Fly on Black-eyed Susans

[Dick Bonham]

Hi,
I haven't posted anything before because my work is so different from everything on the site. However, since my Lindsay engraver is used so much in my work I thought you might enjoy seeing what I do. This piece is life sized and the materials are bronze, brass, copper, silver with a black walnut base. This will be part of a series of local wild flowers with insects and local wood bases. The piece is totally fabricated from brass, bronze and silver. I use sheet, rod and tubing. The leaves and petals are sheet stock that I draw the design on to and cut out and pierce with a jeweler's saw. The veins are engraved with my Lindsay Air Graver and the deeper rounded areas are cut with my NSK Presto high speed rotary tool with a fine diamond bit. The leaves and petals are also chased on a lead block. The rotary tool also works beautifully for enhancing bug damage. The flower center is created using a disc cutter and dapping tools. I cheated a bit by using a sheet of brass screen that I bought years ago but never had any use for until now. I cut depressions between each hole with a round burr. The insects body and head were carved from a bronze rod. The eyes were made from sheet using the disc cutter and dapping die. The legs are made from rod and tuning. The wings are silver with engraved details. All of the pieces were brazed and silver soldered together using brazing paste and four stages of silver solder paste. I find the paste works very well on small pieces. Many, many small pieces. The base is engraved copper.
Dick

[Ray Cover]

Very nice sculpture!

Ray

[Barry Lee Hands]

That is a really fine looking piece of work!
It is amazing the different applications that can be found for the Lindsay tool when you use your imagination.
Thanks for putting that up.

[Steve Lindsay]

Hi Dick,

I try to make things appear 3D on a flat surface, however it is still flat when finished. You are creating the real thing in 3D. This is beautiful! Thank you for posting the pictures of it.

Steve

[rod]

Dick,

I am bowled over and inspired, opening your posting, thank you so much for making my day!

Rod

[Peter]

Very nice work. Must have taken a lot of time and concentration.

Pleasure to see it.

Peter

[Antikythera37]

That's fantastic work. Thank you for posting....please post some more

Cheers,

Alex Ptak

[Dick Bonham]

Thank you all for the nice comments. Here is another life size piece that I did a while ago. This is before the Lindsay engraver. This piece was constructed form around a hundred pieces.
Dick

[Peter]

That is incredibly lifelike. VERY impressive to say the least.

Thanks for posting it.

Peter

[Rich Hambrook]

:whoo: Very nice and creative work my man!!!! That's an artist my friends!
Rich Hambrook

[D.DOUGLAS]

Dick, Very cool! I do a lot of prarie grass and flower establishment. I could look at this piece in the dead of winter and it would remind me of summer days strolling through a sea of yellow. I hope there is a coneflower in the future. Great job!

[Steve Ellsworth]

I got a phone call about your work
telling me how nice it was
they were right your work is beautiful

thanks for reinforcing my reality
i bought the Classic as a carving tool
not for engraving
nice to know I am not the only one
love to see what you are using for tooling in it
if you are ok sharing

sle

[Jim Kelso]

Beautifully done Dick. Glad to see you here.

[jlseymour]

Dick,
You have alot of time in your art and it is great...
What do you do with your art when finished???
We have some Great Art Shows in Florida that your work would be a Big Hit...
Sunshine Artist is or was a mag for the artist...
Thanks for sharing
Jerry