How to Make a Steel Sculpture

Have you ever admired a steel sculpture at a museum, school, or business and thought , "I could have done that." Now you can, Here is a brief overview on the process I used to make this particular steel sculpture.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Creative talent
• Welder and welding supplies
• Steel

1. 
    
   Plasma cut and rough chalk outline of the general shap of the project

   Start with a general concept of your design then draw a scaled model on a sheet of paper. Try to think of all the materials you will be using with the project and plan accordingly. Use thin and scrap material as much as you can as it will be less expensive. Then you want to chalk out the positions of your soon to be added pieces on the base piece of your project. This will save a lot of time latter on.

2. 
    
   Flat steel to produce the raised steel feathers

   Cut the add on pieces by the measurements of the chalk line. Next you need to tac these pieces on your base piece.

3. 
    
   Spot weld attached feathers

   Now cut the next batch of pieces and attach them to the project. To save yourself some time instead of measuring every obscure shaped piece one by one, use a cardboard template and make sure to cut multiple pieces at a time. I attached these particular pieces with "spot welds" because i wanted to get a cleaner looking sculpture.

4. 
    
   Finished mill scale free sculpture

   After you are all done with the fabricating part, you can display your artwork in any number of ways. you can paint, gild, or rust the project. For this step it is important to clean the steel carefully as paint will not stick, rust will not form, and gilding wax will not bond to grease. Use lacquer thinner to prep the steel. Now steep back and enjoy your artwork!

Tips & Warnings

• always tac the target piece slightly "obtuse" in that when you tac it will always pull your piece in an "acute" fashion.
• Think about the overall "theme" of your project, for instance do you want to keep the welds clean and inconspicuous or big and gaudy?
• If you are wanting to rust your project, in order for it to rust evenly you must get rid of the mill scale on the steel, do this with an abrasive wheel.
• It is important to think about the exposed sharp edges of the sculpture as you will want to grind them blunt.
• Always use proper safety gear when welding and handling toxic chemicals.

[PABechko]

on 3/11/2009 wow, this is really great. Beautiful work. I'd have to work on a bit of a smaller scale.

[jenniferclaerr]

on 3/3/2009 I used to build steel sculptures in art school. Very interesting article.

[SunnyStars]

on 2/28/2009 Thanks for the excellent instructions! 5*Stars!

[LissaK]

on 2/13/2009 At my school there's this art exhibit of the faculty's work, and one person made a steel sculpture of a nude woman with her arms bent...it looked so real and it was cool. Thanks for sharing.

[mfahrney]

on 2/12/2009 Very artistic..thanks!