Title Plates for The Ephemeral Knot

The rough waxes of the title and name/date plates for The Ephemeral Knot. On either side of the plates are castings of human finger bones, specifically that of a fourth proximal phalange. Note all the air bubbles in the lettering that need touching up.

The corrected wax title plate and a few other items on the sprue tree.

The corrected wax name and date plate on the sprue tree.

Brushing a skin coat of investment on the waxes.

At the foundry, pouring the bronze into the plates' investment mold.

The beauty of molten bronze.

After several hours, the mold is broken open and the removal and cleaning begins.

The rough bronzes. Unfortunately, the title plate has quite a bit of flashing. Flashing is a common casting defect caused when molten metal finds tiny cracks in the investment mold. Minor flashing can be fixed but the title plate will have to be redone. The name plate flashing is slight, and should clean up well.

Opening the Investment Mold for "The Ephemeral Knot".

I was a bit worried about how the arm would turn out because of how much bronze was used. If a metal sculpture is too thick, the cooling process can cause cracks or collapsing. Prior to investment, I thinned out what wax I could from the underside, but much of the sculpture had to be thick for future tapping and bolt placements. But everything formed well, and I'm really pleased with the level of detail.

Detail of the rough bronze.

Starting the removal of the investment.

The majority of the investment removed. There are some bones and pine cones for future pieces.

The arm removed from the sprue tree. There is still quite a bit of finishing work to do.

Foundry Wax and Investment Work for "The Ephemeral Knot".

This will be my largest bronze sculpture as of yet, although there are larger ones to come this year. The brush on rubber mold with plaster mother mold worked beautifully, and I got a usable model on the first wax pour. The mold is going to be poured in bronze soon, and I'll be heading into the foundry this weekend to see how the piece looks.

The brush on mold of the arm sculpt with a two part plaster mother mold.

Filling the mold with wax.

The wax arm next to the original clay sculpt.

The wax arm is touched up and attached to a wax sprue tree and pour cup.

Putting on the detail coat of plaster and sand investment.

Main Sculpt for The Ephemeral Knot Completed

The main clay sculpt for the upcoming bronze, The Ephemeral Knot, is finished. The completed piece should invoke the wax anatomical models of Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" in Florence, Italy, which I was fortunate enough to tour.

The piece is a not too subtle reminder of childhood mortality. The obviousness is hopefully excused- for with classic form comes classic symbolism.

The next step is to make the mold for the investment wax.

Gratitude goes to Rebekah and Leif Hansen, for allowing me to life cast their daughter Nova's hand and arm. And thank you, Nova.

Gallery Talk at FAM

A heartfelt thank you to all who came out last night to hear me give my talk at the Freeport Art Museum. It really meant a lot and I felt very welcome. There were great questions asked and it was a memorable exchange of ideas and thoughts. Thank you so much.

Cast Glass Placenta and Bell Jar Finished

The bell jar for the upcoming piece, Ossis Fateor Memoria, is finally complete. Many thanks to two Wisconsin glass artists for assisting me in creating what I had envisioned. Steve Feren helped me invest my wax placenta sculpt and did the glass casting. Richard Jones of Studio Paran completed the cold work on the glass placenta and helped me attach it to the bell jar. I thank them both for their time and patience working with me.

The original resin sculpt of the placenta.

The cast wax placenta.

Removing the cast glass placenta from the investment mold.

The finished cast glass placenta attached to the top of the bell jar.

Welcome to the Studio Blog, Version 2

With a new web design comes a new studio blog. I hope you got a chance to enjoy my past posts from the previous website. Version 2 will start anew and sorry to those who missed the first round of blogging. Here you will find the progress, usually very slow, on all my different artwork mediums: sculpture, drawing, and illustration and design.