Newsboy-Putting The Metal Together

March 16-April 30, 2005
Sculptor Bridgette Mongeon has documented the entire process of creating a figurine of a newsboy and a life-size bronze sculpture. Watch the artist work through these posts. In this blog, she has also included information for students and teachers. In the previous post, we watched a bronze pour.

If you are lost and want to go back to the chronological running list of posts, follow this link.

It is so much fun to pop in at the foundry and see the newsboy come together. The first day that I came to see how the metal was coming along I was greeted by these upside down legs. It made me giggle. Miguel, the foundry craftsman was working diligently on the metal. Each piece of the sculpture, once the ceramic shell is broken off of it, and it is sandblasted, is gone over very carefully by the craftsman.

I was quite concerned when they cut up the legs of the newsboy the way that they did, so they wax could be dipped and then it could go to metal. I knew they would have to weld these pieces together and I had put texture in the knickers. If they welded the legs together they would have to match my texture. Miguel, the foundry craftsman is absolutely incredible. He made his own tools and then painstakingly pounded the texture into the legs. Amazing!

Piece by piece the sculpture is being welded together. You can see that things are really coming along. With cutting and piecing at so many different steps in the process, it is a relief to see the newsboy back together and that everything is fitting. The newsboy has a handle on his head. This handle is to be able to keep the sculpture standing when they are fitting the pieces together. We are getting closer and closer to finishing.

Time to move on. There is more to do with putting the metal together and Whoops! There was an error that needs correction.