7.20 am Saturday Morning: Gutting!
So, I decided to go into the foundry today to continue with some work I’d been doing before I started doing my enlargement at Marcello and Roberta’s studio. Given it was only half a day and I’d have to get back into something I hadn’t touched since tuesday before last, I decided to try to get a full 5 hours in before the foundry shut at 12.
Last night I packed myself a little breakfast of biscotti with nuttella instead of having my usual porridge, and I thought I’d supplement it with a strong ‘cafe’ from the wax room.
As I was cycling there through a very quiet Pietrasanta, I suddenly had a worry as to whether they would be open. I hope there isn’t another strike I don’t know about. Or would it be quiet as it is nearly the end of the month. At the end of February there were only a handful of people there on the saturday as the rest had already done their maximum number of hours for the month. But that time the 1st was the monday, Its not the 1st till Thursday.
But yes, as I approached the foundry there were about 2 cars in the carpark and only a single vespa, and most of the foundry was in darkness, including both the ‘officina piccola’ – where my 1st bronze is nearly finished – and all 3 of the wax rooms. I still walked all the way up to the wax rooms, just to double check I couldn’t get in… then on my way down again saw Enzo from the ‘Fusione’ department, who confirmed that hardly anyone was in as they’d all done their hours already. He said normally if people are going to come in, they’d be in by 7, but some might come at 8.
So, here I am back at the flat, with a mug of earl grey sitting on the terrace on a slightly chilly grey morning! I’m going to go back a bit after 8 and hopefully someone from the office will be there to let me in to the wax room. Or if not, I might spend the morning in the office looking through the catalogues and books on the artists they work with. At Marcellos I discovered that he has some amazing books, including Mythologies about Helaine’s work, and a survey of Dana’s work between ’82 and the late 90s I think.
So, before I go back, I will pick out some of the shots of the ceramic shell process I took a few weeks ago and add them to this post.
