Prairie View Panther
Panther- Burning Out The Shells
Each of the shells is put into a very hot oven and the wax is burned out. Meanwhile bronze is melted in a crucible. In less than two weeks the panther must be together.
Panther- Dipping The Waxes
Each wax is gated up. That means that they have pour cups and sprues added to each wax piece. The sprues help the gasses to escape when the metal is poured. When they are gated up, each piece is dipped several times in a slurry mixture. There is no hurrying this process. Time is taken to create a good ceramic shell. The ceramic mixture is both inside and outside of the wax pieces.
Panther-Waxes
In each of the molds pieces that we made a wax must be poured. There are over 30 mold pieces. Some of the waxes that are poured in these molds will be divided into smaller pieces. Some waxes need to be put together, and all are inspected and worked. Shirley has helped me in the studio and works diligently at the foundry, here she is having some fun with the panther head.
to the next step. It is a lot of work, and our very large panther is in many pieces.
Where Is The Panther?
Many patches of rubber are mixed and applied to the pieces. Slowly we are whittling away at the sculpture. Body parts adorn the shop, while plaster molds bake in the sun and wait to be delivered to the foundry.
Panther- The First Coats Of Rubber
The pieces, once cut and cleaned are covered in rubber. A mother mold of plaster will be put over these clay pieces. It is called a mother mold because it holds the rubber in place.
Panther- Going to Pieces
As part of the mold making process each piece must be cut and created into a mold. Some will be done in plaster others will have rubber and plaster. Soon the panther is shedding body parts all over the studio. Days are long and hard starting at 6:30 and going until 10:00 each day with crews switching out when possible. Many foundries create molds, our foundry is requesting we provide them with the mold to expedite the process. We will be feeding them the molds and they will be creating the waxes. There is a crew working in our studio and another at the foundry on the entire process.
Panther Foundry Process Begins- Mold Making/cutting Up
I lost a day of work waiting for the approval on Friday, and some of my crew can’t work on weekends, but I get started anyway. The first part of the foundry process is making the molds. Believe it or not, the sculpture must be cut up into many, many pieces. Seems a shame, I know, but it is just part of the process. I’m dangerous with a reciprocating saw.
Everyone comes to check out the panther
A group of people from Prairie View have come to see the Panther and approve it. I’m sorry I did not write down everyone’s name. If someone can assist me in this, I would greatly appreciate it.In this picture, artist Bridgette Mongeon, _____, Clifford Stiles, Don Williams, Professor Talley, and Paul Miller the taxidermist.
Panther- Final approval
We receive final approval from Prairie View today at 3:00. We have had a crew waiting all day to get going on the bronze process. There is no rushing these next steps. I’ll record them here so everyone can watch what happens.
Panther Changes
There are several changes that are done to the panther. Taxidermist Paul Miller gives me a hand, so that we can meet our deadline. It is a late night, but he is a trooper hanging in there until 2:30 in the morning.
