Fun and profit with art welding

[montanabill]

If anybody is out there looking for a income stream here is my sometimes sideline and sometimes full time business. www.ryderhorses.com
I started with no sculpting or painting ability and it just kind of evolved with a lot of sweat equity. I have worked farmers markets and various sales and also have gotten into several galleries. The wire feed welders are about as easy as using a hot glue gun except for more sparks. I personally am spoiled with using a MIG which is a metal inert gas. I small wire comes out when you press the trigger and is shielded by inert gas, the low voltage electricity flows between the wire and the work and melts the wire joining the metal parts together.
I have seen various artisans making really well made stuff and not selling anything so for me to make money I figured out horse people would spend money...So i make all sized of horses. i even got into teaching some one day classes which is also a lot of fun.

 

[Cascadian]

That is pretty cool. Do you go to a lot of yard sales for media/ stuff?

 

[backlash]

My neighbor makes statues with horseshoes. He has a full size horse, an elephant, a cactus that's about 30 feet tall, a Roman chariot with horse and a bunch of other things. He's very talented.
He told me he has over 5,000 horseshoes piled up.
I don't think he has ever sold anything. He just does it to stay occupied.
I'll ask if I can take some pictures the next time I see him.

 

[montanabill]

That is pretty cool. Do you go to a lot of yard sales for media/ stuff?

Yup we go to yard sales and around here estate sales are good also. For the large ones i buy large sheets of plain thin metal from a steel supplier.

 

[Spikedriver]

Thats good stuff @montanabill

There's a guy from my hometown that does this. It started as a side gig and eventually he went full time with it. Metal art can be amazing stuff. This is my favorite piece of his work.

 

[montanabill]

i go for big and affordable. This one is in front of a vet's office.

 

[Peanut]

Beautiful work. Have you ever done gas welding, torch in one hand, metal rod in the other? Just curious, might be cleaner with more precision, depending on how steady your hand is. Don't listen to me though, I'm closer to being autistic than artistic.

 

[montanabill]

I started welding on the ranch with a old stick welder and then took a great two year auto tech class in the early 70's that had a quarter where we did welding.I welded a lot of exhaust pipes together with a gas welder.
The mig welders are so much easier now since i can hold the piece i am welding to something with one hand and the welding gun in the other. Very adjustable for tiny pieces also.
Sometimes I use the torch to heat color some pieces.

 

[SoJer]

Awesome! So glad you decided to share this with the 'Fam', here.. Was hoping ya would, Love yer werk..

..No, not Metal, but.. Here's my 'job application' to come work in yer shop:

..Yah, Can-show 'welding examples', but.. Nothing 'sexy' / fun like that.. Just square-tube wall-frames / gates / Laser-system chassis, etc.. But this shows I Can 'freeform' / scratchbuild, 'creatively'... Made it for my Sons when they were still lil' Velociraptors, all hand-tools-cut / carved / shaped / stained, etc.. Lots of fun.

Will be right up w/ my gloves, face-shield and apron...

jd

 

[Peanut]

Like you I welded in the 70's, built train cars etc for Pullman Std. I've used a lot of wire but prefer a stick. Bought a little mig welder for the farm years ago, maybe use it to repair hay rings or gates, small stuff.

Wondered, how long ago did you start doing this? Did you do any kind of artistic things before, as a kid maybe?

I really like wood carvings, or art from wood, got a few pieces over the years. I have a few sketches also. Not into paintings but got a couple of those.

Sort of funny, I was at the West Virginia State Arts and Crafts show once. Many beautiful things to see, spent an entire day there. I saw some paintings by someone named W. Edens. I kept going back to them, they captured rural farm life in the hills in a way someone whose lived it can recognize. But they wanted a lot more mone$$ than I could afford.

I'd just moved to a little town in WV, one intersection. I was eating at the only restaurant and happened to look up on the wall. There were paintings signed W. Edens, same style. I asked the owner about them. She arranged a meeting with the painter. Who was my next door neighbor I hadn't met yet (down the road). This little old lady lived 100yrds away by the church. Small World! Should have known, Edens Baptist Church... I bought 3 of her paintings, they are still on my walls today.

 

[montanabill]

Like you I welded in the 70's, built train cars etc for Pullman Std. I've used a lot of wire but prefer a stick. Bought a little mig welder for the farm years ago, maybe use it to repair hay rings or gates, small stuff.

Wondered, how long ago did you start doing this? Did you do any kind of artistic things before, as a kid maybe?

I really like wood carvings, or art from wood, got a few pieces over the years. I have a few sketches also. Not into paintings but got a couple of those.

Sort of funny, I was at the West Virginia State Arts and Crafts show once. Many beautiful things to see, spent an entire day there. I saw some paintings by someone named W. Edens. I kept going back to them, they captured rural farm life in the hills in a way someone whose lived it can recognize. But they wanted a lot more mone$$ than I could afford.

I'd just moved to a little town in WV, one intersection. I was eating at the only restaurant and happened to look up on the wall. There were paintings signed W. Edens, same style. I asked the owner about them. She arranged a meeting with the painter. Who was my next door neighbor I hadn't met yet (down the road). This little old lady lived 100yrds away by the church. Small World! Should have known, Edens Baptist Church... I bought 3 of her paintings, they are still on my walls today.

I never considered myself an artist or never had a interest in doing art. Threw the years i have appreciated art and dabbled in small things that I constructed. It wasn't till I was unemployed and a friend loaned me a flux core wire feed that I tried building something large. I built my first full sized horse in the narrow strip of lawn our rental house had and some guy pulled up and asked me if it was for sale? I thought that was a novel idea and that piece is still in town on a busy two lane street.

 

[montanabill]

Awesome! So glad you decided to share this with the 'Fam', here.. Was hoping ya would, Love yer werk..

..No, not Metal, but.. Here's my 'job application' to come work in yer shop:

..Yah, Can-show 'welding examples', but.. Nothing 'sexy' / fun like that.. Just square-tube wall-frames / gates / Laser-system chassis, etc.. But this shows I Can 'freeform' / scratchbuild, 'creatively'... Made it for my Sons when they were still lil' Velociraptors, all hand-tools-cut / carved / shaped / stained, etc.. Lots of fun.

Will be right up w/ my gloves, face-shield and apron...

jd

It mainly takes persistence to build stuff and then tracking the market to see what to build and how much can be charged for it. I just got a email from a summer resident of a nearby tiny town that wants five life sized sculptures, horses, elk , moose. Plus two galleries are wanting stuff and I am signing up for a permanent spot at our well attended farmers market this summer.

 

[Cascadian]

Years ago I bought my granddaughter an Amish made fat tire tricycle and trailer. Ever since then I have thought I would like to make those when I retire. Obviously I am not going to get the rich but it is something to do in winter.
It may have been this one Amish Tricycle Trailers

 

[backlash]

I never considered myself an artist or never had a interest in doing art. Threw the years i have appreciated art and dabbled in small things that I constructed. It wasn't till I was unemployed and a friend loaned me a flux core wire feed that I tried building something large. I built my first full sized horse in the narrow strip of lawn our rental house had and some guy pulled up and asked me if it was for sale? I thought that was a novel idea and that piece is still in town on a busy two lane street.

You are an artist.

 

[montanabill]

Years ago I bought my granddaughter an Amish made fat tire tricycle and trailer. Ever since then I have thought I would like to make those when I retire. Obviously I am not going to get the rich but it is something to do in winter.
It may have been this one Amish Tricycle Trailers

I have made several four wheeled bicycles that are surprisingly easy to make.
This a old one that I made so only one person could steer. I used it when I worked in social services and used to take clients out for exercise.