Introduction Nova Belgica

[novabelgica]

Hello everyone. I joined the ISC yesterday and registered for this community earlier today, so I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Tim Roosen. I am a blacksmith and semi-professional metalsculptor from Belgium. I've been making Art Nouveau inspired wrought-iron sculptures for almost 7 years now and have just recently started with more monumental art.

I am currently working on a large art project, "Space for MUCO", commissioned by the Belgian Association for Battle against Mucovicidosis (Cystic Fibrosis). I am building an artistic scale model of our solar system. This will be 11 sculptures (the sun, moon and the 9 planets) which will be permanently installed in 9 Belgian cities. We're working on an exact scale of 1/40millionth, making this project the second largest scale model of our solar system in the world.

In my recent work, I try to combine art and craft. I like to use wrought iron and cast bronze in combination with stainless steel and Cor-Ten steel. I'm slowly moving away from craft and on towards modern art, but with respect for the old trades.

I invite you to visit my website: www.novabelgica.com where you can see my portfolio and read more about "Space for MUCO".

Please give me some feedback. I look forward to hearing from you and making some new art-friends.

Tim

[sculptorsam]

Welcome Tim. I enjoyed seeing your work very much. You have a very strong foundation established and I look forward to seeing more of you work in the future. Next time you finish a piece, post a couple pics down in the Images Gallery for us to check out. It's always good to have another metal man on board!

FYI- I checked your site earlier this afternoon and had no problem seeing the images in your portfolio. But now, the pics are replaced by Fortune City icons. Anybody else have this problem?

Sam

[fritchie]

Welcome, Tim. I agree with sculptorsam; your website is a great start. Please post some images here, as you like. I might have copied one to post, but with your copyright statement, it’s probably best if you do that yourself.

As for sam’s troubles getting in, I had no trouble tonight.

[anne (bxl)]

hi Tim! glad a you join the community!
I hope to have the chance to visit your studio soon or later.

[novabelgica]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and for visiting my site. I am glad you found it interesting. I will post some pics in the Images Gallery soon.

Sam, you make some amazing work. Wow. I was thinking to myself, how does he get the cor-ten steel to bend so easily? Then I read another post of yours and saw you have 1/16" cor-ten plate over there. I haven't been able to find that over here yet. The only thing that is available over here is 3mm (1/8") and 4mm (1/6"). I have never come across cor-ten rod either. I'll have to make some calls. ;)

Anne, we cast bronze about once a month and we usually have some visitors watching the process. My studio is actually a big work shop, but even though I'm not a full time artist, I am usually working on something, so there's always something to see. I also have a little gallery where my works are on display. Whenever you're in the neighbourhood, let me know. You're welcome to visit. Oh, and you make some great bronze sculptures by the way.

Fritchie, thanks for the compliments. I'll post some pics soon. Glad someone actually read the copyright statement. :D

[jwebb]

Welcome, Tim. Very interesting work. I cast bronze and also weld steel and fabricate some stuff out of various metals. I bend and pound on it a lot, and appreciate the results of forge work, though I don't really know it. You make very good use of the inherent qualitities of the materials, including color, surface textures, tensile strength, etc. I look forward to seeing more. Your English is excellent.