'Bumper to bumper' turtle sculpture - work in progress 4

I got the pieces back from the foundry nicely patinated, picked up the granite base, had some holes carefully drilled in it at the relevant positions and have assembled 'Bumper to bumper'.
Voila!
Finished.
The above pics I snapped at home with my Canon powershot, the one below was done professionally.
More stuff on my website.

Sprightly down under

I got a bunch of pics emailed to me from someone who had taken their Sprightly mouse with them on a sightseeing trip to Australia.

Not sure how they got a pic of him on the airplane's controls, unless it was a local flight from one house to a neighbor's house several million miles away (I've heard Australia is BIG and there's lots of empty bits).Since he is essentially a bronze ice pick, I'd be surprised if you could get him on a regular flight.
At least there's lots of wet bits around Australia's edges to take the sting out of the overall dryness.Not sure what a road train is exactly, but Sprightly has the best seat in the house.
The pics were taken by Bobbi Valentine, who is the director of an organization in the Santa Fe and Espanola areas doing all kinds of kindly things for unfortunate critters.
Check them out here.
And more bronze critters on my website.
UPDATE!!!
I just got another email saying the following...

'Love the blog. Actually, I wish I had been able to photograph or video the reactions of the security screeners at the numerous airports. At one airport two x-ray screeners and a supervisor were huddled around the monitor and I heard “is that a rat”

I calmly responded that his name is Ralph Sprightly and he is going on his first overseas trip. The looks were priceless and of course they wanted to see him. A backlog of 20+ people resulted as Ralph emerged from his special carrying case. He was a huge hit. After being patted, he resumed his journey in the comfort of the main cabin [never in the luggage].

The captain and co-pilot of the QANTAS 747 were delighted to meet him, hence the photo at the controls upon landing at LAX


Kind regards,
Bobbi Valentine'

'Senior Moment' elephant sculpture is back from the foundry...

I'm excited to see that my elephant patina is looking good after a close scrutiny up close and personal.
I've taken some pics on my Canon powershot which is good enough for web purposes but not high enough resolution for any decent size printed output.
Also, my lights are pretty small. It's getting to be a stretch for them doing sculpture this size (20" tall)
So it's getting photographed elsewhere with a higher res camera and better lights.
Mind you, I like the way he's looking in my pics.
Nice job Bronze Smith.
More goodies on my website...

'Bumper to bumper' turtle sculpture-work in progress 3

Well my turtles are cast, and patinated too thanks to Kristen's handiwork at Bronze Smith foundry in Arizona.
We have collaborated on several pieces now, most recently my elephant in Rodin's thinker pose.
The pics from the foundry aren't perfect for color, you can see the difference in their appearance from the two shots of the main turtle both indoors and outside.
I think that browny colored background inside is white (or neutral gray).
Strangely he grew an extra claw on his back foot during casting!
Actually, there was a rod running around the outside of the claws to allow the metal to flow to the ends, and it seems the end of the rod got confused for a claw at metal chasing time.
All better now though, my turtle now sports the correct complement of claws on his feet.
When I get the partly submerged ones they will need to be attached to the 32" long polished granite base so they can be reflected in its shinyness.
They won't be arranged like this either, you can see what they'll look like in my earlier post.
I'm pretty keen to finish putting them together and see them all done.
Lots more stuff on my website.

Even more 'Nosey' how it's done...

Back in May I posted twice with various stages of making Nosey mouse from sculpting through casting, with all the steps involved.
There were some missing steps, some more of which are now filled in courtesy of Miles Anderson's pics.
His email is miles (funny 'at' squiggle) 3rivers.net
About all that's left is patina application, which I might add later.
The molten bronze is poured into a canister of investment material, which used to contain wax replicas of Nosey, but the wax has been melted out earlier leaving mouse shaped cavities inside the plaster like material. The wax mice were attached to a wax stick which made it to the surface of the canister. That is what leaves the hole down the middle into which the bronze is poured in order to find its way to the mice. To see the previous stages check out my Nosey posts in May.


The white investment material is cleaned away from the bronze once the bronze has cooled.Here's the pair of Noseys which need to be cut off the main sprue and have their tails welded on. Then they get 'chased', which is where they get all evidence of having been attached to a sprue removed, then they get sandblasted, then they get a patina (stay tuned)...
Lots more mice and other stuff on my website.