Final Production

I am pulling my hair out trying to get everything packed and ready to roll.  I am taking several stone and cast metal works with me along with most of my tools.  My first destination is Denver to drop off the sculpture.  Then, I am continuing on to Marble, CO to attend the marble carving symposium, completing a new piece and returning to the Loveland Invitational portion of Sculpture in the Park.

I thought I would also take this opportunity to showcase a couple of my finished MassArt cast metal works.  Complete with patinas and bases.  I was able to achieve quite a nice range using Birchwood-Casey M20 for everything but the Cicada piece.  For that I experimented with Ferric Nitrate.

Cicada, Bronze, 2"x2"x8"

Pirouette Macquette, Bronze with compressed paper base, 4"x2"x5"

Twister Macquette, Aluminum, 3"x4"x8"

Bird Macquette, Aluminum with compressed paper base, 3"x3"x8"

Stretch, Aluminum relief, 4"x 7"

Stretch II, Aluminum, 4"x7"

The larger models and reliefs shown here are aluminum with a graphite and wax patina.

All images Copyright ©2009 – Greg Spitzer

When it rains…

The pours are coming so fast now, I am having trouble keeping up..

Quite a cache of goods!  And, this isn’t even all of it.  When I took this shot, I still had a couple of small pieces to retrieve from the Mass Art foundry.   I had written off four of them (two small models and two aluminum reliefs) after the pour a couple of weeks ago.  All of the ceramics had cracks that were patched on the fly using green patch.  However, a couple of them had crumbled into several pieces.  I didn’t really even look twice at the broken shards, but Mr. Gabbard suggested that we try to recover the parts, glue them back together and try again during last Monday’s pour.  That worked and we also came up with the idea of using the bronze reliefs in sand castings to recover the aluminum copies that I wanted to try.  Those came out perfect.  So, all my work actually made it.  Eleven pieces total.  Amazing.

I am now in the process of finishing them up.  Quite a bit of grinding, sanding, polishing and evetually patinas to come.  But, I am very happy to be this busy.  I have already finished three of the aluminum castings (two large model pieces and one of the reliefs).  I am amazed at how good the butchers wax / graphite combo looks.

Here are a few additional images from the last pour.  I only got shots of the  aluminum action, I was a bit too busy during the bronze portion.  I was on the dumb end of one of the larger crucibles and it decided to crack open just after we got it filled.  About 120 pounds of molten metal emptied onto the shop floor in a matter of seconds.  Everything worked out though, all of the students work had already been poured at that point.  So, it was just a matter of a little bit of clean up.

Mr. Gabbard pouring aluminum into ceramic shells.

Christine & Mr. Gabbard

Flame On!

I am happy to report that the Mass Art Foundry is back online.  There are still a few bugs to work out, but for the most part it was an enormous success.  I did lose a couple of pieces to stress cracks, but they weren’t total losses thanks to Mr. Gabbard.  We are going to try those again in a two weeks during the next pour.

In all of the excitement I ended up on the working end of the aluminum crucible.  After my 10 second training session I was terrified but diligently pouring from the crucible into small [test] cups held by Zach’s TAs.  Unfortunately, with all of the activity (including accidentally spilling a small amount of hot metal onto the glove of one of my instructors) – I did not get any shots of the action.

So, I have included some new images from the Hillside Sculpture Studios bronze pour earlier in the day.

Two pours in one day!  Amazing!  I have to say that HSS was a bit more organized, but Mass Art had all the flash – the new kiln and both the bronze and aluminum furnaces running full tilt.  Glorious!

Mass Art, Final Exam – Lost Wax?

I am very disappointed to be making this entry.  You may have noticed the total lack of posts / images related to the course I have been taking (Foundry Process in Sculpture).  Initially, I could not have been more psyched about this course.  The instructor of this continuing ed course is extremely knowledgeable, open to new ideas – and very innovative.  The shop is outfitted with virtually every metal working tool known to man…

The big BUT is, that after our initial – labor intensive – sand casting & metal pour night there has not been another one like it.  Actually, we have not been able to pour any metal (aluminum or bronze) because their most awesome new burn-out kiln – is still not working.

So, we have all been busy making wax models and coating them with investment.  All the while being told that everything would work out and we would get to finish our work.

You might remember a similar situation in the movie, Money Pit.  Every time Tom Hanks or Shelley Long ask when their house re-build is going to be finished – the answer is always the same – 2 weeks!

Well, the last night of this 9 week course was this past Monday and no kiln.  It is surprising to me that the class was ever even offered for the Spring semester.  I found out the first night of class during our tour that the replacement was in progress (it was pretty obvious since there was a huge hole in the wall and the entire basement floor was just above freezing at the time).

Something must have gone wrong somewhere on the drawing board because even though this project started along with the semester, rumor has it that the required inspections are what is holding up completion.

And that is just the inspections.  The kiln needs to be run through a couple of test runs and burn in.  After that, a trial run with actual ceramic invested wax objects (hopefully, not mine) since this particular arrangement has not been used within the facility.  The old system was tried and true, but the new manner of supporting the ceramic shells may present some challenges.

You might be asking yourself – what does a burn-out kiln have to do with pouring molten metal?  Well, since the kiln relies on the same systems (electric, HVAC, gas, etc.) as the rest of the equipment – it had to all be shut down.  The old kiln was removed in pieces, so no falling back on that as a last resort either.

I wish I could tell you that it is just a matter of time before things are back in full working order.  The only feedback I have gotten to my recent inquiries is a link to a questionnaire that might lead to a focus group forum invitation (perhaps on my second try?  I did not hear anything after submitting the same form a couple of weeks ago).

Not sure how the regular day crowd is dealing with this situation, but if you are planning on taking any continuing education courses…  I wish that I had asked a few more questions.  Although, it’s probably just a matter of another – 2 weeks!

We’re closed now..

If you didn’t make it down for the show, you’ll just have to wait for next year I guess.  Although, nothing is a sure thing – David & Charles didn’t even participate for the past two years.

Anyway, I posted an album on my Facebook account for a virtual tour.  Here’s the link: http://preview.tinyurl.com/m79xam

Enjoy!

Flying Sparks

I just wanted to take a few minutes to post up a few shots of the New England Sculptors Association (NESA) metal workshop from a little over a week ago (4/18).  It was presented at the Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School by Neil Mansfield.  He is the lead instructor, NESA member and expert craftsman in many metal related fields.

Here are a few images of Neil’s demonstrations for basic metworking techniques.

Cut-off wheel

Checking the color

 

 

 

 

In case you would like to see more of Neil’s work and/or contact him:

Neil Mansfield Metal Art

Show Time!

After spending the last week working on finishing minor details on four new pieces – not to mention doing some spring cleaning – the weekend is here.  And, the weather is supposed to cooperate and be wonderful too.  So, please come out and join us either tomorrow or Sunday for our open studios:

(For additional information, see my last post regarding West Medford Open Studios)

West Medford Open Studios

It is still a couple of weeks away, but I should put something out about an upcoming local event that I am participating in.  This is my first year, but the town of Westford is celebrating its 10 anniversary of  Open Studios on the weekend of April 25th & 26th from Noon to 5 PM.

West Medford Open Studios Map

West Medford Open Studios Post Card

Mass Art Update

Sorry, I haven’t been very good about getting anything more posted since right after the first bronze pour.  The plate came out very nice after cutting all of the sprue metal, polishing and basic patina work was done.  I will get a shot or two of that eventually, but I thought I would just post a few new images from the class.

We are all working on Project 2 now, which is to create wax model(s) that will be coated with ceramic investment.  These will be burned out in the new kiln – hopefully and then filled with bronze / aluminum in the next few weeks.

Sculpture in the Park

I found out yesterday that the work I submitted for review to the Loveland sculpture show and sale was accepted for 2009.  I am very excited, thrilled and scared.  This is a huge step for me and a great opportunity to further my full time art career.

Here is a link to their home page and I will appear under the artists link once they post them for the August 2009 show:

Loveland, CO – Sculpture in the Park