The head of the sculpture had a hole within it, and that hole was at an angle. Therefore, I had to bend the post so that it supported the sculpture.

In this case, my client, who liked crows, wondered if we could make a one-bottle wine holder shaped into a crow. I sketched one for him that would hold the bottle in the crow’s beak, and when we got the right design, we began the three-hour process using scrap metal.

The brass tailpiece required gentle forming to create a slight arc. The tail had to curve down and be angled so the strings would rest properly on the bridge. At the steel mock-up trial stage, I narrowed the smallest end.

The silver soldering process went without a hitch, and finally, the electric guitar had a bespoke tailpiece with the string mount silver-soldered to it.

Then, I polished the top of the tailpiece, and a local company nickel-plated the whole tailpiece.

This project was particularly difficult because I had to create a hydraulic press die and fabricate the die from individual parts welded to create its unique form.

In addition, I taught them leaf-veining and how to neck down a pipe to narrow it and create the candlestick cup.

I showed them how to weld the parts together. The boys had welded up a bi-float plane and tealight holders in previous lessons. So, welding was not new to them.

The boys were genuinely enthusiastic, full of fun and beans. I knew they were tired and sore by the end of the lesson from hammering - because I was, too.