Friday, May 16, 2008

Coloring Cheyenne Courtship

Just less than 2 months after delivering the clay of Cheyenne Courtship to Northwest Art Castings in Bozeman (check 03-26-2008's entry on this blog), I head to the foundry to color the first finished bronze copy of this piece. May 15, 2008, 9 am.



Below are photos of the naked bronze. Sandblasted and ready for coloring. Bronze is white colored. When polished, you get a brass look.

First thing we do with the raw bronze is set up the canvas, so to speak, for the colors that the acid and chemicals will produce on the surface. Isac is shown spraying the chemical Potash, known by most people as Liver of Sulfur. this gradually colors the cold bronze black. Where colors, such as, skin tones are applied, the black needs to be rubbed off. Isaac rubs back the black color back down to the bronze with a Brillo. Video below the photo's shows this as well.


Isaac now starts to apply Titanium Dioxide to the heated up bronze. This gives the bronze a white finish. It's kind of like an artist who starts with a white canvas. The white finish will be the base color for all the colors that will now be added.


Detail painted areas are now added.



The following is a collection of videos shot over the 8 hours it took to color this bronze. Issac Lowe is the Patina Artist. In real life he's an artist as well. You'll see Lance Dubois doing a little metal grinding on the lower part of the ladies dress. We found a blemish that needed to be corrected. Sometime you don't see problems till you start coloring the bronze. Lance assembled all the many pieces and parts of this bronze. He's a master welder and metal worker. Without people like Lance, Isaac, and ladies like Ashley who worked on the waxes, bronzes like this would never be produced. Hope you enjoy this 3 minute video.

Finaly, here are a few photo's of the finished bronze, with base and name plate added, ready to be shipped out to the gallery or client. Less than two months from delevery to the foundry to out the door. That's a great turn around time

I hope this helps you understand the massive amount of work that goes into producing a bronze of this quality. Check my website. http://www.bronzesbylemon.com/ occasionaly. This bronze will be displayed there in the next couple of weeks, along with a discription and demensions. Of course all my bronzes can be purchased. Go to my website if your interested.