Reassembling – once the bronze was cleaned the next job was to grind off the spru’s and any inwanted bronze left over from the casting stages.
The joinging edges of seperate pieces of the bronze were smoothed and bevelled slightly. This bevelling would create a channel for the weld to join the sections.I think the last time I did any welding I was 16 so I couldn’t remember what to do, also last time I had done MIG welding and this time we would be using TIG.
Stephen patiently taught me how to weld. Working at such a small scale, learning to obseve when the metal was at the right moment, tacking on an creating careful seams and joins reminded me of to sewing.
Each stage of investment/lost wax casting requires you to be so present whether its becaue you are working with such high temperatures of the moulten metal, fragility of joining materials with heat or attention and patience needed in creating the moulds.
Chasing – Once the welding was completed we had to remove all signs of our work. I carefully worked back the protuding weld using various different grinding tools and then, removing any of my hand, working back in the detailing of the rock and preparing the bronze for any patination.
