A welder who carries out his day job almost on autopilot allows himself free rein in his spare time to create beautiful sculptures.
Using horseshoes to create artworks is not new, but William Moulton-Day takes it a step further. His most recent creation is the result of over 110 hours of hard work.
William told H&H he works full-time as a welder, and that when he was learning his trade, he picked up some old shoes from his best friend, a farrier.
“I welded up a little reindeer and it went from there,” he said. “That was about three years ago, and it’s blossomed; I think now I can call myself an artist rather than a welder.”
William said he fits his art round his job so he rarely has a day off.
“But I love doing it,” he said. “At work, I zone out a bit and do what I’m told, like a robot, but as soon as I’m finished, I can be let loose to create what I feel like.”
Picture by Jessie Anita Photography
William makes no sketches or maquettes in advance. For this piece, he asked horsey friends to take some detailed pictures of eyes, downloaded some pictures from the internet and took two measurements; the length of the face and the distance between the ears.
With his second-hand forge and anvil, he heated every shoe, straightened it and fitted it into shape.
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“I pride myself on being as detailed as possible; down to things like the little dent above the horse’s eye,” he said. “One thing that was harder than I thought was the pile of shoes; there are about as many in that as in the head, as I needed them to balance the weight, and I wanted them to look as if they’d just been poured out of a bucket, but it was very hard to weld them without making a pattern.”
He added: “It’s just sitting outside my workshop at the moment; it’s the first thing I’ve made in about two and a half years that isn’t a commission, and the first horse head, and it will be up for sale, but I just like looking at it at the moment.”
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