Metalworking in Art

[cinder frost]

Metalworking in art involves the precise shaping of metals to create diverse art forms such as sculptures, jewelry, and coins, as well as decorative and functional objects. This discipline, which straddles both craft and science, employs a variety of processes, skills, and tools to produce works on all scales, from large structures to intricate parts and delicate jewelry.
Here are several terms describing art objects created through metalworking, each depending on the specific process and type of object:

1. Sculpture: A term for any three-dimensional artwork, often referring to larger metal pieces.
2. Metalwork: Describes functional or decorative metal objects, such as furniture, tools, or architectural elements.
3. Jewelry: Refers to smaller, wearable metal art pieces, often embellished with gemstones or other decorative elements.
4. Smithing: Pertains to the forging process, typically used when creating functional objects like tools or weapons. The type of smithing often corresponds to the metal used, e.g., "goldsmithing" or "blacksmithing".
5. Relief: Describes art carved or molded on a flat background, commonly seen in architectural elements or coins.
6. Repoussé and Chasing: Techniques for decorating metal by hammering from the back (repoussé) or front (chasing) to create a low relief design.
7. Filigree: Refers to delicate, intricate metalwork, often found in jewelry or small decorative objects. It can involve twisting thin metal threads and soldering them onto a metal background.
   These terms can overlap, and multiple terms may describe a single piece of art.

Images made with Bing.

Prompt: “a repoussé metalwork medallion showing a regal capybara.”

Prompt: “goldwork filagree inlay on a man's wrist bracelet”

Prompt: “An elegant iron gate made through metalworking in art noveau style. The gate stands as the entrance to a public garden, showcasing its functional environment.”

[stone citrus]

https://labs.openai.com/s/1kL1Mx4HfyYfiU0ruehGR3bF

Metal sculptures tend to be cast. The process of melting and casting metal is smelting. Not all metals can readily be worked by forging, like copper and aluminum. Attached is a recent project I'm working on.

[stone citrus]

For statues and reliefs, I find keywords like ornate, intricately detailed, and highly polished give a very nice look. For comparison from the plugin model:

prompt:An ornate brass cat statue, highly polished, intricately detailed

prompt:An ornate brass cat statue

[stone citrus]

A common motif in blacksmithing is the leaf. Making something like a leaf keyfob is a very common beginner's project. Leafs are incorporated into all sorts of practical pieces to make them more decorative. Some of this can be a little abstract and so Dall-e may struggle with some works.

prompt: a simple forged iron gate, decorated with leaf motifs, mirror symmetry

prompt:blacksmithed candle holder on a stump, leaf is the base of the holder, candle sits in the long thin stem coming from the leaf base, hand forged iron

prompt:An ornate blacksmithed strap hinge themed with a leaf on a window shutter, hand forged metal

[stone citrus]

The field of metal working is very broad, with a significant amount of tools and techniques. Here's Dall-e's take on various aspects of metalworking.

[pseudo talon]

Near the city where I was raised, there was an extraordinary collector who transformed scrap metal into massive, awe-inspiring works of art. He even crafted the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world! This piece included parts from 1920s power plants, components from the Apollo 11 decontamination chamber, and a pair of dynamos from Thomas Edison's era in the 1880s. Tours of his sculpture park were free and as a kid, I loved visiting all of the installations and watching new art pieces emerge.

That’s my inspiration for today’s topic, as I’ll be creating a gigantic metal sculpture of a peony. I'll walk through some of the hurdles one might encounter using DALLE 2.0.

For my first prompt, I’ll keep it simple: “A gigantic metal sculpture of a peony.”

You’ll often find that the model likes to crop into larger objects or settings. A way to solve for this is to tweak the prompt so the model is aware it needs to include surrounding details. For my second prompt, I’ll include “near a lake” and also add “wide photo of.” So now we have: “Wide photo of a gigantic metal sculpture of a peony near a lake.”

Looks better now that it’s uncropped but still a little bland. Next I'll add some finishing touches to add a bit more drama and color. “Wide professional photo of a gigantic metal sculpture of a peony with very reflective petals floating on a pristine lake at sunrise. Incredible detail, soft pink sky with fluffy clouds, pastel hues”

By using the adjective “professional” we often end up with higher quality photos. Adding more details, like colors (pastel hues), textures (fluffy clouds), and descriptive light (reflective petals, sunrise) can often enhance the image's vibrancy and dynamism. Here were some of my favorites using that last prompt. (Created with DALL•E 2.0)

[stone citrus]

A bit about oxidation. Metals tend combine with chemicals like oxygen. This is generally unwanted as it can make metal working difficult, but some may like aged works. Rust is a specific type of oxidation that happens most notably with iron, where the oxidized metal flakes into pieces. Most oxidation will form powders. Various forms of copper oxidation have been historically used as pigments because of the brilliant green color. Some metals, like aluminum are passivative. The oxide forms a shell helping to prevent further oxidation, but certain chemicals can eat this shell and further oxidize the metal. Gold is valued partly because it does not oxidize in natural environments.

[nimble karma]

Antoine-Louis Barye (1795–1875) was a goldsmith and animal sculptor. He is known for "idealizing and stylizing" animals is a way "that is bold, energetic, and rugged" (observations from a contemporary art critic). Barye created several bronze sculptures of animals. Here are some images inspired by his creations in metalworking:

Image 1: "Photograph of a bronze iguana on a pedestal shaped like rocky ground, in the style of Antoine-Louis Barye. Black background. Visible muscles, scale pattern, and spikes. Pale verdigris coloring." (DALL-E 2, outpainting)
Image 2: Same as Image 1 (Bing's Image Generator + DALL-E 2 outpainting)
Image 3: "Photograph of a bronze sculpture in the style of a towering bull elephant with twirling tusks. Full bodies. Dramatic and dynamic composition. White background. Visible muscles, fur pattern, and textures. On a pedestal shaped like pebbly ground." (DALL-E 2)
Image 4: "Bronze sculpture of two fighting cheetahs. In the style of Antoine-Louis Barye. White background. Visible fur pattern and textures. On a pedestal." (Bing's Image Generator)

[stone citrus]

Metal oxides also form crystals. Gemstones like ruby and sapphire are aluminum oxide crystals, called corundum. While gemstones are obviously not metals, you'll find them amongst ores, metal oxides heated until the metal is unbound from other chemicals.