Exhibition upcoming!

I've posted this over in the Exhibitions section - but thought it worth repeating here (I'm that vain!) A big thanks to Andy Preston for putting the poster together for me.

Dates will be from the 1st to the 18th of Feb 2011 - private view on the evening of the 5th.

More info also here! - http://artsite.ltd.uk/exhibitions

Tobes

Winter is upon us

The first frosts have arrived, and therefore working in the Shack becomes a bit more... 'Shackleton' like. Although the thin insulation we glued on last year has stopped the worst excesses of the condensation, we still get the odd drip - and in really cold weather, its like being in an ice grotto, complete with stalagtites!

I've several projects which need to be got on with - Aluminium Overcast #3 (which I'm hoping will have a home over at ASI, the people who strip down old airframes - www.airsalvage.co.uk ), a piece I've entitled 'Square Pegs in Round Holes, plus I want to make some 'optical moulds' for glass blowers. I spent a fantastic weekend over with my old friends Andy and Becky Potter ( www.pottermorganglass.com ), being given a brief introduction into the art of glass blowing. I had a fantastic time - enjoyed every minute of it, and have come away feeling very inspired. If is wasn't for the fact that I'm nursing a bout of man flu, I'd be cracking on today.

I spent last weekend up at the shack starting prep work for Overcast #3 and having a general tidy up. It has to be said that the shack is *somewhat* chaotic at the best of times - but it felt good making some space and tidying things into some sort of order.

Ok - catch you all soon.

Tobes

Latest news...

Its been a while - but I'm busy back at college and Johns been off sailing the oceans blue (or at least the lakes and rivers). More casting activity to follow soon!

In the meantime, I've been exhibiting as part of the 50/50 show at Artsite in Swindon. I've had a couple of serious sounding enquiries regarding my piece 'Aluminium overcast #2' - PLUS Matthew Hamilton-Wright has taken this rather fantastic photo of it:

"Project Cage" update

This week saw significant steps being made with my latest project. 

I left off last time having all but finished the (giant) sand mould.  Here it is, completely finished and ready to pour (well, actually it was set on its side to pour, but this is near as damn it ready and it looks quite pie-like here, which I like).

Toby and I then poured the thing.  We paid extra special care to the quality of aluminium used and to the additives we introduced to the molten metal because (as always) I was after perfection.  Here is the piece fresh from the pour:

And now, with the inner sand removed, quite a lot of flashing, but it was all very flimsy stuff:

Finally, after hours of vigourous fettling, I ended up with this:

It turned out quite well methinks.  In fact, Toby was so excited, he needed a lie down:

The next step will be to smooth and polish the outer surface and then start work on the interior piece (I'm thinking a brass lost wax effort as per "Tobyesque" would look nice).

Take it easy folks!

John

Busy week

Just a few musings over a busy week. First off, I spent a charming day in the company of Ms Joanna Bell, restoring one of my babies, Naissance. The unfotunate sculpture had suffered a bit in the heavy winter - but a bit of tlc, some new plaster (and plenty of tea from Joanna!) had everything back as it should be in short order. Here is Naissance looking nice and new is her lovely surroundings:

John's due over early tomorrow and I'm hoping we can both crack on. I need to work on a special request - a contact wants me to make a unicorn, plus I need to get a shift on with a fish for the Waterpark!

Toby

Addendum from John.... here's Toby working on that Unicorn:

Back on the blog

I have indeed been remiss with my blogging (see Toby's comment below).  having said that, I haven't actually done much of late - the allure of being side tracked into various Robson family projects often proving too strong to resist :-)

I have however, made some progress with "project cage" (see the photo of the pinkish carved core in Toby's blog entry below).  For now, all I want to say is that it will consist of a cast aluminium "cage" (the carved core) and that there will be a central "item" (for want of a less ambiguous description) trapped within said cage.  It'll sit on some kind of lead-wrapped base.  Or maybe oiled wood.  Or possibly a carved potato.  Who knows.

John

Another week, no dollars!

Yesterday worked out.... 'okay' (let damn it with feint praise). The day kicked off with Bryn's white van arriving over at the shack just after us, so John and I helped him out raising up some steel steps up for mein landlords, Ma and Pa. Bryn's cunning use of tie-straps and the van had the thing hoisted into position in double quick time - though not without my mind quietly playing the Casualty theme and musing over the correct first aid treatment for crush injuries. Anyway, its up in place now -giving Mum and Dad access once again to the top of the barn (which also contains some of my junk - BUT in contradiction to my Pa's goadings, its MOSTLY my sister's!)

Then we adjourned to the house for the dreaded ball-of-the-foot. I won't dwell on the unedifying spectacle of our national team playing like a bunch of strangers - or Capello's frankly bizarre selection. I'll simply let the following photo express everything John and I felt about it ;-)

Anyway, after that I busied myself grinding off some flashing from the three plates I cast over at The Bullpen - though apart from loading the car with the brazier, thats about as far as my efforts to tick things off the to-do list got, I'm afraid. Doh. Well, in addition to the things already listed, lets actually add a few more:

1. Making up polystyrene bases for the 'sea shell' castings.
2. Start making up pattern for fish casting for Cotswold Water Park (potential commission...?)
3. Sending a link for the site over to Garden Art in Hungerford to see if they might be interested in any of our work.

John cracked on with his carved core - a very strong form - picture below. He's been remiss with his blogging of late, so I'll let him tell you about it!

Oh, John's been working on some mighty fine looking cards to help promote The Shack. More on these soon!

Toby

A to-do list for tomorrow...

Back to the Shack tomorrow (with a compulsory break to go inside the house to watch the dreaded ball-of-the-foot. As it's against Germany, subsequent posts tomorrow MAY be alcohol influenced)

Anyway, here's what I've got to remember:

1. Take unused Alpha-set mold from last week's iron casting to use as possible carved core
2. Take 'sea shell' pieces to develop new mounts (these featured as part of the Belgravia exhibition - I was never happy with mounting all three together on a carved cell-block plinth. I had a moment of inspiration yesterday looking at some barnacles... More on this to follow!
3. Cut top off old beer barrel to make mini-brazier for home garden & fill punchbag with vermiculite as supplied by Bryn (its not all art here you know!)

More soon ;-)
Toby

Here's a nice thing...

Was browsing around for sites related to casting when I stumbled across this picture of a piece by Jim Wade which is sat in my front room as I type (http://www.internationalfe10.com/gallery.php). Toby

A Long week of fun and friendship

 I've just come back from a week's frolics up at the excellent Bullpen Arts Center, working on a series of pieces which have been cast in iron. As I type, three of them are sat alongside me awaiting wire brushing, fettling, chasing and tidying up. Another piece, weighing a good 100lbs, is sat outside as I'll trash the floorboards if I try and bring it in on my own!

Although I didn't really try much new in the way of technique, I learned quite a lot this week. The first conclusion to draw is about the limitations of sodium silicate as a mold binder: large mold elements which get handled regularly are extremely soft by comparison with the equivalent made up from Alpha Set. In fact, some of the mold elements which people were working on would have been simply impossible using sodium silicate. All of the other artists on the course said that they'd had bad experiences using sodium silicate at one time or another, so I'm wondering about investing in a tub or two of Alpha Set. Another clincher for me was the way in which Wez and co. mix theirs up: Unlike the laborious and drill-knackering technique used up at Coalbrookdale of running a drill/plasterer's paddle in the mouth of a bladeless cement mixer, The Bullpen crew simply add a few irregular lumps of iron to the sand and chemicals - these bits flopping around seem to mix everything in wonderfully well. The other top-top picked up from a chap called Casey was to add the catalyst BEFORE the resin. This (despite the John Winters instructions) seemed to result in a much stronger and more even mix which set fantastically solid.

I'd really recommend the Bullpen to any potentially interested parties, be you an artist or a backyard caster - Wez and Helen are lovely people with a fantastic set-up.

More thoughts and tales of what went on - but in the meantime, here are some pictures, expertly snapped by the hand of Mr John Hardy:

and finally...

... before bed - a new and as yet un-named casting in aluminium and copper set on Bath stone poured this weekend and mounted/polished in very short order. This was the wax piece I melted out last session before I went off to Belgium. Despite my concerns that our wood and charcoal melt-out oven wouldn't have got hot enough (maximum temperature I measured was a mere 180oC), it seems to have cast very cleanly. Toby

Next steps...

A very busy week coming up: Its nearly time to go off to The Bullpen to cast up some new work - though lots of other things seem to be getting in the way at the moment (but, it has to be said, in a good way). First off - my mate 'Grinny' Bryn has told me that one of his building clients may well be interested in a bespoke cast iron fire back based on my piece 'Forever Auntumnal'. If I can seal this deal, I should be able to fund the rest of the course. All this depends upon now is Bryn being able to make me up a suitably large flask to cast a HUGE -scratchblock into... This was one of the calls I meant to make today before being side-tracked by other things. (Doh) ... Then I've got to get over to Ma and Pa's to cast up some large lumps of sand suitable as the cores for some carved core work - and I ought really as well to pen out some more detail for what is as yet, very 'back of a fag packet' plans for what I'm actually going to do! I've bought some interesting polystyrene shapes which I'm a mind to work on with the hot-wire as some burn-out pieces and I've also been collecting pictures of organic shapes where trees have grown through iron railings. This is something I'd like to try and replicate - so I have some cage like forms in mind which I'd like to create using a carved core which I'll then plant saplings within so that they grow through the iron and start to conjoin and choke when they become restricted. OK - I'm not being very erudite or clear here - bear with me as its late - maybe the following pictures will start to make what I've got in mind a little clearer...

The Belgian Influence

A couple of weeks break from the blog, as I've been off holidaying in my favourite European country (good friends, excellent beer, lovely architecture, fantastic food!) After a few recent hiccups, I'm hoping my life is getting back on a more even keel: The break has given me a chance to try and get a better perspective on my life, its value and the value of those I share it with. A new career beckons - hopefully one in which there is the chance to exercise some creativity, avoiding crushing bureaucracy and pointless process to boot, and maybe one in which the people I work with share a bond that stretches slightly beyond their own self-centered career ambitions...

Anyway, that slightly cryptic short piece of apparently self-referential indulgence out of the way, back to the news of the shack! Well, the two things ARE related, as I came back with a boot full of goodies from the stepfather of the lovely Fiona. A big SHOUT OUT (I'm so wid da kidz) to the very generous Stany! He donated me a set of Stilsons, some bolt croppers, two very useful sealable buckets (time to mix some more oil-sand methinks! The last lot is overflowing the cramped confines of a large Tupperware tub), a water pump with a mains powered electric motor which might well be the future power-plant for an air blower for our planned bigger and better butane powered furnace AND, last but not least, a very serviceable vertical mount for our drill... Lots of goodies to play with - enhanced yet further by our old pal Anthony bringing over a ridiculously cheap jigsaw from our preferred suppliers over at Northern Tool - the jigsaw might be a low-rent model but it actually cost about the same as a pint of beer down the local! Bless Anthony - and a curse upon the taxation policies of the politicians! I'm hoping the jigsaw will be just the job to wade into the manufacture of a load more messer blades...

Whilst John very kindly spent most of his time kindly helping Robson senior fit some parking sensors to his car, I cracked on and finished a new piece and to mull what I'll be doing in iron at the Bullpen next week. Pictures and musings to follow tomorrow!

Art as therapy

Its been a tricky time ... I was about to say recently, but actually, its gone on for more than two years now. Here's a blog toast to my being able to talk of it in the past tense very soon!

Coping with some of life's stresses and disappointments is never easy for anyone, but its fair to say that I've had a difficult time weathering the slings and arrows of the 21st century and have had occasion to battle with visitations from the dreaded Black Dog. Working in the shack on these projects really is a sort of ongoing self-therapy!

Creating art in molten metal seems to work really well for some odd reason: its a wonderful blend of satisfying the creative urge, of problem solving, of teamwork (ya cannae pour safely on your own!), trust ('is the pour full John?' 'Please don't tip that 750oc metal down my sleeve Toby'), adrenalin (opening the kiln to see a glowing crucible full of silvery metal still makes my heart beat faster), comradeship - and, when the finished pieces are on display, of meeting people and sharing ideas. Whatever bullshit, hype or dishonesty that the 'other world' seems to want to keep chucking our way, the shack is our retreat and our therapy rolled into one - helped of course in huge measure by the ministrations of tea and enthusiasm from my Mum and Dad; our hosts and (as its their garden!) patrons.

Here's to friendship - and the joy of creation.

Rocky working on some scratch-blocks

The Grosse Messer - passed with flying colours!

The prototype messer was taken to fight club last night and caused quite a stir of interest. Our in-house cutlery expert and fencing instructor Alan said some very kind words, including 'its the best prototype sparring sword I've seen'! Praise indeed! It also looks like it's secured at least half a dozen extra orders as a result - so a busy June beckons. I'm even hoping to cast and fabricate enough to take some up to this summers 'fight camp' - a gathering of the UKs medieval combat fraternity. Yes, I know that sounds odd, but this is a pluralistic country which celebrates eccentricity!

Anyway, dear reader, if you'd like a messer (historical background in the post below John's) drop us a line!

John in project completion shocker!

Finally, after many months of toil (and indecision) my latest project is complete. Here is the (long) story of how it came to be.

The starting point was a collection of copper plumbing pipes I had joined together for practise on a course I attended.  I wanted to mount these on a base somehow to show off my soldering prowess, but I felt there ought to be something holding the pipes away from the base - partly for aesthetic reasons and partly to enable "proper" attachment (rather than wiring or gluing it on haphazardly).

"What better to hold something than a hand" I thought - hence the idea for the joining piece "Fist".  "Fist" was made by first constructing a master from casting wax.  Using my own hand as a guide (but reducing the scale somewhat), I simply fiddled around with lumps of the wax until I got the slightly naive shape I wanted (it was never my intention to make a perfect replica of a hand or I would have made a mould of one).  Next was to pack it in sand (with the usual hardening agent added) and to burn out the wax in our bespoke burn-out oven (crafted by our tame master craftsman/handy-man Bryn).  This process is SUPPOSED to leave a perfect (negative) replica of the wax master in a rock-hard sand shell, however due to circumstances entirely within my control, (i.e. I messed up the sand mix), I was left with an almost-perfect-but-rapidly-disintegrating negative in somewhat soft sand.  This was NOT good as the wax hand had taken me AGES to make. Anyway, with a significant number of fingers crossed and with the help of Toby's steady hands (and a roll of gaffer tape), we managed to get the sand-pie to the casting table, whereupon we filled it up with molten aluminium. The mould seemed to hold (he rhymed) - at least it looked that way from the outside, so after a minute or two to let the metal relax we cracked her open... and... we had "Fist" - complete, with no holes and fairly minimal damage - success!

With the top two parts in the bag, the time had come to think of the base. Wood? Stone? Swiss-cheese? This remained somewhat of a conundrum until a nearby bohemian (Toby) suggested making use of a concrete block he'd made recently. Not questioning the seemingly random act of construction on Toby's part, I sprang into action chiselling away like a demented (and decidedly less skilful) Michaelangelo.  Some months later I had a roughly cylindrical shaped block with a hole in it ready to accept fist.  Here's a photo of the piece at that stage:

But what now...?  The concrete looked "OK", but it didn't really have a smooth enough finish to warrant staying in this state as a finished piece.  Some weeks of mulling things over and not doing very much ensued, until one day, that familiar bohemian voice squeaked "why not clad it in lead"?  Another genius suggestion from the Robson stable I thought and so got to work hammering flat some lead roof flashing and wrapping it round the base.  As a final touch, I buffed it up on the buffing wheel using one of our older, blacker mops.  This gave a really nice dark sheen to the base and brought "Project Fist" to its conclusion.

What next?  A selection of cast cores based around a central theme methinks ;-)

Until next time.

John

.... And they're back (with lots of news!) part #2

So, here's a picture of the finished piece, all tidied up and ready to go off on show at The Cotswold Water Park in the cafe - http://www.watermarkclub.co.uk/leisure_countrypark.shtml .

What else has been keeping me busy? Well, one of my weekday evening pursuits has been attending what we know locally as 'Fight Club'! Here I am breaking the cardinal rule - blogging, let alone mere talking about it should be verboten, huh?! Its actually a fencing /combat session run by a bunch of people who are interested in the reality of medieval combat - they're called The Messengers. Western culture has become obsessed by the apparent brilliance of Easter martial arts - but has seemingly forgotten that similar (if not superior) forms of combat had evolved in Europe over a similar length of time. Due to the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, many of the details of western martial combats were forgotten - however, this group are drawing upon the few surviving scripts and manuals from the time to rediscover the skills and techniques which were used. We're currently training using longswords, rapiers, daggers and bucklers. Another form which people are interested in is that of the 'messer' (shortened from the German 'Grosse Messer' - or 'great knife')... Basically the messer is a falchion - that vast array of weapon types which were similar in function to swords, but usually single edged and constructed more like a knife...(read on here if you want some more background!! - wikipedia link about the messer ) We have but one in the club at the moment, which means sparring opportunities are somewhat limited! Only one messer? How difficult could it be to make one? Well, the blade for our sparring version is made out of nylon rather than steel (limbless members of the group were unable to sign their subs cheques, so steel was quickly abandoned) - and in the version our in-house Yoda, Alan brought in the other week, it had a fabricated aluminium hilt. I had a look at it... and to be honest, I was unimpressed. The hilt was too wide and awkward to grip. ... Could I CAST one, I wondered?! Well, first off, I had to acknowledge that cast rather than sheet would be more brittle - but to be honest, the hilt is not subject to too much 'hard' impact trauma. Anyway, to be extra cautious I 'beefed up' the size of the casting to be doubly sure. I made the pattern out of polystyrene, as there had to be a central channel to house the tang of the nylon blade - and I like the fact that a single evening with the wire cutter, some glue and some sand paper would leave me with a functional pattern with out any of the worries of a complex multi-part mould. Et voila:

Here are a couple of pictures by way of comparison as to what I was trying to replicate:

... I wasn't that impressed by the historical authenticity of the 'Karakal' tennis racket grip either!

So! That was my challenge.... First off, I managed to get hold of a big sheet of nylon sheet  from a local supplier - the stuffs almost identical to what the white plastic chopping boards are made from. I cut a replica blade (though mine is slightly deeper to compensate for the fact that it wasn't quite as thick)

... so, here's my pattern attached to a very complex series of sprues - with FOUR pour ins (one at the pommel end, farthest away) and three up at the cross-piece end of the hilt. Once the glue dried (hence the pot of paints weighing it all down!) I added three drinking straw vents to the sprue, and carved two HUGE pour cups as I wanted to ensure a maximum weight of metal to ensure that it squirted down and through the thinnest sections of the hilt - which on the hand grip was down to only a couple of millimeters.

Behind is one of my trusty sand flasks which this monstrosity was transferred into before sand/sodium silicate was packed round and gassed... The furnace was heated and the crucible loaded with some of my best quality ingots.... A period of trepidation followed! John and I carefully worked out our pouring order and to make sure that the metal went in very fast - again, another reason for such wide pour-cups. When it came to the crunch we liberally sloshed metal into both ends and were gratified to see a rewarding spurt of metal blowing out from all three vents. Hurrah!!! Another off-shoot of this was that excess metal ran of the pouring bench and into the bucket of 'Elf an' Safety' water. Before it melted a hole in it, it solidified into some exquisite shapes. More (and this time deliberate!) experiments into pouring metal into water to follow ladies and gentlemen!

The results were VERY pleasing... There were a couple of holes in the handle where the metal hadn't quite met up over the thinnest parts - but as this wasn't a structural part of the sword and would be hidden under the leather grip, I wasn't at all bothered - all easily plugged with the same aluminium filler I was using to glue the tang of the nylon blade into the hilt anyway.

After an evening's furious dremel sanding, the sword is basically finished. Its currently up at my mate Rocky's place awaiting a final bit of planing on the blade... pictures to follow shortly!

.... And they're back (with lots of news!) part #1

Well, the last few visits to the casting shack have resulted in a plethora of work and some frenzied mould making, plinth carving and general fettling!

First off, the complex skeleton piece mentioned below is cast, fettled, polished and resting on a nice piece of honey coloured bath stone (cheers Bryn!). That was the complex polystyrene piece which featured in an earlier posting. The skeletal pieces I've cast before were produced in individual pieces which were cast separately and then threaded together along a piece of threaded bar which ran down the spine. This time however, I glued the vertebrae together with the ribs, creating a single piece. This was a bit unusual, but as it was a smaller piece, I thought I'd avoid the faff of lots of tiny elements - though with other attendant risks. I've noticed in a couple of pieces recently (notably the sword hilt - more to follow) that there is a natural weakness along the line of where separate pieces of polystyrene are glued together - and 'gaps' in the glue allow sand into the joint which then creates a stress-line and potential fracture point in the cast...

I attempted something entirely new with the casting of this piece. As usual, I'm running low on casting sand - so in attempt to get what remains to run a bit further, I used some lumps off of old moulds to act as 'plumbs'. Its something I picked up from building site work - to make concrete go further, workers would often tip/mix large lumps of hardcore into the concrete mix (if this is totally against building regs, don't blame me!!!). In the case of the mould for 'Shelleton' it saved an inordinate amount of sand - PLUS by having a solid core (which I shaped to math the pattern), it reduced the amount of warping/deformation of the polystyrene whilst I packed the sand around it... I'll post some pictures, and hopefully this'll illustrate the point...

Here we go - shaping a bit of an old mould to fit underneath the polystyrene..

... and adding some 'plumbs'...!

... and packing in and around with sand. I did this in two layers - one up to mid way and a final one 'over the top' with pour-ins and vents to act as a cap...

... as I said, a fairly complex mould - but one which poured nearly perfectly. The two cylinders are the pours (glad there was two - only one worked properly!!) - and the drinking straws are the vents) The only imperfection was that slight distortion of one of the ribs - caused by the packing process and the tendency of the polystyrene to flex...

We have been remiss...

Very few postings by either of us. Lazy aspiring artists! In summary, we've been over to the workshop several times since January. Challenges over winter have included battling with condensation dripping off the inside of the roof (solved in part with some more insulation!) - and we've also had problems with our sodium silicate not setting the sand as hard as it should - again, we suspect the dreaded moisture. We mights have to think about adressing the problem over the warmer summer months...   I've got several pieces in the making at the moment and I'm hoping to have these cast (with the evidence here!) over the next few weeks. In fact, lets start with this piece in progress - another variation of the ribs series. This one will be a lost polysterene (and will present something of a venting challenge!).  Toby.

Setting up for the Beehive exhibition

It's Sunday 31st Jan (2010) and Toby and I are preparing works for exhibiting at the Beehive, a pub on Prospect Hill in Swindon.  They have wallspace that they let local artists use for exhibiting works and Toby is making good use of that :-)

All the sculptures/castings/pictures are basically ready, with just one or two needing some last minute attention with a pot of paint or a lick of wood oil before we take the long walk down to the pub (it's about 200 yards from here).

The art will be available for viewing for a month, so do drop by if you are in the area.

Pictures of the display to follow shortly.

Fine snow sculpture pic #2

a fine snow sculpture....

New year casting

We braved the sub-zero temperatures in the wilds of Wiltshire on Sunday in the name of casting.

My work on "Fist" continued apace - have roughed out the concrete base and wittled the stub on the bottom of the aluminium fist so that it will fit into a hole in the aforementioned base.  Next step will be to grind the base smooth and properly cylindrical, fit the fist, clean up the soldering on the plumbing pipes that will fit in the grasp of the fist and voila - a masterpiece :-)

Toby worked hard on an classic aluminium aeroplane which will form the basis of another majestic work of art from The International House of Robson (TM).

John

Welcome to the blog!

Hi folks,

Welcome to the Black & White Casting blog.

Over the coming weeks and months we'll be publishing news, info, photos and our thoughts and musings here, so please join us and follow the goings on in the casting shack!

See you soon
John