around the studio

things seem to be moving slowly lately. lots of different things on the go, but progress seems to be happening slowly. here are a couple things i am working on.

deb and i had a brainstorming session making foam templates for a potential new product. a good start but more to do.

 

this is a mirror that i have sandblasted an image through some of the mirror. i like it but it is tricky to get a good view, not sure what to do next. a few ideas, but more time and resources are necessary.

this is a bronze compass that we had cast up for a commission

 

it was to be installed last week, but the site is not ready yet,

 

so it will sit in storage for a few weeks until the client is ready.

concrete drawing update

the concrete drawings have been completed and ready and waiting for over a month now.

they are wrapped up in the warehouse awaiting the go ahead for the install.

 

this was supposed to be mid May but the project has been delayed - but it looks like we might begin the install next week.

 

in the meantime we have had some glass sheets laminated.

 

you can see the 3 layers of glass and the 2 layers of laminate in this cross-section.

 

although small these units are precious, costing almost $1000 each! just to make. then we carefully shaped each one to fit inside the bronze buckets. this laminated glass will become the "water" in the bronze buckets sitting on the "water" concrete drawings.

 

we have also had this tall sculptural "ladder" unit made. 

 

it has been powder coated, and will be installed with the concrete drawing and a bucket with glass water on top.

not long now.

bronze update

these photos were sent to me by the bronze fabricator. he is working on the patinas for the buckets. 

the buckets will be set on the concrete drawings we have made.

 

this set of buckets has a green patina. right now it is a bit full on but they will be rubbed back a bit and then these will get installed on the ripple concrete drawing

 

 this bronze bucket finished with a brown patina looks perfect.

eventually this will be installed on a tall ladder metal unit that we are still fabricating and that will sit in this reflection concrete drawing. the black ripples are to be the reflection of the ladder unit sitting in the water

 

the bucket on the chair bronze component is meant to have a grey patina. as it is it is still too patchy for us, but it can be changed, so we will wait and see what happens to the patina.

 

eventually this sculptural element will be set on this concrete drawing of the reflected sky.

we are still working on the metal ladder unit, and all the buckets will also have a glass component to them. these are being laminated as i type. and we should be able to begin our portion of work on them in the next couple of weeks. not much more to go now.

bronze - work in progress

after the bronze has been cast, a lot of work has already happened. but there is more to go.

each one has to be removed for the mold

 

precision cutting with the axe

 

unrolling of the plaster and burlap surround

 

chipping away the plaster trying not to hit the newly cast bronze

eventually you get this, a bronze cast bucket with mold material all around it.

you can see the bronze here where the mold material has been whipped away

it will take some time to get all the units cleaned up.

after lots more work here they are. ready to have the casting system cut off and the metal work to begin finishing the surface and cleaning up and bits.

it will take a while to get these objects to the next step. they need to be cut, ground, assembled, welded, and then sandblasted and cleaned up before any surface treatments like polishing, patinas and waxing can take place.

we should have the final results in a couple weeks time. ready then for the next step, the glass "water" inserts.

bronze casting

the concrete drawings that we have made will be set in place and then some bronze and glass sculptural elements will be set on top of them. there will be bronze cast buckets that have glass "water" inside the buckets.

to make the bronze we contracted our friend tom who is a talented wax maker, mold maker and bronze caster. we had to find the buckets and chair that we wanted reproduced in bronze.

tom did heaps of work before the actual casting day making the molds of the real objects then waxes, then the casting system and setting these into molds ready for the bronze casting day. these are photos from that day.

 

above are the molds that were in the kilns, melting out the waxes and heating the molds up ready for the pour.

the molds are re-enforced with burlap soaked in plaster that are wrapped around them. this is an extra measure in case the mold breaks with the hot metal in it.

the furnace that holds the crucible with the bronze in it is roaring away in the background. bits of bronze are set on top to make sure any moisture evaporates off and then tom loads the bronze bits into the crucible to melt.

meanwhile the molds are flipped and set into place in a sand pit, the openings kept covered until it is time to pour to keep them clean.

here are the raw bronze bricks that were purchased for the casting.

once the bronze is ready, the guys who are pouring the liquid metal get geared up in protective clothing.

the crucible is lifted out of the furnace, and then set into a pouring bar.

the pouring bar is then lifted over the molds and the bronze is poured out. i dont have any photos of this as i had to operate the overhead crane that assisted with lifting the full crucible. but it all happens pretty quickly, moving from one mold to the other pouring the bronze in. the bronze pours really easily, like milk.

here are the molds that have been filled, the hot bronze still glowing.

after a little bit it visually cools down to a grey colour, but they are still way too hot to touch

the excess bronze is recast into metal frames to make bricks for next time.

all in all it took a full afternoon to get the bronze cast.