Finished mechanical dragonfly and beetle

Hey guys! I've been working on cranking out some insects, and these are the latest. I had a lot of fun making these, and used some really cool techniques I hadn't tried yet. Finding the pieces for these is my favorite part of making these sculptures and it guarantees that each one is completely unique. Some of the materials and parts for these guys are really cool!

First up is this dragonfly. It's got about a 6" wingspan, made of lasercut leather. Eventually, I'll have to do post about the lasercutting process; it's super interesting and I'm sure you all would love to see it.

 My favorite part was the lens / light cover I used for the head, it just happened to be the perfect part.

The tail light was a cool find as well.

I also finished this guy in the last couple days. I found this really cool iridescent wire and with a bit of bending, it makes for a really great beetle carapace. The color coating makes it really difficult to solder, so I had to attach it with thread-gauge brass wire, but I think it turned out really cool.

The jaws were a brass nut, and I even found tiny screws for the eyes.

Hope you all enjoyed this post, look for more to come soon! 

Back with More Art!

So, been busy at college for the last couple weeks, but I managed to finish a couple of projects before the end of summer. The first is a set of wire butterflies that I entered into the Samaritan Employee Art show, and took 1st place with! :) The second I will post at a later date. Pictures first, then description:

So, here it is! This one took me quite some time, probably a couple weeks (probably not as long as the portal gun, but close). I went and picked up a book on butterfly species for this one, so they're all based on actual species (you could probably even identify them!) I made sure to include some of the markings and coloration of the originals as best I could, but added a bit of metallic flair to each. It was fun doing lots of different designs, which was something I haven't had to do with my art yet, so it was a good experience, and turned out well. Anyways, here's some close ups of the rest, and hope you stop by the blog again!

Portal Gun is Done!

Finally finished the portal gun. :) Took me probably 40+ hours, but I really like how it turned out. Starting with the barrel, it started as cut PVC Pipes. I then filled the area between the two pvc pieces with foam pieces and bondo, then sanded the crap out of the thing. The shells were a bit more intensive, starting with gluing layers of pink foam together. I carved the rough shape with a hack saw, cleaned it up with a kitchen knife, and then sanded it to the curved shape you see. A layer of gesso, then a layer of bondo, filling the pock marks with spackle, and a final paint layer later, and the shell looks how it is now, and is a great deal more durable then the foam itself. The claws are thin plastic bolted together, and there are some other oddball parts that add the detail to the gun. I also added LEDs into the gun, both orange and blue, so the whole thing lights up. Anyways, here's some pictures, enjoy! If you've got any questions about the process, feel free to leave a comment.

Blue!