Opal i247

Opal’s beauty isn’t hard to find: in fact it may go without saying that she represents an important milestone in my pursuit to create lifelike and wondrous little humanoids from bits of old metal. I had a lot of recent breakthroughs when I was making the last few pieces, and l was excited to put these successes together into one new piece – to really do my best work and not hold back in any way. In short, she’s a masterpiece to me: and I’m excited to share the process with you in this article.

Opal’s hands took a whole day to create – it was a day of great joy. Note the slightly bent up pinky and ring finger of her right hand, shaped to contour the leg it’s to rest upon.

The hand’s that were made for opal may be the most expressive part of the sculpture; carefully created from square punch blanks from an ironworker, mated with ten small bits of a stainless steel bicycle spoke. Stainless is even tougher to bend and form just right than mild steel, and great care with the TIG torch was used to weld them on just so, without melting other fingers off in the intense heat affected zone. Needless to say I did not successfully perform the procedure ten times in a row, but perseverance and learning from setbacks helped to pave the way to eventual success.

Opal’s torso is a copper plumbing flange which sat waiting for decades in a metal box amongst other precious ‘maybe someday’ parts that are beloved and are reserved for just the right occasion. The whisky-brown tint was an unexpected result of the polyurethane coating discoloring from the heat – which came from a post-birthday touch-up weld, which the copper absorbed like only copper can. The colors looked so rich that I opted to add an additional coat of polyurethane layer rather than clearing it off with acetone.

Opal’s arms were made with some bolts, a hacksaw, some files, a sturdy vise, and great deal of moxie.

Opal’s arms started out as average threaded bolts. They were extensively hand filed to mimic the shape of a human arm, sanded, finished, and adorned with little bronze buttons. A full range of finishing techniques were used throughout the piece. I got lost in the process: musing about shapes to make, fussing over the tiniest of details with my magno-spectacles, and ooh-ing and ah-ing over cool looking stray file marks. I felt like some kind of eccentric cavalier watchmaker gone mad, toiling for hours on this magic little thing.

Opal’s birthday. If you could zoom in enough you would find tears of joy in my reflection in her shiny metal knees.

After many hours of working and re-working all the little parts and pieces to be just so, and connecting all the perfect little pieces together to also be just so, Opal had her first sit-down as a complete piece on the edge of my weld bench. As tradition dictates, I rang the big bell above my work bench, and then took a break for a few minutes. These few minutes help me ‘reset’ my mind so I can try to experience my work with a fresh ‘first impression’. This can allow space for a near-end critique of the piece.

When I did this ‘reset’ with Opal, I had moment of absolute head-buzzing joy. To me, Opal is nothing short of the culmination of a lifetime pursuit of pushing art through craft to create something meaningful from the mundane – even if it is only to remind people to smile and be happy. She is iconic in my pursuit to elevate my art as well as my craft, and I will always hold this one very dear to my heart.

1 lb, 3.6 oz.
7.5 x 3 x 3.5″