Hecate
Bronze. 2/3 Life-Size
Bronze. 2/3 Life-Size
This figure was sculpted from the live model, then I pulled a mold. A year later I pulled a wax from the mold, and I poured a solid plaster core inside the wax to add structure while I carved back into the wax. I carved the wax figure as a break from creating Orpheus & Eurydice. In one of the foundry heats, I invested her and poured her along with the commissioned work. A friend had turned me on to switching out the primary wax spru-bar for a rigid foam trim board. I had used this method a few years prior with great results, by this time the trim boards had been infused with fire retardant- in other words, they don't burn. That is, not until hit with 2,000 degree bronze. Then it turns directly to a gas. This makes for an exciting pour, as the air vents on the giant investment jet out spinning blue-green columns of flame that roar like a fighter jet. The result is the amazing losses where gasses pushed back against the molten metal, and boiled.
I cast an extra face for her on a subsequent pour, that lays at her feet.
I cast an extra face for her on a subsequent pour, that lays at her feet.
The following images show Hecate's new base of welded steel.
