Arthrobots (a combination of robots and arthropods) are incredible and awesome sculptures of insects created from recycled materials. Tom Hardwidge, the designer of these steampunk insects, collects the required material from local stores and even acquired from online sites like eBay. Tom’s intricate Arthrobots have definitely taken steampunk art to a whole new level. Each Arthrobot starts its life as a series of sketches, some take their inspiration from nature, others from bits and pieces or recycled metal and beads which form an unusual structure or fit together to form a distinctive and interesting artifact. After they have been planned out (very roughly) they start to take shape in Tom’s dining room, where he has all of his tools and materials laid out to prevent any actual dining from taking place. On finishing, each sculpture is named based on its natural counterpart (a grasshopper or dragonfly for example) and is put inside a wooden presentation box with a little leaflet detailing the sculpture’s name, phylum, class, order and some of the preliminary sketches.
The artist
The designer of these cute sculptures, Tom Hardwidge, is working in an advertising industry as a Senior Digital Art Director. He is currently located in Bollington, Cheshire, UK.
The inspiration
Some of his creations get inspiration from natural arthropods. While the others are inspired from bits, pieces, recycled metals or beads that somehow fit together interestingly, creating a new, marvelous structure.
The material
These nice-looking robo-insects are made up of pieces of deactivated ammunition which are then covered with sheets of copper, brass or aluminum to make it easier to attach limbs and wings. Almost all traditional steampunk creations somehow incorporate old, detailed pocket watch parts like brass springs, gears or tiny bolts. These tiny gears and bolts add to the decor of the robo-art. The small pocket watch parts are donated by the Watch Lab in UK. The arthropods once completed are put in a cool wooden box, along with a leaflet that has details of the sculpture’s name, phylum, class, order and some of the sketches of the designs.
The artwork
Tom Hardwidge’s Arthrobots are cute steampunks made from recycled materials. He creates beautiful steampunk insects entirely from various recycled metallic parts. He begins by drawing up a series of sketches and then using recycled parts he gives them shape of intricate insect sculptures. A deactivated ammunition pieces is used for the body of the grasshopper (image on top), which is layered with sheets of recycled metals like brass, copper or aluminum, so that limbs and wings can be attached without a hassle. The tiny nuts and bolts, generally the parts of pocket watch are used to create the joints and thin wires make the curly antennae of the insect. Hardwidge’s Arthrobotscome in a cool-looking wooden box, together with a small leaflet which includes a series of details about the sculpture.
Green aspects
Artist Tom Hardwidge began creating these “Arthropods” just a few months ago in his dining room, and the process is fascinating. Metallic pieces of copper, brass or aluminum and tiny nuts and bolts from pocket watches which are of no use are put into use for creating his art forms. Since these sculptures pop out of recycled materials, they save resources, money, labor and the precious environment.
Via: Randommization/OddityCentral