Stainless Steel Rose from Scrap Metal

This is a rose sculpture I TIG (GTAW) welded at school. It is made from left-over stainless steel scraps that were straight off the shop floor at my school welding shop. I believe this project embodies the topic of this contest in a few ways. The first and most obvious being that it was completely constructed from scrap metal. And not just typical scrap...the scraps in our shop go through a series of re-uses until they reach a size that is no longer easily used in class and is then shipped to the scrap yard for recycling. I made sure to grab the majority of my scraps from the end bin to make sure the scraps had been re-used as much as possible before I began building with them. Secondly, the topic of my piece is a rose which is an embodiment and symbol of nature's beauty. I dedicated roughly 55 hours of shop time to obtain the final product to replicate that beauty as closely as I could. Lastly, the material I used for the project was stainless steel. I did this to give the final piece a certain level of complexity both visual and inherent. It stands as a icon that something as industrial as steel can be used to create one of nature's softest, most stunning symbols. It also shows that this relationship between industry and nature can be renewable and sustainable...hence the "Stainless" aspect of it.

Step 1 Equipment & Materials

Equipment:
- TIG (GTAW) or MIG (GMAW) Welder
- Stationary Belt Sander
- Bead Blasting Cabinet - Optional
- 4 1/2" Angle Grinder with Abrasion/Cutting Wheels
- Bench Grinder - Optional
- Metal Work Bench to Attach Ground Cable
- Bench Vise
- Ball-Peen Hammer
- Vise Grips
- Sheet Metal Sheers
- Dremel Tool with Grinding and Polishing Bits - Optional
- Typical Welding/Fabrication Safety Equipment

Materials:
- 18, 20, or 22ga Stainless Steel Sheet Metal Scraps
- 1/4" Bar Stock (Round or Square)
- Stainless Steel Filler Rod (for TIG)
- Stainless Steel Electrode Wire (for MIG)

Comments

[iloveairsoftstuff]

wow. you must have a very nice girlfriend to do that.

[jaredzeuli]

I 'had' a nice girlfriend.  We actually broke up before I gave it to her, so it will remain mine!!!!

[Roflolommo]

omg same thing happened to me. I think metal flowers are cursed.

[electridanger]

they are cursed...I made one out of thin sheet copper...I left it for her and talked to her later and she said that she didn't want to date...although I felt it was that she didn't want to date me...I didn't take it back though...

[lance_r]

I made my girlfriend a metal rose and gave it to her she liked it so my next project I made a sculpture with her name for christmas.. She broke up with me before I could give her the sculpture so I took it (the sculpture that is) to the back yard with a sledge hammer and vented a bit. The following day I brought into class and plasma torched the crap out of it hahaha

[xxMelxx]

Very Beautiful! I Will Try Making One This Week As A Christmas Gift For My Grandmother Hope It Turns Out As Nice As Yours :) I Already Made A Daisy-Like Flower In A Pot But A Rose Just Seems Alot More Challenging .

[Nawaz]

By the way, you could use some polishing compound and a small buffing wheel to give it a shiny look :)

[Nawaz]

wow..nice..was planning to do something similar. Got a better idea about how am gonna do it now..thanks for sharing..very nice instructable :)

[RocketManDave]

Reminds me of the end of the film "District 9".

[es30381]

hey mate, excellent instructable..... really informative. can i please just ask the approximate sizes of your largest and smallest petals and leaves and petals and stuff. thanks mate, it's a huge help. ES

[jaredzeuli]

I know its hard to read because Instructables resized the image, but in the second step the AutoCAD drawing has the sizes. The petals range from about 1/2" to 3" in length. The leaves are about 2" in length. And the thorns are about 5/8" in length.

[es30381]

thanks mate, huge help.

[rjasso]

hers mine
i used a flux core mig welder to weld them together

[cmetals]

here is my take on the stainless rose

[jaredzeuli]

Hahaha, are those spoons!?! That's pretty cool and really creative. I was looking at the picture and I was about to comment on how smooth you were able to make the contours of the petals, but then it struck me...all of those petals have the exact same shape! My first thought was, "Oh, he made a mold or plug and hammered them into uniform shapes." About a spit second after that thought, my brain made the connection and I knew they were spoons! It looks great. I feel it resembles other flowers more than a rose, but still a cool idea. I really like found art sculptures.

[duboisvb]

Thanks for the instructable. I made the attached rose over this past weekend for my wife for valentines day. It is not nearly as polished as yours but it turned out ok and it was fun to do.

[jaredzeuli]

It resembles a tulip more than a rose, but still looks nice. I've been slammed with work lately, but I have been meaning to try a few other types of flowers. I will try my best to post them when I'm done. I've already drawn up plans for a couple of them.

[JRG1]

Nice stuff.I am new here and here is a rose that I made recently.what ya think?

[jaredzeuli]

Yeah, it looks good. I like how you added character to the leaves by adding stamping marks to them. If you try another one, I would focus on giving the leaves a little more shape to them on the shorter axis of the oval, so that they don't look as flat. Double bends are tricky to do, but you can get the hang of them with a little trial and error. Also, it looks like you didn't grind off your welds at the base of the leaves and petals. This step usually only takes a minute or two and makes the final product much more pleasing to the eye.

[hottamaleindustries]

Would this work with copper?

[jaredzeuli]

Copper requires lots of experience and still to weld. I've only done it a few times and it wasn't for art projects. It's not easy. Your best bet is to do it in steel and have it copper plated. I've already considered doing this with one of my next roses.

[D$]

maby although you would need some serious equipment and if your not carefull the copper will turn grey from heat i've only done some copper and im pretty sure the only way you can weld it is tig

[vlxwgn]

You can silver solder copper fairly easily, however you will either need to try and solder the entire bloom together at once or get different levels (pure, sterling, enameling, hard, medium and easy... from highest heat required to lowest respectively) of silver solder that melt at different heat, the inner most would use the highest heat and the outer most would use the least in order to stay together as you were building it. other than that the tools required would be far less expensive.

[Arron199]

I made mine in under 3 hrs, but im a boilermaler by trade. Using tin snips to cut the material saves a huge amount of time, $18 an hour!!?? Where in the world is that considered ok for this type of work? Dont mean to offend anyone but artistic metal work earns you no less than $40ph here :s

Anyway, awsome instructable and nice finnished product.

[jaredzeuli]

Yeah, I moved up to tin ships and lighter gauge metal on the second rose which dramatically reduce the manufacture time. I can make one with the same quality as my orginal in a work day (8-12 hours) and even faster if I prep all the pieces the day before and just do shaping and assembly in one day. If I got into selling more of them on a regular basis I could look into ordering larger amounts of water jetted pieces and just focus on assembly, which would easily shave hours off the overall job. Shaping and grinding still occupies most of the time.

[Metallication]

Thank you so much! This was an awesome and fun instructable! I will give it to my gf for her birthday next month! This is my first year working with metal in school, and I didn't have much cash, so I found YOU! It was all scrap 22 gauge sheet metal. It took me roughly 15 hours total to finish it. I painted it with a metallic silver when it was finished. Thank you again!

[Metallication]

Oh, and here it is.

[jaredzeuli]

Nice work. Try giving the other parts of the rose more character. You did really well on the petals, but didn't focus as much on the leaves. Just constructive criticism...it still looks great.

[breber]

Ive actually made a rose like this.. but the steps to create it were different. still good work on the rose.

[MrRodrigez]

hmm has anyone thought to hit the budding petals with an OAW torch with no oxy to give it a black coating, then clearcoat it?

[pedla]

Very nice and way beyond my ability and access to tools. Do you consider selling them? My daughters middle name is Rose

[jaredzeuli]

Yes, I have considered selling them.  I just moved into a new home and I am setting up a shop to work on my personal projects.  I would definitely be interested in commission a work for you if you are a serious inquiry.

[GazmanDay]

i am looking into buying something like that as a gift
if i was to ask you to make a few to order lets say six
how much would you charge for that and i would be willing to cover p&p
if your up for it please let me know

[reoga13]

 you should try making one using the techneque the other guy uses...and that i wuse which is coat a real rose with a metallic powder that you make into a paint like substance and then electroplate it

[jaredzeuli]

I don't see the point in just dipping a real rose in a metallic substance to try to attain the same look.   I'm not sure it could even be done with decent or appealing results.  That is what makes the project fun and exciting...actually finding a way to replicate natures product.

[pedla]

jaredzeuli I agree that electro plating or any other form of process would destroy a fragile flower. But I still thank reoga13 for response with what may have been helpfull info.
 Also I thank you for the possibility of buying a rose from you for my daughter, but i think the time that you must spend on making these and cost of materials added to transport to Australia, with me attempting to pay from China where i currently am would make this unfeasonable
  Thanks and keep up the good work, if you come up with other ideas then please post them. CYA from Aussie PETE

[pedla]

 Thanks for the response reoga13 but I do not know who or what process you suggest. More info please cheers.

[reoga13]

 the methid that this guy uses for the iris seed pods

www.instructables.com/id/Electroforming-an-Iris-Seed-Pod/

[mveenstra33]

great design. i am deffinetly going to try this out.. i will let you know how it works for me for sure. thanks

[TheGeekFather]

I think it's a very nice ible and the finished project came out great. However Just an FYI. Blacksmiths have been making metal roses for years. I've seen some done by hand (With an actual charcoal forge) I made a riveted Copper and brass one back in 94. The Final book in David Eddings "The Malloreon" series even has one. The book came out in 92. You can find plenty of metal roses and other flowers for sale on the net. So saying making a metal rose is copyrighted isn't really Legal. In fact if you do ever sell one you may have to pay royalties.