How to Turn Recycled Metal into Metal Art
How to Make Recycled Metal Art
Have an Idea
First of all, you should develop an idea. It can take inspiration from movie art, or you can take random assortments of what comes to mind and see what happens When you're working with metal refuse and parts that have seen their final days, there's no need to stress over making a masterpiece.
Assemble Your Materials
Second, you need the tools and materials to turn scrap into art. Materials are the easiest part, as any sort of metal can work. Broken bolts, miscellaneous parts scavenged from a junkyard or cannibalized off of a broken-down car are your canvas. Welding equipment is necessary for any metalworking project, as well.
Have Fun
While welding requires proper PPE and safety measures, you're otherwise free to experiment and practice to your heart's content. You can develop your welding skill, sense of artistic design, and become more proficient through simple, self-guided practice. There are few opportunities to practice and enjoy welding in the low-stress, freeform manner that producing scrap metal art provides.
Why Metal Art?
Metal art must seem like such a peculiar artistic field. However, there are many advantages to this niche hobby. As soon as you set about transforming garbage into gold, you become part of a small, yet international community that exists at the intersection of artistic passion and technical skill. There are a number of reasons why metalworking art is a source of recreation and fulfillment for people around the world.
Your Imagination is the Limit
The unique look and feel of the countless different types of scrap metal lend themselves to infinite possibilities. It makes metal art perfect for surreal, absurdist works as well as steampunk and sci-fi oriented work. Once you're sufficiently skilled at making recycled metal art, you can create anything you imagine.
Practice Your Welding
If you're interested in learning to weld, or you know the basics and you're seeking more practice, then a creative outlet is the perfect choice to practice. Buying new metal and attempting to perform functional welding right away can see a lot of money sink away, since you may have to start from scratch. That's why metal art is the perfect alternative for practicing your beginner-to-intermediate welding skills.
Even if you make a mistake, that's perfectly fine. No matter how much you use a piece of metal or how you go wrong, you can always repurpose a part and try again. If you take a pickup truck out to the junkyard, you might well have enough material to practice making welding art over and over again until you feel satisfied with your skills.
Instill New Life in Old Parts
That said, you might not even need to go scavenging for scrap metal. If you love cars, you'll have old parts lying around already and you'll have to discard parts from your car now and then. Instead of throwing them away, you can take them to your workshop and transform trash into treasure.
Our Best Works
Here at Kalifano, we've crafted an impressive collection of metal wall art, recycled art, and much more. If you need more convincing that this hobby is for you, check out our different categories of unique, one-of-a-kind sculptures. Our works are divided into categories by size-based categories of small, medium, large, and extra-large/life-size.
Small Metal Art
Many of our unique sculptures have taken inspiration from popular movies. For instance, we have a small, Yoda-inspired sculpture that fuses the influence of Star Wars' creative alien designs with an eclectic, mysterious touch. Metal art is right at home for sci-fi, as you'll see when you peruse our predator-inspired sculptures as well.
Medium Metal Art
Cartoons, family films, and nature are also natural ideas for recycled metal art. Our art has drawn inspiration from the short, stocky villains of Minions fame, but surreal takes on the natural world are also among our best. For instance, our medium-sized tuna sculpture is incredibly realistic-looking in the front half, while the back half takes on a steampunk, clockwork style. Other sources of pride are our statues depicting birds of prey such as eagles and hawks in flight.
Large Metal Art
With metal art, you can create sculptures with a texture and appearance unlike any other. One example is our 30" spark plug sheep, which uses the shape and size of many discarded spark plugs to create a fluffy-looking, 3D surface. Another impressive statue in our collection is a 56" tall T-Rex made of recycled metal.
Extra-Large Metal Art
We like to make sculptures that are as practical as they are beautiful, which is why we created a massive, predator-inspired table. Not only will it wow your friends, but you can sit down for a drink at it. Shorter friends or even girlfriends might even find themselves looking up at our 5 ft tall scrap metal pirate.
World-Famous Recycled Metal Art
There are many amazing metal art collections around the world. However, we believe that ours is the best in terms of quality as well as quantity. We have countless original creations, some inspired by famous films and beloved franchises, incredible animal sculptures, and many more products of raw creativity. Movie theaters, restaurants, and all sorts of establishments display our artwork around the world. If that piques your interest, go on and check out our recycled metal art collection at Kalifano.
If you put your heart into metal art, you could become as prolific and successful as us someday. But what's certain is that you'll have a great time and create memorable, unique artwork while developing your skill as a welder.