• Threads (2023)

    a round metal sculpture of many pieces held in tension with cables

    The Completed Sculpture

    Since I spent all of 2023 obsessing over ornamentation as an art form, it's only fitting that I capped the year off with a piece that's literally covered in it. Learning about ornamentation has helped me feel more connected with my Central European roots. At times it's felt like these parts of my culture have been waiting there to catch me all along, like an invisible web.

    I wanted to create a sculpture that visualized that feeling. I was also attracted to the engineering challenge of creating the low profile tensioning mechanism that holds this piece together.

  • a digital rendering of the sculpture

    A digital rendering of the sculpture

    Design

    I started by creating a design in Blender. The larger metal shapes form a simple ornamental design with more intricate patterns within each shape. The intricate patterns come to a point at each wire juncture to acknowledge the tension in the piece.

    • An assembly including a small bracket, a vented screw, a nut, and a crimped wire
    • A piece of sheet metal tensioned in a metal ring by three wires

    Test bracket (Left) and test assembly (Right)

    Test

    Before starting on the actual project, I tested my idea for holding the pieces together. I didn't want any visible hardware on the front, so I needed a low profile mechanism that could be hidden entirely behind the sheet metal forms. I couldn't find anything suitable online, so I made my own. My test piece uses a crimped wire threaded through a vented screw. A nut allows it to be tightened against a small bracket, which attaches to the metal form.

    I was able to suspend a piece of sheet metal inside a ring this way, but since the forces in the wires aren't in the same plane as the sheet metal, it has a tendency to bend.

    • A bracket being spot welded to a piece of sheet metal
    • The forms of the sculpture, made of sheet metal with brackets spot welded in position

    Welding on a bracket (Top) and the forms with brackets welded in place (Bottom)

    Forms and Brackets

    After cutting out the forms from sheet metal, I spot welded the brackets into place. This time, I made the brackets from L channel. This allowed me to make them smaller, meaning they'd be less visible and apply less of a bending moment to the sheet metal.

    • a steel form reinforced with a metal rod.
    • The reinforced forms of the sculpture arranged in their final pattern

    Welding the round bar reinforcements

    Reinforcement

    To prevent the forms from bending, I welded round stock between the brackets. After a bit of clean up, the forms were ready for paint.

    • A vinyl sheet with ornamental patterns cut into it
    • The reinforced forms of the sculpture arranged in their final pattern
    • The reinforced forms of the sculpture arranged in their final pattern

    Painting the sculpture

    Paint

    In order to make the intricate patterns, I used my Blender design to make stencils on a vinyl cutter. After applying several base coats to establish the background color of the forms, I applied the stencils and recoated them with a secondary color.

    • A metal sculpture being laid out overtop a printed design
    • A tensioned metal sculpture, most of the way through assembly

    Assembling the sculpture

    Assembly

    Assembly proved to be one of the most challenging steps. Attaching the first few forms went quickly, but the more forms I added, the greater the tension needed to be for everything to stay in place. Some wires became so heavily tensioned, the crimps came loose and flew across the workbench. After recrimping the offenders extra tight and carefully balancing the tension on each cable, I got the whole web to come together.

  • A sculpture of ornamental forms held together with wire rope

    The finished piece

    Final Piece

    I'm pleased with how close the piece came to my original concept. I was concerned the tensioning method may not hold up, but I made it work. I might make some slight modifications if I tackle a similar project again. In the future I'd love to create a series of pieces in the same style that all explore different facets of my relationship to ornamentation and my cultural heritage.

    a decorative dingbat