Visit from The Playlist

Steve Ash and Karen Sunderman of WDSE/WRPT along with Lester Morrison of Last Chance

Yesterday (7 May) was busy and fun here at the studio. Karen Sunderman and Steve Ash of the program "The Playlist" PBS North paid us a visit. Karen and Steve shot video of our work on the Duluth Public Art Project. Lester was working on the last wax (a piece we miss-cast earlier), I was welding and both Lester and I did a pour. We were also vitrifying the final round of molds to be cast and Steve shot some footage of the molds in the kiln. Look for broadcast of this segment later in May. I'll post here when I know the date. You can keep more up to date with the Playlist schedule here.

A few years ago Karen and Steve came to the studio to do a piece on our work here. You can see a portion of that show by clicking here. This video also shows Wayne Potratz my friend and mentor. I want to thank Karen and Steve for the terrific work they do on behalf of the art community in the north land. Having the exposure they are able to give us broadens our audience and gives us a sense of accomplishment.

It has been several weeks since I last posted but we have been working very hard. We have nearly all the casting done with only one mold failure. Not a bad ratio for the number of molds we have cast.

Duluth Public Art Progress, 13 April

Making good progress on the project. We are being extra careful on the mold making and adding insurance in the form of sand molds over our ceramic shell. This adds perhaps another hour per mold but insures we don't have to start from scratch if a mold fails.

Final 3 sections of the legs, all the debris in the background is waste. But if one of our shell molds were to fail we would not only have 30 pounds of molten bronze on the floor we would have to start the wax process over. The sand mold is insurance to prevent this from happening.

Make shift blower. To dry the shell cores (inside the mold). I found a sleep apnea pressure device that blows a gentle 8 cfm, split the pipe and put ends into mold. Works great!

Arms right out of the molds

Body section, because these are so big we are coating one side at a time. To prevent the wax from spreading out from the weight of the mold material screws are set next to the wax, blocks are underneath.

We will be casting body sections early next week and assembling of the casting will start right after that. By next weekend I should have the female figure pieced together, can't wait!

Duluth Public Art Faces and more

The female officers face

male officer

arm sections in the ceramic shell room with the first coat of liquid

The pictures of the faces are taken after the initial clean up and a quick sand blast. I'm pleased with how well the castings came out. The final 3 sections of legs are in the kiln and should be ready for a bronze pour tomorrow. The arms are in the first coat of the ceramic shell process.

Here at Last Chance Fabricating we use a product called Shellspen. It is a very good product and makes the process easier because we don't have to keep our liquid silica mix in constant agitation. I did this for a number of years with an elaborate mixing machine and lots of difficulty if the power went out.

Ceramic Shell Molds

Here are 10 of the more than 30 molds we will need for the Duluth Public Art Project.
These are 3 leg sections (2 have been completed) and the badges and arm patches. These molds are half way through the dipping and stuccoing procedure. Next round of molds I will take a few more pictures to help explain the process.
When these are finished we will start pouring bronze and should be pouring twice a week for the next 4 weeks.

Preparing waxes for investment

Lester doing wax work

body sections, some with sprues added

wax heads and arms

The past two weeks Lester has been using the molds we created from the clay figures. He is brushing wax into the molds to create the hollow wax copy of the original sculpture. The red tubes you see in the pictures are wax as well. The red wax creates a system to introduce bronze into the pattern (sprues)  and to evacuate the air as the bronze is poured in (vents). I have been sculpting the patterns for the details, badges and shirt patches.

Polytek Spray mold system

Removing metal shims, you can see the flange dividing the figure in half.  After this step we sprayed on the rubber mold material.

Here I am prepared to spray on the plastic mother mold. Note two red pegs sticking up on the figure. Lester had the idea of using rubber grommets embedded in the plastic to help facilitate removal of the mold.

Spraying action shot. The loaded gun weighs almost 15 pounds. It was worth while to build the figures to be able to lay them down horizontally. Much easier to spray down and much less over spray.

Lester using air pressure to help release the mold.

Mold sections, even though we used air pressure to release we ended up peeling clay off the armature. Actually , this works very well as it's easier to reclaim the clay.

Of the 20 molds we made this way we only broke one. The plastic material was easily repaired with a 2 part epoxy made for plastic repair.

The face after peeling off the mold. This scrapes off the ears and damages the figure. No matter the molds are perfect.

These are photos of  the female figure taken over the last two days. It shows how we are using the Polytek Spray Mold making system.

A more feminine Deputy

A much less bulky body, thinner face and more friendly expression although the harsh light hitting her face isn't the most flattering. Her pony tail doesn't show here either. If you look back in the blog the difference is apparent.

Big Plasteline Figures

It's been a while since I have shown you a picture to put things in scale. This is the present form the Duluth project is in. Reworked the female figure quite a bit. She is more svelte now. A few details to go on the figures then the mold making can begin.
Representatives from Duluth Police Department and St. Louis County Sheriff's Office are coming to visit tomorrow. Hopefully they will be pleased.