Os' aka Horse sculpture number two. This sculpture will be a follow on, from the last one sold to Cheltenham Racecourse of a rearing horse made out of horse shoes.

For those who do not know my first creation, images below.

15 feet high, using horseshoes from around Yorkshire composed together creating the iron horse of Yorkshire ( Os' in Yorkshire twang).

Brief Story began when I was 14 when I told the local farrier about an idea of creating a horse out of horseshoes, as I had never seen it done and believed it would be impressive. It would also have a playful up-cycle story to it, how old used shoes can become part of a horse again. He loved the idea and gave me some free bags full of used shoes. The project started with a few sketches and base made, then it was simple as weld them on and keep checking from a far to see if its looking right. And occasionally hop over the fence to view my neighbours horses to keep my eye in scale and proportion. The only issue after that was time, I reached the mane before I went to college, then project became on hold to focus on my education and I vowed to finish it after my uni Studies. However my horse in waiting sadly fell and damaged in a storm, so I had to start from the chest up.  Once finished, I became hasty in selling this as it was my plan to fund my traveling ambitions in South East Asia, so I contacted racecourses across England and Cheltenham got in touch and the rest is history. 

Featured article in Kalendar Magazine, about Me and my horse creation below.

What went well.? How can I improve ?

• The scale was at a impressive level and the stance was commanding.

• I preferred not to manipulate the horseshoes to form horse body, instead choosing the right horseshoe for each part. I felt would be disrespecting the horseshoe shape and be more challenging to create organic creature using what is mainly 2d object.

• Strength of the base standing legs, could be stronger, so this is an area to improve on. However it does stand on its hind legs without any additional supports. I would like this to continue with the next one.

• The mane and Tail I would like to do more work on, having time to reflect on this I would of straightened some horseshoes to create a more in keeping mane and tail.

Os Number 2  Begins

Found a new and innovative way of sculpting a horse, instead of using the horse shoe as a skin of the horse why not layer it up from the ground up. This idea has great potential and will allow me to create a more a detailed and anatomically interesting horse. 

First leg Completed, really enjoying this new style, it has reinvigorated me. In this way I can define and emphasise parts of the body I could not before, such as some of the individual muscles. I'm now doing more research into what muscles contract and the shape of them while they are on there hind legs. It is progressing well, just a few issues and thoughts, one being how will it develop when i reach the body in this style will it work, the other issue is weight. We shall see.

   Leg 2 coming along