Sumo Crab
Like many of my creations, this one started as a sketch and then I had to figure out how make it. Took a little trial and error but I figured it out. Last step was to figure out the sumo belt. I debated buying some fabrics but eventually opted for some gorilla tape I had in my studio. As a finishing touch I google translated “sumo crab” into Japanese and wrote those characters on the belt.
New crab!
Very heavy. Had some salvaged l-bend pipes. How to attach them? Threaded rod from the hardware store (also heavy.). Too heavy for my usual sawtooth hanger. Had to do d-ring hangers, one in each claw.
Freshened up my wall at Art Works
A mix of newish and older
Hypnotic Cactus
About 16” tall, 11” wide. Cutting it out and painting it was easy. Deciding what to do after that took a lot of time and thought. I opted for glass tiles of various colors. Some have a spiral design on the top of them, others I painted on the bottom side before gluing them down.
Desert Blooms III
Another 20”x16” depiction of cacti. Did something a little different with the sky on this one. Kept the flowers simple since there was some complexity elsewhere.
Recent Cactus
A departure for me. I don’t often include houses in my work. But I tried something different on this one.
Reptilian McGrillz
Sometimes, I just go completely overboard on a concept. I enjoyed using some rhinestone for a couple of other projects. On this one, I kicked that up as much as I could. The teeth were created using innards of an old wooden chest that my neighbor was throwing away. I scored some free wood that otherwise would have been landfill bound. On this one, I also overdid the concept of piercings, which I had done a couple times previously. This one was a lot of fun and I’m really proud of it.
Guitar Crab #3
This is #3 of the series. #1 was a stratocaster type design, #2 was an acoustic modeled after a Martin. This one is a flying V. Can you tell I’m a (bad) guitar player myself? Just to spice things up, I also gave him an eye piercing. I thought the eyes needed more black to sort of match the guitar, so I enclosed the eyes in black bottlecaps.
Part of the reason I like doing these is that each one is a mini engineering challenge. It takes a lot of time to make everything fit exactly right. It’s fun, but quite labor intensive. I also applied some molding paste which I used to make a “popcorn ceiling” type texture.
3 new ones. First use of sheetmetal!
Things I learned: sheetmetal is hard to cut straight. It’s harder than you would think to drive nails through it. It’s also sharp (though I filed down the final pieces so they wouldn’t be.) This fish sat on my workbench for a long time before I figured out what to do with it, but I like the finished product.
As for the whale, it’s similar to another design but I decided to switch things up and make it pink. It’s made from repurposed tinge and groove wood.
The last one is based on an actual fish, the mahi-mahi aka dolphin fish. My creations dont usually bear a strong resemblance to actual species, but this one does. I finished it off with some gel on the fins for texture.
10-22-18: I must be going through an orange phase
A variety of creatures. For some reason, I felt like using a lot of orange. Maybe it’s because of the changing seasons, even though the leaves have not even started to turn here in Richmond, VA. The seahorse was completely different like a month ago. I’d been staring at it for a while and couldn’t decide if I wanted to leave it or redo it. I opted to blow it up and start over and I’m glad I did. I like it much better than the original.
Muscle Shark Bro
I’ve done some muscle crabs, but this is my first muscle shark.
Labor Day Lobster
made of 2 different thicknesses of wood, copper wire, acrylic paint. Love how this one turned out.
Clawed Shot
Inspired by the (possibly apocryphal) story of Babe Ruth calling his shot. Commissioned.
