Lucas is Flying Like Batman!

I love it when the foundry calls and says that a sculpture is ready for completion and can ship home to its rightful owner. I especially love it when it is a posthumous sculpture. I have worked for months trying to find and get to know my subject. Once found the sculpture must go through the bronze process. This means that the work that I labored on and enjoyed for so many months is now cut into pieces. When those pieces finally come back together in bronze and I see it, it feels like seeing an old friend.

Today I went to the foundry to look at Lucas. I still need to go back in the next week for one final look over. The foundry is checking out all of the final details. We decided that this sculpture should have a base, especially because the client wants to put it in their home. Though it would be best if they secured it to their floor just to be sure that Lucas does not “run” into anyone. The base is created and engineered to accommodate the weight of the sculpture, the cape and the action of the piece.

A bar was welded on the back of Lucas so that he could be hoisted in the air. It will be cut off after the foundry is done with the sculpture. Miguel takes a piece of wood cut in a shape for the base and shows me what that same piece, created in metal will look like. As he hoists Lucas in the air, I can’t help but think, “he really is flying like batman!” I know it is strange but I can feel Lucas with me when we are at the foundry looking at the piece. I took a wax replica of that wooden piece back to my studio to put a sort of grass texture on it. Now that will be cast and everything will be welded together.