Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Wax Chasing in the morning...

Now that the big show is finished it's time to catch up on the work that backlogged. I have a new wax of "Bareback Bookworm" on my desk that I need to finish chasing so it can get to the foundry and also need a new wax pour made for "Do you know me still?" Both of these are going to be in the 2016 Women Artists of the West 46th National Exhibition and the American Women Artists 2016 Annual Master and Signature Show.
One handy though expensive tool is my Kerr Ultra Waxer 2. You can purchase a variety of heads to plug into either of the two hot tool handles and you can also dial in different temps for both of them. Additionally you can heat metal tools using an alcohol torch burner to cut, melt and manipulate the wax.
Unfortunately, wax castings really come as perfect replicas of your original clay and I can often spend 6-10 hours on a wax - resculpting areas that are missing or marred by bubbles and other problems not to mention the seams that come from the mold.
There is also a large pour spout that needs to be in the mold in order to have a place to pour the hot wax into the mold. This is called the sprue and when the wax sprue is cut off there is a gaping hole and needs to be filled and repaired before the piece is cast in bronze.
Here you see a boot before and after chasing - filling in missing spots and bubbles, cutting off protrusions and generally cleaning up the wax.
In the case of the hand and book (removed from the original clay sculpture and molded and cast separately) the entire thumb is missing thanks to an air bubble in the wax casting. That means that I will melt and attach wax to resculpt the entire thumb.


Monday, October 24, 2016

Big Tex Commission Sculpture



I received a commission from the Texas State Fair to sculpt an award to be cast in bronze. It is loosely based off their iconic monumental "Big Tex" that welcomes people to the Texas State Fair.

The finished sculpture is cast in bronze and mounted to Texas limestone base.
The first bronze sculpture award that I created for the Texas State Fair was awarded to Chief David Brown of Dallas Police Department.
Here is a quick snap of the sculpture in the board room of the Texas State Fair.