Fascinating example of the importance of sand blasting a piece before patinaing it.


I gave the back legs of this sandblasted guy a soak in vinegar and water to remove some investment material, and accidentally created a patina example. Check out the different patches the legs. The vinegar darkened his legs, forming a patina. The spots where I held him without gloves didn’t darken as much, due to the patina being impeded by skin oils. The spots, like the claws, where I’d just taken a grinder to, patinaed as well, but went golden. Fascinating! This is why it’s best to sandblast a piece right before patinaing it, to give yourself a clean spotless surface!
Sandblasting is also useful for spotting surface flaws, which is why I sandblasted this guy even though I wasn’t ready to patina him.

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fPkyjM

I’m cleaning up my piece from the last casting. Exciting to see it come together.


Most of the tiny ladders failed to cast. I’ll get a chance to cast some more soon, so it’s no big deal. They were a tricky propositions

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/fNGJfr

About 10 hours into the clean up of my freshly poured bronzes, and things are looking sculpturey!


The big guy has a lot of welding to do.

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/mYB8oM

While working on sculpting claws for my big guy, I gave him some paint tape booties. The result is adorable!

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/mwMcuM

Almost done. So many vine, so many leaves


I was having trouble keeping visual track of the flowers, so I cast some out of red sprue wax and used those.

via Flickr http://flic.kr/p/mtnFov