Patinating the Bronzes

Today I started to colour the bronzes. First of all I am applying a black ground using a solution of Potassium Poly-sulphide (Liver of Sulphur). Over this I will apply Copper Nitrate the resulting patina will be a traditional green on black.

Heating the bronze and dabbing on the solution.

A rick black patina.

Bronzes to finish

On Friday 25th I received the last two bronzes from the foundry.
They'll now need a little bit of finishing and then patinating.

I'm aiming for a traditional green patina.

I'm hoping to have these finished mid week.... then they can be installed.

Plick... work in progress - Day 2

Beginning to refine the shape using a surform.

I sit amidst a sea of polystyrene... must wash my boiler suit!

End of day 2. The piece is beginning to take shape.
Once I have refined the shape I will coat it with finishing plaster to as pristine a surface as I can achieve. I will then take a mould from this to cast the fibre glass sculpture.

Installation

Today at 8.30am my Castleford 'Memory Map' was collected from the studio.

Once on site the base for the piece was carefully lowered into place.



After months of design, fabrication and planning the project is finally complete. The Map is in its home and my job is done.

Plick... work in progress

Today I started to rough out the core for my piece for the Oldham ICC.


End of day 1.... still a bit to go!

Nearing Completion

The base is now complete.... I am just waiting to take delivery of the bronzes.
Tomorrow (March 17th) the foundation pad is being laid ready for the final installation.

Conversation Lozenge Blocks

The 'Conversation Lozenge' blocks have now been fired.

Pointing

This week I am mostly pointing.

I wasn't looking forward to this part of the job and it is proving to be trickier than I had expected. My technique may be seen as somewhat unorthodox but the end result will be okay. Hopefully by Friday I will be one step closer to finishing this project.

Castelford Piece Nearing Completion

The foundation has now been laid and I am currently preparing to install the finished piece. I've spent the past 3 days building the base... I'll spend the next few days pointing it.

Hopefully I will be installing in about a fortnight.

The base is built on a 15mm steel plate. It will be lifted into place by HiAb. Using my gantry today I tested the lift. The piece weighs just over half a ton. I was slightly apprehensive about the lift but so far so good!