Welding Art Tips and Examples!

metal star

Welding art, like all art, is intensely personal and self expressive; always utterly unique.  

For these reasons there can be no hard and fast rules as to design. 

The only rules come in the welding techniques used and their suitability to the materials and structure of the artwork.

Designs can range from the most delicate filigree to highly creative compositions of metal junk to enormous metal sculptures.  

Possibly the most frequently seen welding art is in home gardens where you will find metal birds (and other animals) set in amongst the plants, and intricately wrought gates, fences and pergolas. 

As you can imagine, welding art is an almost limitless medium that tends to lend itself to the more abstract styles.

Apart from welding, metal art can be achieved by using techniques such as beating out with a hammer, milling, casting, cutting, grinding, brazing and soldering. Although art appreciation is a personal choice, I have included a few pieces that I really like.

Scrap Metal Welding Art:

The images above are scrap metal art that Mike Phillips from Collinsville OK created. Mike is a subscriber of ours and he submitted these pictures to us on our Fan Page. Here's what he has to say about his welding art: "It started cause my brothers fireplace grate burned through. I said I'll make you one. Being him and his wife are so involved with the church, I cut the crosses out. Then I bought a plasma. Dead trees, leftover construction materials, etc accents the steel. It's all scrap. Bought some calf hide for one, that's it!"

Steampunk Owl Art!

steampunk owl
owl face
owl side view

This steampunk metal art sculpture was welded together by one of our favorite subscribers, Barbie Parsons with Wonderland Welding. She pieced it together from scrap metal she had left over from her awesome three tier chandelier. Says Barbie about the owl art sculpture, "A girl wanted a plasma cut steampunk owl and I asked her if I can make it 3d. She said sure and gave me creative license. I saw it in my head. I didn't measure, I just started building. The head was the biggest challenge. Never built a sphere! I got to buy body work hammers and hand formed the body, feathers, and the hat. It was a really fun project".

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More Metalwork Art Examples!

  • Here are metal wall art items that have a fragility that blends with a strong, positive presence.  Some are muted and seriously beautiful, and some are colorful fun pieces.
  • Here is a really interesting piece. It is detailed and fairly realistic, but has just that fantasy touch to lift it from being 'just a model of a bike' to an artwork.  One could visualize a ghost from the past flying through the air on it.
  • The work of Fedrick Nkulekelo Ndlovu blows me away. Unfortunately his site is gone. But he has the gift of capturing tension and movement in one of the most angular and unyielding media - welded metal. But then there is the artwork by subscribers to our free welding and metalwork newsletter (upper right corner of this site). We just recently starting receiving project submissions on our welding projects page, and a few of them are true pieces of art.
  • Check out these 5 extreme welding art projects.
  • Want to learn to make art for fun or profit? Read our article on the basic techniques you need to know if you want to pursue this fun and potentially lucrative part time or full time career.

Welding Art Marketing Tips:

If you need to make a living out of your metalworking art, you need to become known.  Get a 'shop window'.  The internet is certainly one outlet.  So are exhibitions and art markets.  If your artwork fits a certain theme or falls into a category (for instance, Gothic, contemporary, minimalist, or country) you might try approaching similar types of interior decorators and furniture markets to display wall panels, sculptures and other exhibits suitable for indoors.

Garden centers and landscapers are always looking for outdoor artwork to provide focal points to and show off their designs. These last two outlets will probably place your exhibits in environments that enhance them and give a good impression to would-be buyers.

For instance, the 1959 Panhead welding art in one of the metal art examples above would probably cause a sensation at a really classy auto show.  These may seem simple starting points, but as all artists know, if you are not known, no-one will seek you out.

Do you have art you want to share? Just post it below (please no advertising).

Share Your Metalworking Art Here:

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