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The second attempt at a frog, this time from a single piece of 12ga thick steel. After making the first frog in copper I had a better idea of how to get a slightly deeper relief for this attempt. I drew out the steps I thought I would need to follow to get out of the steel what I had in my head. It was still very tricky and didn't follow the script exactly. But that is the nature of sculpture, always ready to teach me something new. This project mixed hot raising, and cold raising over shaping stakes. It also required annealing many times between chasing passes. COMING UP! A raising workshop in Auburn CA May 26th-28th at @metal_arts_academy And a chasing workshop in San Jose CA June 2nd-4th at @schoolofvp More details on my website Douglaspryor.com Online educational material: Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sheetmetal #sheetmetalsculpture #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #froglover #treefrog #frogart #steelwork #sheetmetalwork #steelart #douglaspryor

The muscly legs were my favorite part of this piece. This was the first frog I tried to raise and chase out of one piece. I didn't have much copper at the time and this was just going to be an experiment so I used a scrap piece of copper, which is why you'll probably see some acid etching in the first few photos. It made for some weird thickness changing through the piece. But I learned so much from this and it still holds a fond place in my memory. I only teach a few times a year and I have a raising workshop coming up in Auburn CA May 26th-28th at @metal_arts_academy And a chasing workshop in San Jose CA June 2nd-4th at @schoolofvp More details on my website Douglaspryor.com Online educational material: Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sheetmetal #sheetmetalsculpture #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #froglover #treefrog #frogart #copperwork #sheetmetalwork #copperart #douglaspryor

I wanted to make a gecko climbing up a stack of pancakes from one piece of copper. The idea of syrup flowing all over the top and the gecko's tongue reaching out for the slab of butter just made me smile. I felt a kinship to this sugar driven friend. I needed to use pretty much every raising technique that I knew. Raising was integral to preparing the metals volume for chasing over the pitch. To accomplish its final form it needed many anneals and pitch passes. Pulling the pitch out and melting it back in for every pass. I only teach a few times a year and I have a raising workshop coming up in Auburn CA May 26th-28th at @metal_arts_academy And a chasing workshop in San Jose CA June 2nd-4th at @schoolofvp More details on my website Douglaspryor.com Online educational material: Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sheetmetalsculpture #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #geckoart #pancakeart #copperwork #copperart #douglaspryor

Mouse on toast is still one of my favorite pieces, and a great example of how important raising is to this medium. This piece came to mind yesterday while I was working on some new curriculum because there is no tracing. Any line work traced into the metal would distort or weaken the metal as it needs to grow and change shape. The only solution for this style of sculpture is drawing and redrawing as you sculpt in each layer of relief. I'm teaching a raising workshop soon at @metal_arts_academy where I'll be showing how to use the shaping stakes needed for deeper sculpture in sheet metal. Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sheetmetalsculpture #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #harvestmouse #mouseart #copperwork #copperart #douglaspryor

I've grown up around black widows my whole life but this is the first one I've ever sculpted. I am really happy with how it turned out, the size and angle of the spider really pushed me. There were a number of times where my smallest tools were not small enough to get in between the leg segments. I needed to make a number of smaller angled tools as well to planish the flower petals. Very pleased and have a number of lessons learned to move onto the next. Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #blackwidowart #spiderart #blackwidow #copperwork #copperart

Averaging 2 or 3 legs an hour, the focus it takes to keep those smaller tools from making it worse has me taking many breaks. But of all the spider pieces I've done these legs should turn out to be the cleanest I've done so far despite its smaller size. Keep practicing, consume your web and rebuild. 🔥 Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #blackwidowart #spiderart #blackwidow #copperwork #copperart

This is a step I usually refer to as "crashing the wave" as I think it resembles a ocean wave breaking. The wall supporting one side is work hardened so the material above it (still soft from a recent annealing pass) can push against it without loosing the sculptures height. This is not a perfect technique for every job but for some high relief sculptures it really brings some life to the metal. If you want to work with me this year you can find where I'm teaching on my website DouglasPryor.com I also have online education available at Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #batart #vampirebat #copperwork #copperart

Taking a slow rainy morning after a few busy weeks. Thank you to everyone who bought some of my work during my last release! A special thank you to @jozefkoda for being an absolute pleasure to work with, thank you for making me a part of your journey and I wish you safe travels! Things are about to get busy again! I just looked at the workshop I'm teaching for 2 weeks @penlandschool and I was surprised to see that it looks full already! So if you want to spend some time working with me this year I've got some new workshops listed on my website douglaspryor.com with @metal_arts_academy and @schoolofvp Thank you again 🙏🏻 Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #yellowgardenspider #spiderart #orbweaver #copperwork #copperart

I've wanted to do something with a yellow garden spider in a larger composition. This piece has given me a good reminder of how much effort all those little legs are to get right. To be released on March 1st, February 27th for Patreon members. Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #handcrafted #handmade #yellowgardenspider #spiderart #orbweaver #copperwork #copperart

That's better. I reworked the contour and the stamen in the middle and I feel much better about how this turned out. The edge of the blossom meeting with the background is so much crisper now. I was worried the brass wouldn't let me take it that far for that last pass but I guess that's why I've been appreciating working in a slightly thicker gauge recently. Nothing too thick, I've just upped it from 18 gauge to 16 gauge to make my life a little easier working with this brass. Worth he extra work though cause I love these colors. This piece will be up on my website March 1st, Feb 27th for Patreon members. Patreon.com/douglaspryor #uchidashi #raising #chasing #repousse #chasingandrepousse #metalwork #metal #art #sculpture #metalsculpture #daturametel #daturaart #datura #daturaflower #handmade #brasswork #brassart