At the foundry

What you are seeing here actually happened weeks ago. 

WAXES:  In each rubber mold wax is poured or brushed.  The wax is not solid but it is hollow. The pieces will be cast this way and put together in metal. 

THE DIP: After the foundry makes the waxes they are dipped into a slurry mixture and coated with sand. This makes a ceramic shell both inside and out.  This process is not captured on this blog.  

 THE POUR: The wax is burned out of the shell and molten bronze is poured into each of the pieces. This process is often referred to as the "lost wax method of bronze casting."


CHASING:
There is still much to do. Each shell must be broken off of the bronze, the metal is then cleaned and each of the pieces will be welded together.

WELDING:
It is a little horrific seeing John and the dog cast about and in pieces.  The weld marks look horrible as well, but the foundry workers are artists and can blend each of the welds seamlessly.  On April 27, I'll be headed to the foundry to "check the metal." I'll go over everything and circles any areas that I feel need attention.

PATINA: After approval the final step is the patina.  Pictures soon to come.

Mold making- John goes to pieces.

These last few weeks have been very busy, here in the studio and then at the foundry. You saw how we were cutting up John in various sections. Now it is time to make a mold. Each section has a seam,  or seams. Then rubber is painted over the entire piece, section by section.  After 4 layers of rubber, plaster has been added. This is all a part of the foundry process.  The final rubber molds are cleaned and sent to the foundry.