Almost Done...Final Step? Build The Base!!

Here's a detail shot of the gorgeous patina we just completed at Polich-Tallix Foundry with patina artist Rosemary Rednour. We started out with my classic Fireball Patina but ended up with what I'm calling Rattlesnake because the final mix reminds me of the timber rattlers and copperheads we encounter when climbing at the Gunks. 

What's the final step? Build the base & schedule installation! I'm leaning towards a steel, trapezoidal design that will raise Acrobat about 21"-26" above ground level...

If you would like to contribute to The Acrobat Project, peruse the Sculpturezoo Art Gallery to purchase my original art & jewelry, or click on the RED donate button on the Sculpturezoo homepage. Thank you for visiting. Enjoy the Zoo!

SHARK!

I’ve always wanted to abstract a sleek and fearsome shark, so this is my first stab at the stunning Caribbean Reef Shark, created during the wintry mix of sleet n snow that pounded the City today. The next step is to enlarge this 12” wire drawing to my normal “working scale” of about 2.5-3 feet, then add mass to the wireframe with foam and resin. If I manage to capture the formidable power, speed & beauty of this graceful predator, I’ll mold it & cast it in stainless steel! 

So this is the part where I'm supposed to just add my second photo, the side B if you will, of the same sculpture depicted below. But somehow in the midst of photo-editing I was overcome by an inane will to compose a childish rhyme to go along with it. One silly line led to the next until...well, there's really no fair excuse for it all. May I blame it on a recent weekend in CT with one children's book that could not be put to its fair, final resting place no matter how many pillows we buried it under, repeatedly!? 

I certainly don't want to overwrite the fine song already in your happy head so lets just say the book dealt with one particular redundant BUS ride and its incessant, screeching, howling, desperately in-need-of-oil (and a god-help-us how about a flat tire?) wheels...But jest, do I. My friends have an adorable daughter who I love spending time with. Maybe next time she will have moved on to trains. Trains are good. Trains are fun plus they're a lot faster than buses and... 

P.S. I just wrote a book for Foster (i.e. Annette & Matthew & their Tenacious Bus Song Loving Crew) at the rest stop where I pulled over for coffee on my way to the studio today. I'm about to start the drawings/story-boarding. It's about my beloved kitty Mischka of course...in no small part inspired by conversations with Bunny and our hilarious weekend experiencing Annette's SNL-worthy speed-reading juxtaposed with Matthew's Broadway-beating performances.

Going Bonkerdoodles Today in the Wax Room, w/Pete & Repeat

It’s no secret I hate wax. I should replace hate with loathe. Despise? Maybe detest is better. Except that sounds too academic. Oh, I #^%@&*^ wax! 

Chasing, in case you're wondering, is the innocuous term for smoothing out every single unsightly nick and scratch of a wax prototype, and filling any untoward dips and undulations that deviate from or threaten the integrity of the original sculpture. Any imperfection undetected during this stage will show up in bronze, where the labor to rectify it is increased by a factor of 3. Hence the endless mind-numbing pursuit for flaws in the wax. Since the material is inherently soft, repairing one side of a form invariably nicks the opposite side. Pete & Repeat ad nauseum.  

The tedious, interminable, agonizing wax stage is a necessary phase of bronze casting. To get through it I take constant breaks. For water. Coffee. M & M’s. I read inane celebrity news. I hang from the rafters. And blame my apathy & indolence on undiagnosed ADHD.

But I'm almost done! Next week we’ll weld up “Acrobat” to set the mounting angle, and cut it back up into 4 sections for final gating to prep for casting. Wax, schmax. Grinding, filing & polishing bronze? That’s The Part I am Looking Forward To!!!!!! I think it’s safe to say everyone in Polich-Tallix’s wax room is looking forward to that too.

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Acrobat, wax prototype, 7'3", by Dave Stevenson, Polich-Tallix Foundry