Mesozoic Metal Monsters

There are so many clever and creative people on the worldwide web. Take for example Joe Dolan a retired welder who spends his time creating metal prehistoric monsters in his workshop. Each hand-crafted sculpture takes dozens of hours to produce, each one is a labour of love, honed by the skills developed over a lifetime as a welder/fabricator.

Joe very kindly contacted Everything Dinosaur and sent us some pictures of his latest creations.

Metallic Tyrannosaurus rex — *A completed Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture. Picture credit: Joe Dolan.*

Making Figures from Metal

With over forty years experience Joe’s skilfully constructed animal figures are a great conversation starter and certainly are statement pieces. All the joints are fully welded, cleaned, deburred and polished. It is great to see Joe still using his engineering and design skills to create such novel, metallic sculptures.

Metal T. rex — *An impressive T. rex metal sculpture just out of the workshop. Picture credit: Joe Dolan.*

The “Detail is Everything”

Joe explains that his hobby has grown into a small business. The figures are made for indoor display as the steel used in the construction would rust if left outside. At first Joe created sculptures for friends and family but soon word of his talent for creating unusual sculptures spread and he began to attract commercial interest from farther afield.

Joe has not restricted himself to dinosaurs, he builds lots of amazing sculptures of other animals too.

He explained how his unusual business started commenting:

“I started some years back, making things for myself and family. Other people started showing interest in my work so I made more, and to me “detail is everything”, plus the figurines are robust and if cared for they will last for years and years.”

A metallic fish model. — *A stunning, metallic fish sculpture. Picture credit: Joe Dolan.*

metal shark figure. — *A beautiful, burnished shark figure created by talented engineer Joe Dolan.*

Traditional Skills Given a New Twist

Traditional skills such as metal working are under threat, the models and figures that Joe has created enable him to keep using the techniques that he has honed over a lifetime, bringing pleasure and delight to others.

Metallic crab sculpture — *A cleverly constructed crab – watch out for those metal claws! Picture credit: Joe Dolan.*

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“We are always amazed at how creative and clever people can be. Joe has turned his talents to making some amazing metallic monsters including models of dinosaurs like T. rex and Velociraptors. He also has a flair for fish models and we love the eyes on the metallic crab figure.”