Daredevil sculptor makes a moose ... out of lava
HERE'S some steamy art to leave you hot under the collar.
This daredevil diver uses his hands to make sculptures from 1,000°C lava — as it is still ERUPTING from an underwater volcano.
Bonkers Bud Turpin, nicknamed "Lava Man", dives to depths of 130ft to reach the source of the molten rock, and uses nothing but welding gloves and a fishing hook to sculpt moose heads.
But the 58-year-old sculptor from Hawaii — who risks death to produce the unusual artworks — nearly always sees his work destroyed by the volcano before he can finish it.
So the co-founder of tour company Lava Ocean Adventures enlisted the help of photographer Doug Perrine to show the world his creations.
And Doug, 59, has explained the method to Bud's madness.
He said: "He braced his legs against the lava tube, which still had hot flowing lava right under the crust," he said.
"He grabbed the erupting nose of the lava flow with his gloved hands, then pulled and twisted it in different directions to try to mould his sculpture.
"At first sight, the brain does not want to accept that it is actually seeing somebody voluntarily grabbing hot lava."
The Kilauea volcano has been constantly erupting since 1983 and has spewed out so much molten rock that it now covers 550 square miles on the south east coast of the Island of Hawaii.
And Doug was also taking his life in his hands when he agreed to help Bud capture his creations on film.
He added: "There are several ways to die while doing this.
"The most likely would be that a large section of unstable cooled lava shelf would break off while we were diving, and slide into deep water.
"This effect creates a suction that pulls any nearby divers down with it, and could easily take us to great depths while disorienting us - so we wouldn't know which way was up.
"We could also get buried in the rocks from the landslide, or hit by a large rock and knocked out, which would mean we would probably drown."
The idea to create lava sculptures came when Bud was fishing near where the lava entered the ocean.
Doug said: "He was catching lots of fish down there and decided to try spearfishing near the lava.
"After seeing lava while diving got the idea of forming it while it is still soft.
"Most people think he's totally crazy and Bud does not disagree."
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