I was able to catch a bronze pour.

While at the foundry I was checking on things and I happen to be there durring the pour of part of the praying man.  Here it is.

Pieces of prayer in different stages

I visit the foundry weekly checking on things. This weekend I worked on the waxes of the rocking chair when returning to the foundry the praying man is in pieces and stages throughout the area.  Here is what I have seen over the last couple of weeks.

A bronze hand

They prayers in pieces.  

Coming together

floor is through the process of wax, gates, and dip and sits
awaiting the pour of bronze. 

Banging away at the bronze shell is the
only way for the shell to come off of the
bronze.

This head looks vaguely familiar as it is covered
with a shell.

The burn out and the pour.

The many pieces of the praying man will go through this next stage of the foundry process.  First lets recap. These are the steps that have taken place so far.

• Sculpting
• Mold making
• Wax
• Cleaning of Waxes
• Gating up
• Dipping

I was not at the foundry for the pour of the praying man, things are very busy around the studio as we are getting ready to start the Grambling Tiger and my daughter is getting ready to birth my granddaughter.  I'm a bit preoccupied.   I do, however,  have these stages documented from the previous sculpture of Evelyn and The Prairie View Panther.  

In this video you will see that each of the wax pieces are put into a very hot oven.  The wax melts out of the shells.  This is the reason this process is otherwise referred to as the lost wax method of bronze casting.  The shell where the wax once was will now hold the metal.  

Gating up and a dip

I'm going to the foundry weekly to check on things and make sure things are looking good and that we are progressing on the sculpture.  This week I saw that many of the waxes of the praying man were gated up. This means that wax rods were put in place for the gases to escape. Pouring cups were added as well. Then each of these pieces are dipped, many, many times. Depending on the humidity this can take several days. Other molds are having wax brushed in them. Still others are almost ready for a metal pour.  The many pieces of the sculpture are in various stages of the foundry process.

The gated up pieces  of the praying man wait on a shelf.
They must be dipped many times. 

The floor is gated up and ready for pouring. The wax
sits in their molds while they awaiting the dipping. 

In another area the wax arms of the chair are waiting my approval. 

The inside of the bible and bottom of chair receive
many coats of wax.  

This video shows the dipping process of another sculpture. I was not at the foundry at the time they were actually dipping the praying man sculpture. The sculpture is dipped in the slurry mixture and then covered with a sand mixture. A shell is made both inside and out. The shell must hold the detail of the sculpture, and be strong enough to withstand the metal that is poured into it.