Manchester-based artist Tom Hardwidge creates beautiful Steampunk Insects from recycled materials. He calls them Arthrobots and they are actually intricate steampunk sculptures inspired by real insects and built from various recycled metallic parts.
English artist starts by drawing up a series of sketches, then starts looking for parts on sites like eBay, and local small shops and and finally assembling on the dinning-room table. Most of Arthrobots start off as pieces of deactivated ammunition, that are later covered with sheets of copper, brass or aluminum. Limbs, wings and antennae are then attached, and no respectable steampunk creation would be complete without some old pocket watch gears and springs.
It is interesting that Hardwidge creates steampunk insects only as a hobby; he is a digital designer by day and gets time to work as a creative insect maker only at night. Most of the pieces are supplied by local company, The Watch Lab, who sift through their rubbish bins to find parts for Hardwidge.
Arthrobots come in a cool-looking wooden box, together with a small leaflet which includes a series of details like the sculpture’s name, the phylum, order and class it belongs to and some of the early sketches. Tom Hardwidge’s intricate Arthrobots have definitely taken steampunk art to a whole new level.
If you like Steampunk, head over to the Arthrobots official site, for more details.
