Resin, resin and more resin

This is the model or maquette that Grant built for the commisson. He works off it to build the full scale sculpture.

It's now like a tiny off-spring.

The boys have been trowelling on layers and layers of resin to build the curves as well as fibre-glassing the centre twist as a lifting point.

The work has been fairly tedious as there is not much to show at the end of each day. Just a lot of crusty, dried resin in their hair and all over their clothes.

Mark said he has given up trying to wash his work clothes. They just about stand up by themselves now.

They are so close now to finishing this part of the work. The whole sculpture is ready for a fibre-glass layer and then the finishing skim coats are applied before painting.

Grant said last night that the end is in sight....
















Off-Spring with resin dust.

 

Award winning sculptor

Grant sent this sculpture up to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show sculpture exhibition and won first prize for formed work.

We were absolutely chuffed.

A delightful moment. It is fantastic for Grant to have this acknowledgment for a lot of very hard work.

Meanwhile, back at the studio, Grant has been working on a private commission in between Mark's visits. This little water drop or tear drop shape is just about ready for painting and will be attached to the side of the steel column below.

Once the shape is attached, the top will be welded on. The steel is cor 10 steel which only rusts for a few millimetres on the outside to create that lovely colour. The sculpture is to go in a front garden.

Resin

The boys gear up ready for applying the resin. This is one of the final stages before sanding and painting.

Grant is measuring out the catalyst which makes the mix harden. The other ingredients are resin and a filler.

The method Grant uses to build the sculpture is a boat building technique.

The resin, filler and catalyst go into the bucket and are mixed to a wet cement-like consistency for troweling on the sculpture. The mix needs to be used straight away before it hardens and so small batches are made up at a time.

The first of many layers are applied. It is smelly stuff and this is the first time that a sculpture is being built outside. It is a vast improvement to being in a stuffy studio with all those fumes.   



Grant is still working on the fibre-glassing for the centre.



wire meshing

The next step is to wrap the whole sculpture in wire mesh. The mesh is cut into lengths, wrapped around each pod and then tightened to fit snugly by twisting the wire with pliers, as Mark is doing here.

This process is repeated 3 times with different grades of mesh

and is a fiddly, time-consuming job.

Meanwhile, Grant was fibre-glassing the centre twists of the sculpture to strengthen it as a lifting point. When the sculpture needs to be moved and installed, this is where the straps will go to lift it with a crane, and so it needs some heavy duty reinforcement to prevent cracking.

 These two are never far away. They spend a fair bit of the day rolling around playing and stirring up the dust.

 Job done. It is nice that the project goes in steps that can be completed. Each new step is looked forward to and then by the end, the workers have had enough. I think Mark would be happy to not be twitching wire again for a very long time.

Afternoon smoko.