Catching Up Part 4: Living at the Foundry

At one point in recent history, foundries were scaling back on the size of waxes that went into the shell room. It was explained to me that there were too many insurance claims being generated from the sheer brute strength it involved to manually lift the sprued waxes in and out of the sand and slurry tanks. Keeping that in mind, I assembled what waxes I knew could be cast in once piece while still in Virginia and would assemble the rest, if needed, under the direction of the foundry manager. I didn't want to rupture any discs or see any claims filed on my behalf.

As it turned out, the day I arrived at the foundry I was told to go ahead and finish assembling ALL OF HER! Yikes! That's a lot of work. The foundry gave me my own room to work in and I got busy turning open-faced panels into castable tubes.



The urn in two halves, ready to be put together.

 

 After the first few days it became apparent that I would be there for a long, long time and was literally given the keys to the kingdom. I still feel honored by the amount of trust that was bestowed upon me.

Welded together in wax, the urn gets the final detailing.

I was usually there from early in the morning until late into the evening, even working weekends to make sure it was all ready for the next crucial step. Coffee was my friend.

Detailing the urn.

 

As I only have two hands, at times I had to get creative: here rubber bands
hold her legs together so that I could weld with the soldering iron.

People often ask, "Is it male or female?" Well, I've spent a lot
of time peeking up that dress and I can tell you one thing for certain:
 I'LL NEVER TELL.

All in all, it was a wax marathon. I was so submerged by the end that when they started taking pieces from me to go into the next department I realized that I was having a hard time letting go. Even though I knew that she was going to very capable hands I was still emotional for a day or two. I had been working on her for over a year straight and had become very attached. The foundry manager finally came in and gently said, "It's time, Ken. She's beautiful. Go home and rest for a few days." And so I did.

The final fit up in wax. I was a very proud papa!