A welder who upcycles redundant horseshoes into unique masterpieces including candle holders and wine racks has turned his hobby into a business.
Billy Moulton Day, from Gestingthorpe has seen his business Rusty Creations UK thrive since it was first set up in 2017 and now has a series of commissions for large scale sculptures including a Remembrance themed piece.
Billy, who runs the business as a side line to his main job, creates unique sculptures out of recycled horseshoes.
The 30-year-old said: “I set up Rusty Creations in the back end of 2017 after doing a welding course in September 2017, just as an evening class. I picked up a small hobby welder and made my first reindeer out of several horseshoes
"I then sold 10 or 15 over that Christmas which is when I first thought there is a bit of a market here.
“I started small with the gift range for a good year whilst I was trying to establish myself before I started working on making the bigger sculptures."
Explaining that several farrier friends supply him with the horseshoes, he said: “I get the horse shoes which are still nice and dirty with the nails still in.
“I have to clean them up a bit, usually when I make the sculptures, I have to put them into the forge and hammer them out straight and then bend them into the shape I want for the structure of the sculpture."
Billy, who is also a keen cricketer at Sudbury Cricket Club, has taken on some larger commission pieces, which can take between 80-200 hours to make, including two dog sculptures, a fish and an anchor.
He was also asked to make a public art piece for Remembrance Sunday by the Holbrook Society.
He continued: "Over the last three years I have built up through my portfolio work enough trust so people kind of give me free reign.
"They trust my ability to create the work off my own back.
"The most rewarding thing about making the artwork is when buyers are left speechless with a great smile on their face."
Billy's target for Rusty Creations UK is to turn it into a full time business.
He said: "My end goal is ideally to set this up as a full-time business and take on more bigger sculptures and artwork pieces.
"Potentially for property developers or companies if they have big launch shows and need commercial artwork."
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