Our annual VW show

[Oldsarge]

We always do well at the VW show, and it's our 3rd visit this year! Here's what I've been working on for this years show:

Iron Skull Clock

This is an Iron Cross clock scribed with skulls.... I made the pendulum with a skull too!

Finish Detail

A better view of the finish...

Skull with Sickles

Dubbers like their skulls and anything rusty! This is copper with flame and torch FX

Sugar Skulls

Sugar skulls are wildly popular... If you can, add them to your arsenal, I can't make them fast enough...

Workbench

This was a quick snap with my cell phone, but I liked it so much I made it my profile picture... Busy in the shop! Hope all you are as well!

Oldsarge

[plasmajoe]

Nice craftsmanship Sarge.

Plasma Joe

[DXF]

Those look great! Have you ever had problems over copyright issues?

Dave Hanks

[Charlieboy]

Would you happen to have any kool dxf files of the Sugar Skulls?

[Oldsarge]

Those look great! Have you ever had problems over copyright issues?

Dave Hanks

Never... I don't do a lot of branded things, not worth the chance, but I've donated VW related items to major dealerships with never a question asked.... VW related items are absolutely flooded all over the internet, ebay, pinterest, etsy, samba, Amazon and more... A factory rep told me once that it's a subculture kind of thing that's not officially supported but recognized and appreciated... it drives sales.

[Oldsarge]

Would you happen to have any kool dxf files of the Sugar Skulls?

I do, but the thing about the way I do these is there is actually minimal conversion work done for plasma cutting.... I scribe the interior work, and let the trace do what it wants to, which relates to lines going wherever they want to without regard to what stays, what falls out. Some of the skulls take almost 90 minutes of scribe time, and 30 seconds of plasma for the perimeter, and maybe the eyes or other small features. Because of that, the finishing options are different, and the prices they bring are pretty good because of the detail, and how unique they are.....

That said, I'll post a few conversions later today, but just be aware that they are absolutely not ready for straight plasma cutting in any way, and they would take a TON of work to get them ready to cut....

Oldsarge

[weldor2005]

The scribed skulls with a pearlescent red is sick on that clock, one of the better pieces I have seen.

[Charlieboy]

I have been playing with my plate marker a little bit on my table, you talk about 90 minutes of run time, what prices do those pieces bring?

[SeanP]

Well impressed with all those, the red pieces are superb, nice work.

[michmetalman]

Incredible work.

[m79b01]

What are you using for paint (like on the clock)? It appears to be a candy concentrate clear...maybe?

[Oldsarge]

A few more pieces from today's run... Just a few more hours of finish work and it's time to load the truck for the show on Sunday! These aren't powdercoated yet, but they still look amazing!

Oldsarge

[Buzzard Gut]

Very Nice! We were into the VW sand rails for years, and some of those pieces would look nice tacked on the rig.

[Cracker Red]

Maybe someone can help me here....but how does the candy paint not fill in the scribe marks on the skulls?

I scribe'd out a sweet skull earlier today and need to color it up...but I'm afraid paint will just fill in the scribe markings.

How did ya do that?!?

[Oldsarge]

Maybe someone can help me here....but how does the candy paint not fill in the scribe marks on the skulls?

I scribe'd out a sweet skull earlier today and need to color it up...but I'm afraid paint will just fill in the scribe markings.

How did ya do that?!?

You're not laying down opaque paint... It's translucent.... or use some of the excellent dyes from SteelFX which are translucent.... Then the clear paint, or in my case clear powdercoating actually highlights the scribe lines. You need to experiment with llines, differing colors etc.... It took me over 2 years of playing with combinations of paints, dyes, patinas and powders to get these finishes.... Scribe a bunch of wavy lines on a piece of scrap and play around with the colors and techniques... You'll get results! Here's the most popular one I did for the show....

[SeanP]

Stunning finish again!
Are the translucent colours powder as well?
Well done.

[Oldsarge]

Stunning finish again!
Are the translucent colours powder as well?
Well done.

The colors are paint... What makes them look different is that instead of shining and swirling the steel, I use a 5" ceramic Diablo brand sanding disk on an orbital sander to sand the piece... then I carefully polish sand the areas I want bright, and finally clear powdercoat over it all. Some areas I tape off like the border, others I want the colors to mix with each other, so I'm applying colors over each other within seconds of each other so the colors intermix and you get those gradients....

Give the dyes from SteelFX a shot... they are translucent, stand up to powdercoating really well.... clearcoat really wakes them up.... one thing that I see people doing though is that they don't get enough product on the work... the dyes dry extremely fast I think, and it results in more of a "frosted" look.... you have to maintain a "wet edge" when applying finishes, or at least that's my experience... YMMV!

Oldsarge

[SeanP]

Thankyou for the insight, it's very effective, I didn't realise you could powder over paint.
I feel an oven project coming on soon

Stunning finish again!
Are the translucent colours powder as well?
Well done.

The colors are paint... What makes them look different is that instead of shining and swirling the steel, I use a 5" ceramic Diablo brand sanding disk on an orbital sander to sand the piece... then I carefully polish sand the areas I want bright, and finally clear powdercoat over it all. Some areas I tape off like the border, others I want the colors to mix with each other, so I'm applying colors over each other within seconds of each other so the colors intermix and you get those gradients....

Give the dyes from SteelFX a shot... they are translucent, stand up to powdercoating really well.... clearcoat really wakes them up.... one thing that I see people doing though is that they don't get enough product on the work... the dyes dry extremely fast I think, and it results in more of a "frosted" look.... you have to maintain a "wet edge" when applying finishes, or at least that's my experience... YMMV!

Oldsarge

[Cracker Red]

That is awesome! I always thought you had to have a base (opaque) coat down in order to candy something like that. Looks great! Thanks for sharing Sgt!

[sc6917]

Very nice, you do awesome work! Thank you for sharing!