Camp Host Tour

 Almost every year when we are in Loveland, we visit the Benson Park Sculpture Gardens, an amazing place with all types of bronze statues.  This year,  all of the camp hosts at Boyd Lake State Park went on a tour through Art Castings of Colorado, where bronze and steel statues are created.

Bob, Patty, Ron and Nancy were  relaxing in the reception area before the start of the tour.  Below, is a small piece that caught my eye since it involved a family camping in their tent.  The family dog is even helping out by holding the stick with marshmallows over the fire!

After the artist has created the sculpture in clay or wax, a mold must be made. The piece is covered with liquid rubber and plaster.  If the piece is large, it will be cut into many smaller pieces.  The gentleman below is using molten wax to build up thin layers into the mold with a paintbrush.  The wall will vary between 3/16 and 1/8 inch.  After the rubber has cooled, it's pulled away from the hollow sculpture.

Afterwards, spruing takes place,  which is where wax sprues are attached to the piece to allow the molten metal to flow into every nook and cranny.  From there the piece is dipped multiple times into a ceramic mixture and covered with very fine sand.  It can be dipped anywhere between 8 and 14 times!

 Here is a large piece being held up by one worker while the other gets ready to dump the sand.  Below are pieces that have gone through this process and are drying before going into a kiln.

Out comes one batch from the kiln, and behind it is another one waiting to be baked at 1600 degrees.  Surprisingly, it was not that hot in the room due to enormous fans and coolers, unless you were close to the kiln.  All of us stayed behind the yellow line!

After baking in the kiln, the worker has placed the pieces into sand.  The man on the right is controlling the bucket full of liquid metal which has been heated to a temperature of 2000 degrees.  The wheel allows him to raise or lower the bucket as he pours.

Even though this guy has on a protective mask, gloves and clothing over his upper body, notice that he has nothing over his jeans.  I bet he is very, very careful not to spill a drop!  That would hurt!

After the items have cooled, the ceramic outer coating is broken off.  They have a large machine for this process.

This huge moose was patiently waiting to be sanded and finished after being welded together.  One of the men working on this piece estimated it will take two weeks before it's done.  Pneumatic tools are used to grind down all the rough places, smooth out all the weld spots and add texture.  This ensures the finished piece will be just as the artist envisioned it.  I wonder where he will end up?

This guy looks a little perturbed that he was left by the side of the wall.  Maybe they are searching for the lower half of his body.  

This lady had waited long enough, and lost her mind...at least part of it!  

We all were impressed by this set of razorbacks being made for the University of Arkansas.  Actually, there are 6 of these, the other 3 were offsite.  The lady doing the sanding was working furiously since they had to be completed in two weeks.  After this stage, they still needed a patina finish before being shipped.

Multiple pieces were at their final stages as our group passed by.

And one of my favorite pieces was this precious bunny:

I would have bought him right then and there, except for a few obstacles:  cost (major $$$$$$$), how to transport him home to Arizona and how in the world would we get him into our back yard!