Foundry Day

 

This past Monday was a foundry day where we dropped off new waxes and picked up the raw bronze castings. In the above photo, the waxes are carefully placed in our vehicle for the 50 minute drive to our foundry. We go to the foundry on Mondays when the studio is closed because the trip there and back (with time to discuss the pieces) takes up about 3 hours. Foundry wax is dark chocolate brown in color and must be handled with care as it is susceptible to marks if it is bumped or scratched. The red colored wax parts in the upper right hand box are cast in hard jewelry wax that is used for thin parts such as the spider crowns and arm sets.

In the above photo, some of the raw bronzes we picked are being positioned in the vehicle for the return journey to the studio. We added a few more castings and padded the pieces against bumping and rolling after this photo was shot. The large central piece in black plastic is the stem for a Bamboo Sr. Floor base.

Here is a peek at our work table on the lower level of our studio with bronze castings at various stages of completion. Some bases have their light clusters already completed and are awaiting patina and finishing. The 18 Light Lily table lamp in the foreground has had its patina and is in the process of being wired. After snapping the photo, many of these bases returned to their holding stations so we could clear the end of the table in order to continue working on the pieces.