Benjamin Dickey: Organic-Mechanics
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Hello, my name is Ben. Welcome to my gallery. I am currently enrolled in the Tyler School of Art BFA program and will get my specialization in jewelry and CAD-CAM by 2010. I know there isn't much to show in this gallery as of yet but I will continue to add to it throughout this summer and the next few years. I run a very small business that I call Fallen Sun Jewelry, and I'm usually out in Allentown, PA in May at the Parkland Festival of the Arts, contact me and let me know if you wish to buy.
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College Metals Class, first project that our class had to do. The Assignment: incorporate chain into a piece. I don't think I'll ever want to saw another piece of titanium in my life!
It all fits neatly into the palm of my hand.
Metals:
-Bronze Sheet
-Sterling Silver sheet & wire
-Fine Silver wire
-Copper Wire
-14k Gold Filled wire
-Titanium Wire
Stones:
-Completely Pyritized Ammonite (Colorado)
-3 6mm Tiger's Eyes
-2 8mm Moss Agates
-2 Quartz Laser Points
-6mm Blue CZ
(4 images, 2 comments)
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I got this beautiful malachite point at a store near where I was attending night school for bartending. It was just too good looking to pass up.
-Sterling Silver Sheet & Wire
-Brass Sheet
-Fine Silver Wire
-14k Gold Filled Wire
-Copper Tubing
-93mm Malachite Point
-3 small Quarts Laser Points
-12mm x 16mm Rectangular Cut Tiger's Eye
-5mm Lapis Lazuli Cabochon (Brazil)
-5mm Amethyst Cabochon
-12mm x 16mm Oval Snowflake Obsidian Cab
-Unknown Iridescent Irregular Cab
(9 images)
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This is the final finished piece that came from the wax model. Anatomically correct with the concept being something like a suit of armor or a car engine. I antiqued the leather a bit so that it would have a klnd of ancient feel to it. It gets attached to clothing via magnets & is worn in the center of the chest. This piece will continue to evolve a little bit more in the next month or so, into a neck piece I think. The pewter side is the side of the heart where deoxygenated blood pumps into from the body, and the brass side is where oxygenated blood pumps out of & back into the body.
Materials:
-Cast Bronze
-Pewter Sheet
-Brass Sheet
-Brown Suede Leather
-Brass Hex Bolts
-Rare Earth Magnets
(4 images)
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This is an in progress shot of what I'm currently working on. This is another college project and I decided to go anatomica with this one. As of now this is just a wax model of what it will be. The wax and acrylic tubing will become cast bronze via the lost wax method at the end of this week. The spaces and gaps in the model will be covered by brown leather and rimmed in pewter and brass which will be screwed down over the top of the leather. This particular object is immense and will have to be sectioned into 3 or 4 parts so that it can be cast. It will attach to clothing with rare earth magnets that will be set inside the brooch before the leather & plates are screwed down.
Media:
-Pink Sheet Wax
-Blue Wax Wire
-Acrylic Tubing
Projected Media:
-Cast Bronze
-Pewter Sheet
-Brass Sheet
-Brass Hobby Nuts & Bolts
-Rare Earth Magnets
(3 images)
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My first blacksmithing attempt.
When I was in Scotland for the month of June I had the privilege of working with John Creed, a prominent silversmith and blacksmith in the UK. So I made a knife that ended up looking very Albert Paley-ish.
Not bad for an afternoon's worth of work.
Materials:
-Mild Steel
(2 images)
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Something wearable for myself. Contrasting finishes and a tube set stone.
-Sterling Silver Sheet & Wire
-Copper Tubing
-6mm Blue CZ
(6 images)
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FOR SALE
More CAD work. This is a series that I'm currently working on that will be printed out in ABS Plastic. These are actuals at the moment, The tangibles (in ABS) would be just plain white.
Gun Creature II is for sale in ABS Plastic form. It's about 4 inches long by 1-1/2 inches wide by about 1 inch at the tallest. I can convert these to necklaces or pins or whatever you desire, and possibly do some post processing to accommodate stone settings, etc.
Base price in ABS is $110 for one, $200 for two.
*Please note, turn around time may be a bit long because I need at least 2 orders for my Rapid Prototyping firm to fill an order.
Materials:
-Rhino 4
-Flamingo 1.1
-ABS Plastic
(2 images)
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I needed a new pair of sunglasses and i decided that I didn't want to pay $175 to Oakley for them. So I made my own pair of custom drill mount sunglasses for a fraction of the cost. And the best part is that they can be used for safety goggles and the lenses are cheap to cut and replace.
-Brass Sheet & Hardware
-Sterling Silver Sheet
-Nickel Silver Wire
-Stainless Steel Machine Screws
-Lexan Polycarbonate Sheet
-20% VLT Limo Tinting
(4 images)
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A pendant I made as a gift to my sister for her High School Graduation. It started off very simple but due to the fact that I don't have a tumbler to polish all the very tight spaces in my work, it got complex in a quick fashion. The chain attaches just behind the topmost point of the piece. This is the first Tube Setting that I've done.
-Sterling Silver Wire, Sheet, and Tubing
-14k Gold Filled Wire
-Brass Sheet
-6mm Blue CZ
-2 6mm Green CZs
-6mm Synthetic Tourmaline
-6mm Smokey Quartz
(8 images)
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This is the second knife that I've made and this project fought me tooth and nail the whole time. I would call this project as more of a "concept model" or a sketch rather than a finished piece. There were some nice things about it but there were also some things that need to be addressed if I decide to make another knife in the future.
The textural elements on the blade, which were a happy accident, happened when I allowed the blade to go past the necessary point that it needed to go. The steel actually began to boil on the surface.
The down side to this blade is that I did not clay coat the areas that needed to stay soft this time so the whole blade has a hardness of about 60-63RC along the edge and something like a 54 on the spine and the tip of the blade only. This means that the tang stayed as hard as the edge and made it impossible to drill through. I destroyed a lot of titanium nitride bits on this piece of metal.
-4-5/8" blade
-11-7/8" overall
-Full tang design
Materials:
-Steel (started as a file)
-Nickel Silver sheet liners
-Brass sheet bolsters
-Red Oak scales
-Oak dowel pins
(1 image)
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I got a rough idea in my head so I put it down on paper... and turned it into this piece! I decided to only slightly buff the sheet in it because I liked the antique look that it gave. I used HR Giger as an influence as seen in the "hoses" as well as my own mechanical geometric style of creation. This piece is as of this moment finished, however the straight on back view is pretty ugly and I'm considering creating a brass backing for it which will mimic the quartz laser point in the center.
-Sterling Silver sheet and wire
-Brass sheet
-14k Gold Filled wire
-5mm White Spinnel
-6mm Green CZ
-6mm Yellow CZ
-6mm Peridot
-6mm Synthetic Tourmaline
-6mm Smokey Quartz
-Quartz Laser Point (Utah)
(4 images)
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I do CAD work on the side as well. I know it's not exactly metal work, and that it's heresy, but I'm actually starting to enjoy it more and more as the year keeps progressing. This particular project is a 2 part bracelet with movable components. The 2 spines come around to lock the piece in place around your wrist. All the components will be held to the wrist by rare earth magnets.
These images are what are known as "Actuals" which are renderings of the actual model. This particular actual will be printed on a ZCorp plaster printer and will then be strengthened with epoxy or cyanoacrylate. This process lends itself to some extremely interesting jewelry applications in that there are some things that can be done more precise and easier than can normally be done at the bench.
I'll have the tangible piece up as soon as it gets done building.
Materials:
-C... -Rhino 4.0
-Flamingo 1.1
-Photoshop
-Materializatio... -ZPlaster
-Epoxy
(1 image)
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This is another super cool CAD piece that I've done recently. The assignment that I got was to create a kinetic piece that incorporated seven movable components. This piece has eight movable parts including two tracks.
To operate it, you simply place this object flat in the palm of your hand and then place a fingertip from your opposite hand in the center hole of one of the three eye-like ends of the large arms, then rotate the piece. The central hubcap object stays stationary while the rest of the piece moves. The three arms move as one and the three disc-like objects move with them. The three balls in the middles of the three discs catch the underside of the stationary piece and rotate vertically as they go around. This piece will give you hours of enjoyment especially if you have ADD or a short attention span [like me =)].
FOR SALE!!!
-$70 for a plain white model
-$100 for a Silver or Copper Patina paintjob
*All models will be printed on a ZCorporation Plaster Printer and
(2 images)
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This was a project that I finished last semester but didn't get a chance to document it until now. I have a new respect for the people that make these style of knives & swords because the process is very long, grueling, and must be done completely by hand. There is no machine in the world that can form the blade into the complex cutting device that it is. This project took a week of research on traditional japanese blades, and 3 weeks of non stop work. Ten of those days were spent grinding the blade geometry on an oil stone. Every single part of this knife was made by me from scratch.
The blade itself started out as a file because I didn't have a month to forge it out of the traditional tamahagane steel, but it was taken through the same exact process that you would take a normal blade through after the forging process was complete. After the normalization process the back 2/3 of it was coated in a special clay mixture. It was then heated to critical point (~1500°F) and then plunged into a bucket of water. This is called differential hardening which is how you get these things to sweep upwards in an elegant curve, and gives you a hard, razor sharp edge and a softer shock absorbing spine. It was then tempered in an oil bath.
This thing was a definite endurance trial and I would love to do another! So contact me if you want one of these done custom for you to your specifications. Base price starts at $275.00
Specs:
-Blade... long with a 4.5" tang and around a .25" sori (curvature); between 1/8" & 5/32" thick. Barely visible Hamon line. Visible Kissaki (tip differentiation). Nihon-to blade geometry configuration. Convex Moran Edge. Laminated copper/bronze (high phosphorus content) Habaki. The tang is signed with my trademark.
-Koshirae:
S... red oak construction hilt. Bronze Tsuba with fine silver implants. Bronze Fuchi & Kashira. Sterling silver Menukis with titanium implants & cast in place red CZs. Faux black rayskin scales underneath synthetic black ito (wrap). Brass Seppas. Red oak mekugi.
-Saya:
Solid red oak construction. Black lacquered selectively sanded for aesthetic purposes. Oak Kurikata. Synthetic black sageo.
The stand that the knife is resting on is red oak with black felt in the cradles.
(8 images)
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I decided to take my work to the next level. Put a Pin Backing on it for the buyer.
Sterling Silver, 14k Gold Filled, 5mm Citrine, Teardrop Garnet
(2 images)
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Just a simple band ring that I made using trick solders and interesting textures. The copper and the piece with holes rest on a sterling silver bridge that I constructed to gap the shank. Size 12¼
-Sterling Silver sheet, wire, & tubing
-Copper Tubing
-Nickel-Silver wire
(5 images)
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Just an easy day project for the hell of it.
I got tired of looking at my plain old brass pipe zippo. Even though it has a different mantle in the fact that it is a pipe lighter and has to be tilted sideways to light, it still wasn't different enough for my tastes so I put two almost identical red tiger's eyes on either side. And then to top it off, I threw a wire brush wheel on my buffer and gave it an interesting brush texture that I might have to explore with my next pieces.
Materials:
-Brass Zippo Pipe Lighter
-20ga Sterling silver sheet
-2 x 15mm Red Tiger's Eyes (Chemically Dyed)
(5 images)
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Objects that carry one across the full spectrum of thought...
Benjamin Dickey
184 Robert Drive
Allentown PA 18104 US
Phone: (610) 295-7437
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Comments on This Gallery Page
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howdy
Your work is sick kid, all original. Like to see people pushing the boundaries of this artform
» Posted by
Aethonic
on 12/8/2007 2:43:54 PM.
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thank for your support
WILEY here...the Limo Tinted sunglasses know thats Organic-Mechanic, hats off bro!!..cool!! thank again
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/2/2008 10:57:45 PM.
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dont sweet!!
dont let them get to YOU !! there's a big difference between hot and cold work!!
some pep's are just wirewrapers !!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/7/2008 9:52:27 AM.
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thanks!!!
hay do you got anything new in the works ? cant wate to see !!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/8/2008 9:07:44 PM.
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Thanks man! It goes for like $50. :-)
» Posted by
TheSilverKaktus
on 1/12/2008 1:49:02 AM.
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why are these guys such jerks
I didnt piss in anyones cheerios!!
wax... sounds fun got a load of cool castings if your interested
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/14/2008 10:21:44 PM.
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thats strange
know idea????? o well life go's on, at levle 2.....it still sucks .... did you notice ILL tryed to start a new gallery..and got kicked off again!!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/15/2008 5:57:17 PM.
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no more mods 4's on the site that I can find??
Bljb got bumped down too!!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/15/2008 6:06:56 PM.
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.??
I dunno dude. i dont see why anyone did for real but whatever its all dumb for real
» Posted by
SoulPieces
on 1/16/2008 12:57:28 AM.
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whats up
is the forum not working??
anyways how the projects
hows the lost/wax ill get around to post them for ya!!
also i have some
silicon wheels for taking out scratches ill send you!!.. they work wonders
on a lighter note started to play world of war-craft... what a wast of time ...it kind of fun still!!!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 1/24/2008 5:12:51 PM.
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Thanks man
hey ben,
big ups for the nom,
1 step closer to first feature,
yay, hahahahaha,
no but, i'm really glad u like that piece
thanks again,
mark
» Posted by
mindfLow
on 2/14/2008 4:11:32 PM.
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nice work
your gallery is filling up with some nice stuff right on!! ...Oh and thanks for the nomminate that was cool!!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 4/14/2008 10:02:29 PM.
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level 5
did you notice that in the top 32 galleries pages, you and I are the only level 5 mods in there!!
that's Kind of cool!!
» Posted by
WileysColdFusion
on 4/18/2008 10:26:10 PM.
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