Images and details galore

New images and further detail of the iron casting process is on my flickr page. It's very brief. I hope to post up a more detailed explanation soon, as well as pics of the finished products!

Hey, nice camera!

Those pics turned out reaaaal nice, Tobes. Here are some of my own!

Blacksmiths have big vices (says Jim)

Jim had some radical iron-ironic t-shirts.

Here's the furnace before:


And here's the furnace after:



And here are my head models, made in modelling clay:


The middle guy was made in air-hardening clay which wasn't ideal, particularly if you've got what are called "undercuts". The gurning guy with the teeth above the middle dude is an example of a model with undercuts.

Effectively, these heads were put into resin-impregnated sand when it was still soft, so all the bits inside the mouths behind teeth and up the noses etc were captured in the softness. But once the resin sand hardens, about 30 mins to an hour later, you've got to get your models out. If they're made with something that's hard, like wood, for example, you'll wreck the resin sand mould by forcing it out. So I was able to pick out all of the bits of still-soft clay after the resin sand hardened, thus keeping the undercuts intact.

More info on how they became cast iron later!

Indeed, forthcoming posts include a How To for those inexperienced in the great art of iron casting.

My favourite part of the week? Breaking Agas with a sledgehammer. Now why didn't I get a shot of that?

Some more pix, hot from the presses..

...The most exciting part of the process... Even more so when you add a dose of the spectacular and witness a pour in darkness. The brutal heat of the iron becomes all the more apparent.

Yo Aleks ...

... as far as I can see, everything should now be set up to let you have admin rights and start adding stuff. Want to give it an inaugral go?

some links

This chap was a key part of the workshop at Coalbrookdale last year and is one top dude - apiece of his work: http://www.toolstroke.com/ - an unfortunate url if you're a Brit!!! ;-) ... http://www.depauw.edu/acad/art/PicturePages/aluminumpour.asp ...

Here's some info about the recent iron sculpture convention which was held in Coalbrookdale: http://www.robertbullard.com/clippings/robert_bullard_exhibition_of_cast_iron_art.htm

Coral was on the course last year. Unfortunately her place in New Orleans was badly affected by Hurricane Katrina. I'm pleased to hear that she was able to recover most of her work, although from what I've heard her workshop is a write-off. She's a top lass, so here's withing her the best for the future: http://www.corallambert.com/

semicircular

.... and this small scall abstact piece...

Leaf...

All of these are scratch block renditions of macro photos I took. This one I'm particularly pleased with...

...and some more...

knuckles!

...

Hello once again - here I sit, covered in ingrained graphite after another successful and fun week up at Coalbrookdale. You'll have to excuse the low quality images of the following finished pices, but the only camera to have to hand is a crappy MMS phone (sans bluetooth!) - so these'll be a bit pixeley. I'll post some better looking images later...