Over the past weeks, the construction and creation of Sentinel in wood has been completed, with in-the-making changes evolving and taking effect. An essential part of the making – as Sentinel is not a simple scaling-up of the maquette but rather a development in terms of material and dimensions – has been responding intuitively to these changes and resolving them. Due to the hand-carved and meticulous nature of the construction this involved a number of intuitive and calculated risks to reach a point of balance and tension that will finally be realised when the piece converts to metal. All the intricate and naturally occurring surfaces that emerge from the splitting of wood, intentioned carving and shaping will be brought into an entirely different register once the casting in metal is complete.
A major change was the introduction of clean, planed ‘planks’ in the top-most section of the work to interrupt the otherwise dense surface detail of the lower sections. It also created a different form of ‘barrier’, more dense and wall-like than those below.
Today, Sentinel is delivered to the workshop of London Bronze Casting for moulding and preparation for direct casting in aluminium.
This process will be the subject of the next post, working alongside the technical team at London Bronze Casting where Sentinel will convert into its final form in their foundry.
