More Art Page
Big Brother is watching ...
Giant glasses (31 X 11 inches) made using (2) 15 inch computer monitor screens
LED's turned OFF
LED's turned ON
The backs of the picture tubes were cut off and covered with recycled sheet metal from old computer cases. I took a photo of one of my eyes, adjusted the contrast, then mirrored it for the other eye. I then printed them both using a color laser. The frames were made from recycled metal and rebar. The ear pieces were formed using auto body filler (bondo).
A group of (5) LED's is mounted on the inside of the back cover of each lens. Both light groups are powered by a small external 9 volt DC power supply recycled from an old network router. Since the LED lights are mounted a short distance behind the photos, the eyes appear to follow you as you walk from one side of the room to the other.
CAB-LEANNA (CABLE GIRL)
This girl can interface... She has a centronics mouth, ps-2 mouse port ears, cat-5 fingers and USB thumbs.
This 4' tall sculpture was created almost entirely from various types of computer and network cables. I started with a basic steel frame made from rebar, scrap metal and old trampoline springs. The body was filled out using wiring harness's from dead pc power supplies which were wired in place using individual wires stripped from scrap Cat-5 network cabling. Old serial and SCSI cables were used to provide additional filler for various body features. Arcnet cable was used to do the black part of her dress and scrap pieces of CAT-5 cabling for the upper part of the dress. Pc power cables were used for her shoes and shredded pc ribbon cables (parallel, serial, floppy and hard drive cables) were used for the hair. The eyes are 3.5" hard drive motors salvaged from dead hard drives. Her 8 fingers are RJ-45 network cable plugs and her thumbs are USB plugs (finger nails are painted to match the red cable used for her lips. The black opera gloves were created using mouse and keyboard cables.
I spent about 4 weeks working on this sculpture. The hair alone took over a week to create. I estimated there are 3000-4000 individual hairs created from the hand shredded cables. The metal frame for the sculpture weighed about 18 lbs and the final sculpture weighs 60 lbs, so there are about 42 lbs of wire. The square in the center of her stomach [lower left photo] is a cut-out which allows viewing of the internal cable structure.
MODERN DNA
This steel sculpture is 16" tall and 4" wide. I used (2) 2" long bolts welded together to form the longer looking 4" bolts (hex bolt heads on both ends) along with the nuts for those bolts to create this sculpture. I used the steel nuts between the bolts to achieve the spacing between the cross bolts.
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
This steel sculpture is 18" high and 4" wide. I used the same welded bolts as in the Modern DNA piece above, only welded into a different configuration. I used the same 2" bolts (with hex heads removed) for the hand rail posts. The hand rail came from the wire frame of an old lamp shade.
THE ENLIGHTENED ONE
This art piece was created from a disgarded fiberglass bust from a cosmetology class. I cut off the lower part of the bust, then drilled hundreds of tiny holes in the head using very small drill bits (for drilling circuit boards). There are 12 colored LED lights (4 each of blue, red and green) mounted on a rod inside the head. I really liked the lighting effect on the surrounding walls but wondered if I could make the lights move. Using a small, low rpm DC motor that I found on-line, some plastic gears that I salvaged from an old printer and a little creative engineering, I managed to make the lights rotate inside the head. The lights can rotate from zero to about 80 revolutions per minute. I have to say, the dancing lights effect on the surrounding walls is quite mesmerizing! The 12V drive motor, 12V power supply, on/off power switch and a variable speed control are all mounted inside the custom built steel case that the head is mounted on.
TEMPLE OF THE SUN
This steel sculpture is 10" high and 11" wide. I used pieces of 1/8" steel plate that were originally motor cycle shipping brackets, a motor cycle gear/sprocket and a stainless steel coat hanger.
STAR SHIP
This steel sculpture is 16" high and 11" wide. I used the four left over corner pieces of a 1/4" thick steel plate after I had cut a circle (for another project) out of a 16"x`16" square plate as well as some pieces of 1/8" steel plate that were originally motor cycle shipping brackets.
6 POINT STAR SCULPTURE
This sculpture is 24 inches across (point to point) and weighs about 18 pounds. At it's center is a 5.5" x 5.5" cube. Each face of the cube has a 9" long 4-sided point attached. The entire sculpture was created using 1/8" thick steel plate (top left) which I salvaged from discarded motorcycle shipping brackets that I had cut up into various sized flat plates.
PULSAR SCULPTURE
This sculpture is 15 inches tall, the spiral sphere is 10 inches in diameter and is made using over 350 bolts. The extra heavy base is made up of 2 solid steel plates. The lower plate is 5"x5"x0.5" and the upper is 4"x4"x1". This sculpture weighs 17 lbs (mostly the base). I call it the 'Pulsar' because when acted upon, it pulses and vibrates, much like a loose spring.
Steel Chess Set
This steel chess set was made from nuts and bolts that were discarded from motorcycles and ATV's when they were unpacked from their shipping crates. The playing pieces range from 1.5 inches to 6 inches in height and have a combined (32 pieces) weight of about 15 pounds. The playing board measures 18 inches by 18 inches and has a weight of about 14 pounds. The board is made using a 3/4 inch square tube frame which is covered with 1/4 inch steel plate. The board is painted in multiple layers of enamel paint and then sprayed with 8 coats of clear laquer to even out the top (from the multiple layers of paint). Finally, black or white felt was glued to the bottom of the playing pieces to prevent scratching of the board.
DARK MATTER SCULPTURE
This little sculpture is 13.5 inches tall, the sphere is 5 inches in diameter. The sphere is a spiral of bolts going from top to bottom and is supported by two spirals of bolts. Both the sphere and the spiral supports act like real springs (they bend and vibrate when acted upon). There are approximately 165 bolts used in this sculpture.
ROTATING SHREADER
This sculpture is 12 inches tall, 15 inches long and 10 inches wide. The main body rotates about an axis and is removable from the supporting stand. There are approximately 100 bolts used in this sculpture.
DARK ENERGY SCULPTURE
This sculpture is 17 inches tall, the outer sphere is 10 inches in diameter, the inner sphere is 5 inches in diameter and the spiral base is 4 inches in diameter. With the exception of the metal base, it is made entirely of bolts which were used to secure new motorcycles within their shipping crates. The bolts were discarded when the dealership unpacked the new bikes and made them ready for sale. There are approximately 575 bolts used in the sculpture.
This 1 gallon ice cream bucket was full when I started.
SHADOW SHRUBS
So named because of all the shadows they cast on the wall when illuminated by a spotlight.
This free standing sculpture is 18 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Made using recycled materials (mainly old bent up rebar and stainless steel wire hangers). This one only took 10 hangers.
This wall hung sculpture is 44 x 50 inches. Made exactly like the free standing one, only much larger. This one took over 100 hangers.
Copper Wire Sculptures
The grasshopper was made using scrap copper wire. I started by making hollow copper frames for the body and legs. Then wound wire around the body and legs, soldering the ends of the wire pieces as I went. The final grasshopper weighs about 5.5 pounds and sits freely on a mounting welded to the custom backboard. The backboard is made from recycled freon cans which were cut into strips and then into smaller pieces. The pieces are then welded to a small frame covered with diamond shaped wire mesh.
The fly is almost identical in construction to the grasshopper, except that I used a solid copper wire core rather than a soldered hollow frame. The backboard is also identical to the larger one created for the grasshopper, except the finish is glossy rather than satin. The solid copper fly weighs about 2.5 pounds.
T-Rex Sculpture
This steel T-Rex sculpture is 17 inches tall and measures 29 inches from nose to tip of tail. It weighs a hefty 23 pounds. The main body and tail are actually hollow, although the tail was eventually filled with old nuts and bolts before being attached to the body to give the sculpture safety and stability. The body and tail were formed using recycled 1/4" thick lunch meat hangers from a grocery store meat cooler. Bolts, nails (teeth) and other recycled metal pieces were used as well as plenty of steel welding wire.
The skin texture was created using very fine welding wire in a mig welder, one spot at a time. You can see the small plastic toy (next to big T-Rex) that I used as a model, in the photo of the Sculpture Display Stand on the Furniture page.
This was the first real sculpture I created using a welder. I started out using a stick welder (also called a crackerbox welder) but quickly got tired of welding for 5 minutes and spending and hour or more cleaning up all the splatter. That's when I decided to get a MIG wire welder, which I used to finish the T-Rex. The MIG is the only welder I use now.
Mid stage development, legs on table.
Making the legs
Piece cut off tail before attaching tail to body.
Inedible Pizza
Biker Pizza
They might look yummy at first glance, but you can't eat these pizzas ...
These pizzas are fat free, sodium free and glutton free, with ZERO Calories !
(They're also loaded with iron and other minerals.)
The pizza crusts are made from recycled sheet metal from old computer cases and old car and lawn tractor rims. The outer edge of the rims were cut off (using a plasma cutter) and welded to the sheet metal. Notice the balance weight (left of top center) which I left attached to the outer rim on the large one. The large pizza is 15 inches across, the small is 9 inches across.
The toppings consist of metal felt caps for roofing (pepperoni), disassembled motorcycle chain, large lock washers (bent to look like bell pepper slices), old bearings and old spark plugs. Each topping piece was individually hand painted using acrylic paint and later attached using clear adhesive. A coat of clear spray lacquer completes each pizza.
The Inedible Pizza Factory
The entire wall hanging is approximately 61 inches across x 53 inches tall.
A collection of inedible pizzas. Rack was created from re-claimed 1/2 inch square tubing. The pizzas are secured in place using powerful ceramic magnets which were salvaged from dead hard drives. The sign was created using 1/2 inch square tube and sheet metal recycled from pc cases. There are (2) pieces of 1/8 inch thick Plexiglas, one has the blacked out background (lettering) and the other is a protective cover. The sign is back lighted using (4) pairs of (3 mm) LED's (amber, red, blue and green). The sign measures about 29 x 5 inches
The LED's are powered by a 12 volt DC power supply which was recycled from a pc video camera. Power consumption is only 1 to 2 watts, but puts out enough light to make a great night light for the entire room. The super bright LED's and resistors were purchased from a local electronics dealer, Tanner Electronics in Carrollton TX, which specializes in selling overstocked and close out parts.
A - Analog Pizza
(electronic parts from monitors)
B - Digital Pizza
(electronic parts from pc's)
C - Expired 1992
(old expired vitamins)
D - IC (intergrated circuit) Pizza
(old chips from 1970's mini computer)
E - HD Pizza
(parts from dead PC hard drives)
F - Biker Pizza
(see above)
G - The Screw Up
(painted upright screws)
H - The Stoner
(painted rocks)
I - The Big Bang
(brass gun shell casings)
J - The Hooker
(old fishing tackle)
A - Analog Pizza
B - Digital Pizza
C - Expired 1992
D - IC (intergrated circuit) Pizza
E - HD Pizza [Hard Drive pizza]
F - Biker Pizza
G - The Screw Up [actual screws]
H - The Stoner Pizza [painted stones]
I - The Big Bang [shell casings]
J - The Hooker [fishing tackle]
3D Wall Art
Cross Roads and Pitfalls
What was I thinking ? The converging and crossing lines on the outsides of the center diamond shape (the all consuming pitfall) represent the paths each of us might be traveling on. As we travel down our chosen paths, there often seems to be chaos going on all around us of which we have absolutely no control. We often come to cross roads where we can interact with others and sometimes change our paths. Changing to the darker paths can lead to serious pitfalls. It's all about the choices we make!
An air brush was used to do the shading along the path lines and to do the shading on the diamond center as well as the dark paths. I had never done anything like this before (including the air brushing). I worked on it over a period of about 4 months.
Corporate Network Diagram
Section of the smallest dots, cut out for a new light switch.
Both of these wall arts were created using packages of heavy cotton cord and a box of wall mud. The upper left wall was done first.
The Network wall art (lower left) actually covers all four walls in what used to be my kitchen/breakfast room. The other 3 walls are mostly sliding doors, arch ways or pass throughs and as such don't have much wall space. I now use this room for my foosball table (see Bob Bolt).
Previously covered with wallpaper, I decided I wanted something bright and colorful to replace it. Having worked in the pc/networking/tech industry for many years, I came up with the idea to do an illustration of a corportate network and the internet.
The main wall represents a corportate network the other walls represent various aspects of the internet in general. Centered around the window are all the various file servers, backup servers and other types of servers often found in large networks. The smallest circles represent all the pc's belonging to departmental work groups (each group being a different color) such as Sales, Accounting, Personnel, Production, R/D, etc. The pc's are tied to hubs or switchs (medium sized circles) which in turn are tied to the main network and server farms. On the upper left you can see the internet file servers (large yellow/black circles) seperated from the main network by firewalls (red squares painted to look like brick walls).
I made several different templates for the servers and workgroups by drilling holes in pieces of plexiglass in the desired patterns. I started by drawing out the entire network in pencil using the templates. Then I temporarly attached the templates to the wall using pushpins (through tiny holes in the templates). Using a body puddy spreader, I applied the wall mud to the template, waited a short while, then removed the template. The small dots are about the size of a quarter and thickness of a nickel. The cotton cord and string were pinned and glued to the wall and later covered with a light coat of wall mud.
The most time consuming part was painting the mud dots and cotton cords (over 1100 dots and 100 feet of cotton cord on the main wall alone). I was able to complete the entire room in about a month.
3D Wall Art Replica
This is a small replica of the 3D wall art above. For years my son kept saying that if something ever happened to me, or I sold my house, he wanted to take the wall with him. I made this small replica for him, so that in a way, he could. It's 11.5 x 9.5 x 1.25 inches. Made from recycled computer cases and plain old steel coat hangers (sand blasted to remove the plastic coating). Finished with a coat of spray lacquer.