Aster Art House
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foundry.log · 6 entries

Foundry log

Process photographs from the foundry in New Mexico where Padar casts. Entries follow the work from wax to metal to patina.

Pieces seen in progress at the foundry may belong to other artists who cast there. The House credits Padar only for Padar's own work.

Date to confirm

Parts before assembly

Larger pieces are cast in sections and welded together. The parts wait on the bench, still rough from the shell.

Hollow cast bronze parts laid out on a steel bench
Cast parts
Cast bodies and horns waiting to be welded together
Fitting

Date to confirm

The workshop

The metal shop, where cast parts are joined, chased and fitted.

A welding bay with red screens, a welder and hoses on the wall
Welding bay
The welding bench with tools and small bronzes on it
Welding bay

Date to confirm · lamp-no-1.work

Lamp No. 1: wax to bronze

The figure is modelled in wax, invested and cast. The metal comes out of the shell with its seams and heat colour, and is worked back to a clean surface before patina.

The lamp figure in dark wax, seated on a table edge
Wax
The cast figure on a foundry bench, heat colouring at the joins
After casting
The figure in bare bronze on a steel workbench
Bare bronze

Date to confirm

Torch patina

Patina is built in thin layers. The metal is heated with a torch and the chemistry is brushed or sprayed on, a little at a time, until the surface holds its colour.

A small bronze on a steel disc, set on firebricks under the hood
On the stand
A blue torch flame playing over a small bronze on firebricks
Heating
A gloved hand directing the torch at the bronze
Heating

Date to confirm

Patina tests

Before a patina goes on a finished piece, it is tried on offcuts. Heat brings the colour up through the metal; the tests record what each pass does.

Small bronze test pieces on a steel bench, heat-coloured blue, violet and gold
Test pieces
Four round bronze test discs with blue and amber heat patina
Test discs
A patinated test disc beside a grinder on the bench
On the bench

Date to confirm

The wax room

Every bronze begins as a wax. Sprues and gates are added so the metal can flow in and the air can leave.

Wax pieces on a foundry shelf, some with sprues attached
Waxes on the shelf
Wax rods and gates on a shelf, ready to be attached
Sprues and gates