The Lady

So here's another bronze piece that popped out of my head last fall semester. I've always liked making nudes, eve since my first semester in sculpture. The themes of water and fluidity tend to happen in conjunction with them for some reason. I really don't know if she likes that she's melting, or if she's even melting at all, perhaps she's coming into being. I like that about this piece though, it's fluid, and can be interpreted in different ways. 

A snow covered City?

Nope, it's not covered in snow. I just had to take some pictures showing what one of my projects looked like in the cleaning stage, the ceramic/silica(?) shell is still covering it, and let me tell you, it is a beast to get out of all the nooks and crannies. Though once it's done and has had a nice patina applied, it, looks something like this. 

This is a completed city bowl (I know my titles are great aren't they), it weighs about five pounds, is bronze, and fits in the palm of your hand. 

I sculpted each of the buildings by hand from wax, it took a very long time. But I enjoyed it so much I had to do it again, this time with a vase. This one was even more work if possible. I had to pour it in two pieces, otherwise it would not have stood a chance of getting cleaned thoroughly again. 

This one is still in two pieces, I'm thinking about just putting a hinge on it and then it'd have the option of being closed or open. Because that's alot of detail I'd be losing if I just welded it shut. Though at the same time, the idea of having it be a hidden little world, that could be viewed through only little windows is also really appealing...

Piano dress progress!

So the piece is finished! Just only had a little time now to show my work, lol. This is what the skirt looks like finished, it clatters something awful when you wear it, cuz the inside of the keys are wood and all. 

Basically I made to steel rod hoops, one that had the keys on them, and the other that had the other half of the keys laced on in a smaller hoop which hangs inside the first. I wired the tops of the second ring so that it would hook onto the first and thus evenly distribute the keys and I wouldn't have to straighten them out all the time. 

Still requires a bit of straightening, but nice effect over all. :)

Also, here's a sneak peek into part of the bodice, this is the design for an attachment to a plain corset, bring out the strings and soundboard!

I'll post more on it when I actually have better photos of the finished piece.

The Final Stages of a Bronze Sculpture

We're nearing the end of the bronze sculptures posts!

Removing the screws and cleaning off any of the little bubbles of bronze that may have occured during the pour is an important step as it gives the project a cleaner and more professional look. After the bronze is whole and complete and any extraneous pieces have been welded together the patina can be applied.

There were only three patinas made available in class, green, a warmer tone, and an almost black one, by far my favorite is the darkest one. To apply a patina all that is needed is to simply heat the piece and brush on the desired concentration of the patina. Heating the piece gets rid of excess moisture in the metal and allows it to be more receptive the patina.

After the patina looks good a coat of wax helps protect it, and it's ready for display!

Pouring

The pour! 

We poured aluminum and bronze several weeks ago. I've been busy with the last weeks of school so here it is! Finally. 

For the pour we placed our empty molds in a bed of sand so that there would be less chance of splitting. It was also important that before then we made sure there were no loose pieces inside the molds that would mess up the form of the figure.

We all wore plenty of protection and looked kind of like spacemen.

The metal cools and we soak it in water til it's cold enough to remove the mold.

The pieces can be dislodged by striking the end of the piece that the metal was poured into.  

Once the larger pieces of the mold have been removed the smaller pieces can be chipped off and the piece can be blasted with air to clean off any excess silica. After that the next step is to saw off the excess metal (the screw) and apply a patina or base, as the case may be. 

Anyway, it's practically summer, and it's a beaaaauuutiful day! 

Melting Waxes

Tiny post today. The end of the semester is throwing me a loop and keeping me busy. Here's the last step before actually pouring the molten metal into the molds. 

Basically in this step, using a torch, the wax is melted out of the silica casing. One of the concerns in this is very nearly the same concern when attaching screws to the piece. When the wax is melted out, it's important to start from the bottom of the piece and melt the bottom of the piece so that the wax at the top has a place to go. If the bottom of the cup doesn't clear first, then the wax above it won't have anywhere to go and will expand and possibly damage the mold. Always point the torch down, and think through exactly how the wax will melt.

 I've been thinking about posting about video production soon, but at the moment I am far to busy actually putting together my video projects. 

It's that time of the semester...

If you're a college student, or have been a college student in the past, you know how this next bit goes. You've known about all the projects months in advance, but ultimately it's the night before their due and you've yet to begin. Procrastination, it's something I know all to well.

By the end of the semester a fulltime college student has multiple projects due at various times of the week, every week, and each week progressively more difficult as the semester has gone on.  The build up to the end is aggravating as on finds oneself caught between the thought of getting enough sleep or turning in a paper on time. But because you're in college and you're paying several thousand dollars a semester, if not more, you decide to screw sleep and get that paper done.

There's a strange satisfaction when students complain to each other about how little sleep they've had or how much they've had to do. The wish for more sleep is genuine, but one can't help but feel a sense of smugness radiating off the individual who can say they were up til three or four, and woke up less than four hours later to do more homework. It wasn't the best work that could've been done, but hey it still got done. Right? Maybe I'm just deluding myself, but I've felt this pride.

Why is it that people can be proud of the stupidest things?