Metal sculpture

My interest began by accident. When our children were young, we took the to 'The Summer University'. It was an activity based holiday run at Loughborough University. The courses you could do were very varied (from yoga to making violins, from local history to painting, from water sports to model engineering, ...). The children also did their own thing, which they loved. I wasn't sure what to do the first time. Nothing took my eye, but the course on metal sculpture mentioned welding, which I thought might be useful to learn, so I signed up. It was an excellent course, and although it included some welding to produce art out of scrap metal, a lot of the time was spent casting bronze sculptures. We used the 'lost wax' process. Make a wax model and encase it in plaster, then heat the plaster so the was melts and runs out. Pour in molten bronze. Let it cool, remove te remains of the plaster, clean up your sculpture (repairing any bits that didn't cast properly) and polish as required. It sound easy, but it was quite hard work.

The results are all round the house, and some of them are shown in the pictures here.

The griffin is a 3-D version of the emblem of my old school (Brunts, in Mansfield). The eagles and dragon are subjects I like. I presented the two trophies for the striking competitions of my local bellringers (Sonning Deanery). The dog is made out of bits of old machinery welded together. The spring tail wags if you push it, and also acts as a useful holder for a walking stick in the hall. The hang glider pilot is cast in bronze, and the glider itself is made out of thin welding rod.

Not shown here are many things cast in aluminium

Pictures

Click on images for larger version.

Griffin	Eagle 1	Eagle 2	Dragon
Trophy 6-Bell contest	Trophy 8-Bell contest	Dog	Hang Glider front
Hang Glider side	Hang Glider pilot

All material Copyright © 1980 - 2007 John Harrison.