Thursday, May 1, 2008

Working For The Brand (at the foundry)

A bit of a side trip from the clays. One of the things bronze artist's do is make trips to the foundry. That's what I did today.
So I traveled to Art Castings in Belgrade Montana. It's one of several foundries I work with.
They are in the process of finishing up the 1st bronze casting of "Working For The Brand". A monumental size bronze (over 6 feet tall).
Below you can see the ceramic molds hanging on a rack, while the foundry men pour molten bronze into the mold of the head. This was several weeks ago.


Now you can see pieces of the bronze being cleaned and prepared for welding them together.



Almost fully assembled. A lift strap holds the bronze upright and allows the workers to lift and shift the bronze as they work on it. The blackened areas are where they've welded the different pieces together.



Here you see the bronze is having the lariat attached under the cowboy's arm.



Today the bronze is in the final stages of clean up and repair. Below are several views of the bronze at this stage.
You can see that bronze is really a white metal. If you polish it, it can look like brass.




This bronze will be colored on the 12th of May.