Tofte Fish Project

This is ceramic shell coat #9 on the lake trout. One more coat of the slurry, let dry, de-wax, Vitrify molds at 1800 degrees for an hour, check the molds for cracks, patch if needed, pour bronze into the molds, chill, break off the mold material, cut off the extra metal, design and manufacture a system for mounting, sand blast, patina, and finally wax the finished bronzes. Then build the net that the fish will be mounted to.....see, nothing to it.

Tofte Fish Project

Finishing up a project to be installed in the park in Tofte overlooking Lake Superior. The idea is to show life sized fish that inhabit the lake along with some reference to the people who fish commercially for our Lake Superior species.
The picture shows the beginning of the casting mold making process. I have five herring made in wax from molds I took of actual fish. The big one is a lake trout. This is what they look like after the first coat of the refractory mold material. 9 more coats to go.

Here is the trout with the second coating, called a stucco coat there is a fine sand added to the matrix of mold material. 8 more coats to go. This will take several days to accomplish.

Celebrating the Art of Living

Join Last Chance Studio and Gallery this evening for the opening of "Celebrating the Art of Living" featuring the work of Artists whose work adds meaning to our lives.
Legacy Urns and Commemorative Art; Tom Christiansen
Fiber Art and the "Tao of Foolishness"; Korey Thompson
"A Few Last Words: Your Guide to the Art of Self Memorializing" ; Author and Painter, Jack Becker
Ritual Pots; Kristi Downing
Intentional and Legacy Jewelry; Kim Vorel
Opening reception tonight 5 to 7
Saturday 10 to 5 with presentations through out the day.

Fabricated Urn

"Soaring"

This one I call "Soaring Over the Wheat Field". For some reason that is what came to mind while I was forging the bronze plates. The star is nickel silver.

More Urns

As I have been working on urns the past two weeks it is amazing to hear how many people have ashes in a cardboard box. This one is more permanent.

This one I call "Lifeline"

This is "Sun and Moon" or.....

"Moon and Sun" the opposite side of  "Sun and Moon". Please join us at Last Chance on Friday, August 13th for a reception from 5 to 7 opening "Celebrating the Art of Living"
We are featuring the work of Kim Vorel, Jack Becker, Kristi Downing and me.
Saturday 10 till 5 presentations by the artists and more. www.lastchancefab.com

Urns

As long as I'm working on urns I thought I would post a picture of one I did years ago for Marcia's dog Spot. Spot's ashes are still in a cardboard box but the urn sits on Marcia's desk. Always a reminder of her beloved pet.

Next I will be working on urns from cardboard patterns. Might as well make a permanent card board box.

Good Pour

The two urns poured well today. I plan to do a patina that will make these objects look ancient.

Legacy Art, Making Urns

My friend and colleague Paul Linden turned two wood patterns for me to try for urn shapes. This process is a bit more complicated than most of the molds I make so I thought I would post a fer pictures to show you how this works.

Pattern and the two halves of the mold. I cut in embellishment directly into the sand mold. Sun and Moon and Star symbols.

 Here the core is inserted into the mold, the three marks on top are the sprue and two vents. The sprue allows metal to flow in, the vents allow air to flow out.

The other mold nearly ready to assemble. I will try to pour these two tomorrow.