sculpture

I'm not sure if I mentioned anything about this in any of my last blog posts; however I made another sculpture for my class.

My concept was based on the Greek myth of Icarus, who make wings out of wax, however he flew too close to the sun and his wings melted and he died.

 This was the first time that I’d ever made something out of bronze, it was a real challenge.  Not everyone in class chose to bronze something; however I thought that it was a great opportunity to learn some new techniques for future use.

I just realized that the pictures that I took of the waxing process are on my other computer, so I can’t upload it today.

For the process, first I had to mould the wax into the form that I wanted to cast, and then I attached some wax rods to the bottom (piping) so that, when the bronze is poured in, the gas bubbles can escape through the rods.  After that I had to make a mould out of plaster (and some other stuff), then it went to the foundry for the pour.  When I got it back, I needed to cut off the excess metal, sand and polish it.  Then I used some chemicals to give it a blue stain.
 
Then I put in on to a piece of old wood that I got from a bonsai nursery and left it in a dry bin in order to grow crystals on the bottom (I bought a crystal growing kit from the National Geographic store).  In the mean while I made the wings out of wax, and attached it to the figure.  The crystals ended up being small, since all the crystal mixture ran down to the bottom, but it still created a nice effect. 

bronze figure



blue stain

crystals, detail

crystals, detail 2



left wing



right wing



figure, close up

full body

final piece