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Old 04-04-2022, 03:19 PM
crystallographic crystallographic is offline
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Originally Posted by Jason A View Post
I have a small answer to this issue.

My solution was to first make a form, and then use that to weld against.

Previously I was able to acquire huge stumps of wood, like 1.5 meter tall and at least as big around, and I would use a chain saw to make faces, sort of Easter Island style . Obviously it was fairly rough, but I wasn’t looking for high resolution. I found a supply of 2“ by 1/4“ washers and basically pounded them to shape over the wooden head and Mig welded them together. Sometimes I would get them painted at a friend‘s auto painting shop. Clear coat.

Here in Swiss I don’t have Access to those same pieces of wood, nor to the easy metal.

I kept the form idea but instead I bought several large pieces of like, 4“ thick rigid foam insulation. I boxed them together into a big cube and carved a face out of the foam instead. But of course one cannot weld on the foam (too well, at least I can’t) so instead I covered the finished foam first in several layers of tin foil, then a thick layer of automotive fiberglass and resin.

I could then pull off the fiberglass, and that became a face form in negative. I could then weld on the inside of the fiberglass.. the tin foil and glass kept the burning to a bare minimum. And the welds were then on the back.

For metal pieces I went to the local Home Depot equivalent here and bought 3-500 stainless steel washers, usually about 1.5 mm thick. Or I would get a whole ton of stainless #10 nuts.

When I can find a host, I’ll post some pics. Anyway long story short, (too late) that was my solution.

I came here looking for a way to make body forms. Faces are easy compared to torsos.

Lg, Jason
Hmmm..."mosaic - by - welding"
Cool patience.

I spoke to a Lebanon craftsman one time, who told me about a "Figoni-Falaschi" style custom body he made using the mosaic-welding method for the whole body. He found a load of 1x3in / 2X4in. bits of drop from a cut-punch fab shop and went the entire distance with that.

("It's either a lot of shaping and a little welding - or a little shaping and a LOT of welding." quote from Unk.)
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  #22  
Old 04-04-2022, 05:31 PM
Jason A Jason A is offline
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Hmmm..."mosaic - by - welding"
Cool patience.

I spoke to a Lebanon craftsman one time, who told me about a "Figoni-Falaschi" style custom body he made using the mosaic-welding method for the whole body. He found a load of 1x3in / 2X4in. bits of drop from a cut-punch fab shop and went the entire distance with that.

("It's either a lot of shaping and a little welding - or a little shaping and a LOT of welding." quote from Unk.)
I'm looking for a source for blanks of almost any kind... anyway I thought I would share my process in case its helpful to anyone

this was the original chain sawed head

It produced this:


these heads then produced the next set:





in order to get the welds on the back, one must make a negative form, and to do that, one must first make the positive.




and then when its dry you can pull it off and start welding to the inside.



you can bend the washers or blanks or whatever, or not.. sometimes its easier to bend them to get a better fit, sometimes its too much of a pain in the ass.





sorry these are def not the best photos but hopefully it gets the idea across.



this big one I had to burn the head out of, because I welded across the major axis and couldn't get it off





its kinda big but I like it that way. bigger the better, imho



anyway Like I said what drove me to this site was a search on how to make a torso, or if the everyone made full forms freehand or used a mannequin or what.

this is my attempt at freehand: I find this kind of infuriating, because I need three hands. One to hold the nut in place, one to hold the filler rod and one to do the welding. SO I am teaching my daughter to weld so she can be at least one of the hands.






well anyway I hope that helps somebody

P.s. I do NOT look forward to this process for making a torso. Although I suppose that which I avoid because it is deemed difficult is that which I should attempt.
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Last edited by Jason A; 04-05-2022 at 05:44 AM.
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