ago. The idea was to use them as a base option for the cat and dog urns I make for custompeturns.com. My first attempts were with compressed air, which turned out to not have quite enough force to push the metal out beyond the form that creates the depression where the cat or dog would lie. I had heard of hydroforming before. and had read a little about it, and I already had a “porta-power” hand-operated hydraulic pump. With a little adaptation, it did the job. The only drawback is that it uses oil, which is very messy. I just recently realized that water could be used instead of oil, using a pressure washer. The pictures below show my first attempt at using water. It was a total success.

Click on the individual pictures for further explanation and larger picture:

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I just finished this yesterday and shipped it out today. It’s a brass cat urn, cat serial number 18. Like the dog I posted earlier, the cat is hammer formed, and the pillow is hydroformed.

Sleeping Cat on Pillow

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The kind of metalsmithing I do requires a lot of special tools. Most of them are simple enough that I’m able to make them myself. Usually all that is required is a piece of steel rod, a chop saw, a grinder, a sander, and sometimes a big torch, sometimes a lathe, sometimes a welder. Below is a universal stake holder I made to hold homemade stakes. The holder part is made from two track roller brackets from an old bulldozer, the bottom one welded to a 1″ steel rod. The stake it is holding in the first picture is for one specialized purpose, to create the recess on the bottom of my pet urns where the closure plate goes. The second picture shows me doing that task. The larger hammer in the first picture is a bodyworking hammer I purchased from McMaster Carr. It’s American made, and higher quality and less than half the price of the fancy German hammers. The only drawback was that I had to polish the heads myself. The smaller hammer is a gem I bought from Dixon (Do they still exist?) about 30-some years ago.

The next picture shows a stake I made to fulfill a need I had when making my watering can. The green paint attests to the fact that the piece of steel came from an old junked John Deere combine.

The picture below shows the holder with a ring mandrel (useful for many things besides rings). There’s a bushing on the shank to make it fit the holder. On the stump are two other mandrels of different tapers that I made on the lathe.

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"Titan"

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Hello everyone,

I’m in the middle of several metalsmithing projects right now and way behind on everything, but I promised myself I would post something on my blog at least once a week, so I’m going to bring up the timely subject of daylight savings time. What good is it? I have heard many explanations of why it exists, and none of them make any sense to me. Do people really think they are getting an extra hour? How about actually making it a 25 hour day, so there actually is an extra hour, or while you’re at it why not 26 … or 30? As far behind as I am, I could use the extra time. Trouble is, I have a feeling the time would go by faster ;). I’d be really interested in hearing an explanation of why daylight savings time makes sense. Myself, If it were up to me, I would abolish it worldwide. And as long as I’m tinkering with the time, I think I’d like to have the entire world in one time zone. As long as were in a global economy, and have global instant communication, it no longer makes sense to have time zones. We have GMT, let’s use it. Sure, it would take some time to get used to, but after a few weeks, everyone would be adjusted to it, and no longer would it be necessary to ask “what time is it there?”.

Steve Shelby

It’s 7:35 AM here

shelbyvision.com

Pessimists, seldom
disappointed, but sometimes
pleasantly surprised.

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I got an email invitation last week to submit some pictures for an Orchid Gallery. I had previously thought that the Orchid Galleries were just for jewelry, and my work is small sculpture and hollow-ware. I took a look at the existing galleries and found that there are some non-jewelry pieces on display there, so I decided to go ahead and submit some photos. I got the acceptance email this morning, and now I have an Orchid Gallery. You can see it at http://www.ganoksin.com/exhibition/v/orchid/SteveShelby/. I only have four pieces on display right now, but will be adding more as time permits.

Steve Shelby

shelbyvision.com

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