How to Make a Copper Tubing Snail
- 1). Cut a 5-inch piece of copper tubing. Bend the top inch at a 90 degree angle. This is your stake and will connect to the body of the snail.
- 2). Start winding the thin copper tubing around the large marble from the center. Complete two turns. Leave a 1-inch tail sticking straight out.
- 3). Solder the 1-inch tail to the 1-inch bend of the stake. Clean both pieces with a wire brush. Apply flux with the brush to the area to be soldered.
- 4). Ignite the propane torch. Turn the gas on then strike the sparker by pressing the trigger on the torch. Adjust the gas flow to make the flame a tight blue needle.
- 5). Heat the weld area of the copper tube with the torch. Apply the solder to the weld area until it flows. Remove the solder and torch and allow the weld to cool.
- 6). Wrap and weld the second side of the snail in the same fashion.
- 7). Wrap a piece of tubing around the smaller marble. Start at the forehead and wrap the marble one full time. Add small another loop to form the neck at the back of the marble.
- 8). Squeeze together the copper at the front of the snail body so that the two largest loops meet where the head will join the body. Heat the copper on the body and neck of the head where you will attach the two marbles with the torch. When hot enough, apply solder and press the neck onto the shoulders, fusing the two marbles.
- 9). Create antennae for the snail by taking a small piece of tubing and folding it into a V shape. Heat the forehead tubing and the point of the V with the torch. Solder the antennae to the forehead of the snail.
- 10
Give the antennae some curve and make the two antennae slightly differently shaped. Make bulbs on the end of each antenna by heating and adding a large dob of solder.