Sunday, March 1, 2015

Kickstarter Casting Call: I’m Melting . . . Melting! Into Bronze


Dear Art lover,
  
     Have you ever wondered how bronze sculpture is created?  The process is SO very different from how stone sculptures are carved!  I have recently revamped a text I wrote years ago, with images, to help explain the many complicated steps in bronze casting, using the “Lost Wax Method.”   

bronze casting, pouring bronze, molten bronze, sculpture, sculptor
L-R:  Sculptor Colleagues Marla Ripperda, Bill Barnett, and Kelly Borsheim pour molten bronze in Austin, Texas in 2002.


You may see this online for a limited time at:

     This is a link to my new and first Kickstarter project.  Maybe you have heard of Kickstarter.com
 It is a site which allows artists, musicians, inventors, and such to present to the world a project or idea that they want to bring to reality.  ANYONE can pitch in to help.  The artist, as I have done, creates a variety of levels of Rewards.  In this way, you may choose to support as much or as little of the project as you desire.  You also receive something back (if you choose) as a reminder that you helped create something worth doing.  And hopefully your life is enriched as well.

     In my case, I am losing my storage space in central Texas this summer.  Many years ago, I had created wax sculptures hoping to be able to cast them into the more permanent medium of bronze.  It is time now to decide what the future of those wax figures will be.  

     I have created many rewards, from note cards to print (paper and metal), and of course, bronze sculpture.  I have tried to make it easy for anyone to support the future of my sculptures on any level possible:  from $5 to $10K.  And you may be surprised how any little bit helps.  

     With Kickstarter, it is all or nothing.  Funders pledge their desired amounts, but they pay nothing until the pledge drive is over and only if it has reached at least its funding goal.  Then Kickstarter asks them to honor their pledge via credit card.  The artist is later paid by Kickstarter and the rewards are sent out per the schedule the artist has posted on the project site.

     And there is another way that you may help.  Spread the word … and the link!  Word of mouth is still the best way to share ideas you love and I thank you for helping me continue with art.  I must admit that making it and then marketing and selling it is a lot of work for one person.  And in the end, I really believe that anything worthwhile cannot be done in a vacuum.  You are so much a part of what keeps me going.  

Thank you so much,
Kelly

~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor, painter, writer, teacher


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