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Main Area => Odds n Ends => Topic started by: makenzie71 on January 13, 2009, 07:46:08 PM

Title: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 13, 2009, 07:46:08 PM
(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/wireman1.JPG)

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/wireman2.JPG)

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/wireman3.JPG)

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/wireman4.JPG)

I made a couple for my department heads that are flipping the bird...perfect characterizations of the two (don't like anyone, are nuts, and, if you'll notice the one above, there are no hearts).  They loved them.  I made another for a guy at work who's a crazy guitarist...his has a les paul classic guitar (kind of haha) and is doing the "rock on" sign.  It's great.  There's a couple others done on request and then this one above.  One of my best friends wanted the lasso one and I can't figure out why...he's not a lasso'er cowboy anything haha.

The pics irritate me...these things have come out really well but I can't get dimension right with a camera...being made of wire and all lol.  I used to sell these thins for $5 a piece and had a lot of fun doing the requests.  I think I'm going to start doing it again.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: grayghost on January 13, 2009, 08:35:17 PM
i don't know man, he looks "wired" to me.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: bombadillo on January 13, 2009, 09:36:33 PM
Dude, thats awesome.  Crap like that sells for a fortune in hippie town arcata by doing a little wire work and calling it modern art.  No joke you could get $150 for something like that here easy.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 13, 2009, 09:45:05 PM
yeah if I had the patience to make a bunch of them all at once I'd go and check out a booth at one of our local flea markets or something.  I used to sell them as fast as I could make for $5~10 a piece...especially the birdie ones...might make a good way to build a budget for my new clutch.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 13, 2009, 09:53:46 PM
i kinda do the same thing, but i make flowers. nice work mak
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: Jay_wolf on January 14, 2009, 08:26:35 AM
In the store i work in , they sell stuff like that for 20-30 pounds deciding on size, i think u should look into maybe self owned craft businesses , i think they would fly of the shelves,  there very eyecatching , i think with more extremes of colouring , i think they would be very vvery popular ,  like the lasso , looks nice the copper colour
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: scottpA_GS on January 14, 2009, 11:08:22 AM

Much cooler than the more common welded nut/bolt men.... Very cool, post some pics of your others!

you  deff, could sit and get about 20-30 of em and hit the busiest flea market in town and make some easy cash. You may even find buers online  :D

I would like to commission a wire man on a GS  :thumb:

Very nice
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 14, 2009, 11:58:45 AM
I don't believe in welding.  That's not "hand crafted" in my opinion.  the only thing I use is a pair of needle nose pliers.  I also don't believe in bases unless it's an "odd" piece...I think they should be free standing.  I like for them to inspire imagination while portaying something realalistic...and, in real life, we manage to stand on our own feet for most tasks.

I'm currently working on an old Ducati SS~ish (you don't exactly make replicas with wire)...I'm doing it for $45 but it's rather complicated.  I'd be glad to do a GS~ish one...would be a little cheaper because alloy wheels will be easier to represent than old spokies haha...we'll see.

Thanks for the compliments all!  I'm going to try and snag a few pics before I leave work of the others.  My camera phone sucks at this sort of thing.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: Weston on January 14, 2009, 12:35:08 PM
Cool!
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: Porkchop on January 14, 2009, 02:08:47 PM
Awsome dude!

How much time does it take to do one of those?
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 14, 2009, 03:26:59 PM
It all depends on how intricate.  The lasso dude above took maybe 5 minutes to make the dude, but the rope took about an hour to make look right.  My guitar man also only took about 5~10 minutes to make but the guitar took like four hours and about twenty attempts.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 14, 2009, 10:03:35 PM
Ok I got pics of the others I've made lately...or some of them...

the rocker:

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/rockon1.JPG)

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/rockon2.JPG)

The bird is the werd:

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/birdie1.JPG)

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/birdie2.JPG)

And the old 750SS I'm working on (you can almost tell it's a 750SS...pretty decent for a first try):

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/duc1.JPG)

Pics screw them up though...being two dimensional completely robs the effects.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 15, 2009, 02:03:14 AM
whats fun and damned  a pain in the ass is using only 1 piece of wire
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 15, 2009, 03:40:07 AM
(http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u360/gstwin/flourpowr.jpg) this i made earlier tonight, but excuse the poor quality, i made it after driving almsot a 600 miles today tehn driving another 200 at work  on 3 hours sleep , but the flowers i make using a single piece of wire. ive got almost 4000 feet of it i scored off of CL, for like 30 for it and a thousand feet of cat5 cable as well , yes im a pack rat. the the flower thign is an old hobby like maks scuptures, and to me its relaxation. a legal prozac or some other drug. and no doc needed lol i use my smooth jewelers  needle nose pliers to do these. will have some more soon. gonna do a bouquet soon. hell if i could figure out how to get them to keep their shape, id set up to mail them out. only way i can do that is to send them one at a time. which for both the buyer, and the seller is not economically feasible. unless i use stiffer wire. but i like using he softer wire. more fragile yes, but easier to bend , and if mistakes are made, easier to correct
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on January 15, 2009, 03:48:31 PM
I'd like to see more pics of the flowers, yama.  Try putting it on a really dark background so the wire can be seen a little better.  I've tried the "one wire" thing and it just didn't suit me for most of my projects...especially when I really like having contrasting colors of metal in the sculpture.

I will add, though, that I really like using the mild steel wires I use...because they rust.  I love it when the statues rust...I think it adds a really great coloring especially if there are multiple kinds of metal in it.  I've made several pretty interesting figures with electrolosys (sp?)
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: Toogoofy317 on January 15, 2009, 10:39:09 PM
OH man I want one on a GS too! At HOI Poli they charge $50 for a small one of those! Wanted one but couldn't afford it.

Yami like the flowers too!

Mary
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: spc on January 16, 2009, 12:13:26 AM
I'd buy a set of four doing the village people YMCA :dunno_white:  That would funny as f%$k.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: yamahonkawazuki on January 16, 2009, 12:35:38 AM
Quote from: spc on January 16, 2009, 12:13:26 AM
I'd buy a set of four doing the village people YMCA :dunno_white:  That would funny as f%$k.
lol it would, wouldnt it  O0
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on April 26, 2009, 03:30:22 PM
My newest...

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/ballerina.JPG)

Single piece of wire.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: annguyen1981 on April 26, 2009, 04:02:41 PM
dude...  that's balanced?!?!?  NICE!
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on April 26, 2009, 04:33:58 PM
It's my idea that if a person can hold the pose in perfect balance, my little wire figurines should be able to do it as well.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: bombadillo on April 26, 2009, 06:38:21 PM
You make some cool stuff.  What kind of wire other than the copper is that???
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on April 26, 2009, 06:52:58 PM
The copper wire is...obviously...copper wire.  The rest is bailing wire.

I wish I had got a pic of my quickie from last night...I whipped up a Daniel Larusso.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on April 27, 2009, 07:43:23 PM
Today's venture...saw a bit of a capoeira expo and thought this would be cool.

(http://kaleesphotography.com/photoartclub/wireman/handstand.JPG)

Again, fully free-standing and this is another single-wire piece.  I'll get better pics of it later...don't have my camera atm.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: utgunslinger13 on April 27, 2009, 08:05:54 PM
wow that is so cool!  Do you offer these out for sale?!
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: makenzie71 on April 27, 2009, 08:07:01 PM
Been selling for $25 a piece.
Title: Re: Revisiting an old hobby of mine...
Post by: utgunslinger13 on April 27, 2009, 08:07:40 PM
I might have to keep that in mind once I relocate back to ohio and start working again!  Those are stellar!