Single Portrait 5

 

This was a very straightforward and simple portrait that went fairly easy and turned out nice. No picture of the bronze as of yet.

24" Dept of Vet Affairs relief

These 2 images above are what was submitted to me for reference on the sculpting. The flat relief pattern from the foundry was also sent to me.  It was not completely necessaryto have their wood and polymer pattern, but it helped me to make sure that the relief sculptings I was making would fit fine. Next time I will just have them submit measurements to me.

I sculpted the eagle, flags and border portions in clay first. Applying the border directly onto the pattern for exact sizing on the circle.

Once approved, I made resin copies so that they were not succeptible to damage in shipping. I mounted (glued) the resin parts to the pattern and sent them to the plaque company's foundry ready to mold and cast. We still haven't been able to get a good photo of the finished bronze yet.

Single portrait 4

Here is another pretty standard single portrait that turned out well from start to finish. And the plaque company I worked with was able to aqcuire good photos of the beautiful finished bronze.

Nascar portrait 2

Here is another recognizeable Nascar hero. I did these portraits for a plaque company working with the client. The photo of the bronze plaque is not very clear. But the shots in the videos are much better.
Here are a couple more to check out. The 2nd video is a bit long and shot from far away, but at the 3:20 mark they unveil the plaque and talk about it then set it in the concrete.

Nascar portrait 1

Most sports people probably recognize this guy. The plaque company that hired me to do this portrait had done it twice before, unsatisfied with previous renditions of the portrait. So they let me take a crack at it and had a good reaction from at least the foundry workers that saw it. I still have not aqcuired a good photo of the finished bronze, but this video shows them putting both of the plaques these portraits went on in the ground and there are some pretty good video shots of the finsihed bronzes here and there throughout the clip. Check it out.

 

Or, if that doesn't play, find it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQSV6z30QiU

Single Portrait 3

Another single portrait for a plaque.

Custom border

This is a custom size border pattern I produced for a plaque company. I sent the wood & clay pattern to the foundry who applied text and background texture by way of one of their photopolymers. I don't think this far right image is the one I made. But it is very similar to what I was looking at when I made the piece, and I'm sure the finished product is very similar.

I made the pattern using an mdf panel, small wooden dowels, glue and clay. I still have the mold for this one as is the case with most of my work.

Single portrait 2

Another standard sized bas relief portrait for a plaque. These are typically cast separate from the plaque and later attached with machine screw(s) through the background with a washer and nut on the back side of the plaque. 

Blackberry Lane

This is a good example of how I can help develop a concept with sketches first. Then, build the entire pattern for the foundry. These patterns can include custom borders, background textures, custom depth requirements, clean graphics as seen on the top right. This is a design I made and had a company produce the same type of polymer the foundries use. I made a mdf (wood) bacjer and reverse border with protrusions for bosses and studs. I then applied clay to the background to create a custom texture. I can apply custom sculpted or flat graphics to any of these design. On this particular project I used sculpey clay. I really don't like it, but for the purpose of baking it hard and then applying it to the background, it did the job. The hardness offers good stiffness in the sand mold, so I wouldn't have to make an initial mold to cast a rigid resin.

I ended up making a polyurethane mold and making a wax copy to produce it through a lost wax foundry in the end, because the sand cast foundry I first used to cast it in aluminum couldn't get the aluminum to cast without alot of pitting and gas bubbling getting to the surface of the plaque. However, in the future I would probably just have this cast in a sand cast foundry for cost and time concerns. I was eventiually able to get the damaged, pitted aluminum plaque welded and repaired. Again, more time and cost.

These are all the images of both the aluminum and bronze plaques. Depending on the light, it's hard to tell which is which. The bronze was finished with a silver nitrate patina recipe and then hand-painted on the leaves and berries. I really enjoyed seeing the project through from start to finish.

small portrait

This is a pretty small portrait, similar in head size to the dual portrait cameo, about 3-4" head height. I prefer to work a little larger. The 5-8" range is nice. Never got a picture of it in bronze.

Soldier

I always enjoy sculpting faces of those our heroes who have died fighting for us. I feel reverence as I stare at their faces for hours. It makes me reflect on their great sacrifices and how I benefit from them.
This one gave me some problems though on the sculpting. I kept feeling like the photo was squeezed down vertically, giving the face a more squatty appearance. I aqcuired some other photos of the subject for reference and discovered I was correct, so I slightly elongated the face. I'm not sure I got it exactly right but they approved it. Nice looking bronze plaque in the end.

Single portrait 1

This is a portrait that required a few revisions to be worked out with the client. In the end, I think the likeness was pretty close. I was never able to aqcuire from the client any pictures of the finished bronze plaque. 

Dual Portrait Cameo

7x3" oval cameo for a cemetery headstone.