Against the Dying of the Light Sculpture

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I am so excited! And I owe many thanks to a generous collector of original art, who took advantage of my monthly payment plan offer. I not only received financial assistance in continuing my work in Italy this past year, but together we were also able to realize my newest bronze sculpture.

This autobiographical artwork is titled “Against the Dying of the Light” and he stands a total of 56 inches tall (x 14” x 13”). I created this work while thinking of the beauty and triumph in the struggle against something that feels greater than oneself. Two large hands grab a man’s extended legs as he angrily resists the pull, arching his back and clenching his fingers.

I did not create this bronze figurative sculpture to decorate someone’s living room. This work is intense and people recognize this and that is the word most often used in the description. I am OK with that. This sculpture composition is honest and pure . . . and I hope you agree, beautiful.

Many collectors have taken advantage of my monthly payment plan for adding my works to their collections. Basically, the offer is this: pay a non-refundable (but transferable) one-third deposit and then choose the amount and the date in each month in which you would like to purchase your Borsheim artwork. And the best part: NO finance charges!

Combine this with my pre-casting / introductory price on this new bronze sculpture, and it becomes easy to obtain the original art that you want. The Introductory Price on “Against the Dying of the Light” will be offered through the 15th of November. After that date, the price goes up 12%.

Contact me for more details.

Thank you for reading!

Bronze Sculpture Patina

Cari Amici,

Are you interested in watching this bronze sculpture patina process? I hope so. I find it fascinating, while at times frustrating. In my earlier post I described how after the “chasing” of the bronze sculpture (in which I re-sculpt or touch up any details after the sculpture has been cast into bronze and welded together), I thoroughly clean the metal sculpture.


There are two basic kinds of bronze patina: hot and cold. I tend to prefer the hot. But that is only the beginning of the choices available. The patina I have chosen for this bronze sculpture titled “Against the Dying of the Light” is a somewhat classical and translucent coloring for bronze.

We used a chemical called liver of sulfer in this initial application. Normally this can be applied cold, but we used a torch for a different effect. In this photo, you can see how amazingly splotchy and random the first application was. I do love this mixture of rust, blue, purple, and yellows that results (and for some pieces of art in the past I have wanted – in vain – for this effect to stay).

But I must admit: I am often baffled and amazed at the perseverance of the first person(s) who came up with such elaborate processes. Some of the patinas I know about and/or use require multiple layers and complicated steps – often mixed with some luck. I mean, how many steps does one take when the result appears to be going in the non-desired direxion before one gives up hope that the project is salvageable? (This is a valid question in many areas of life, is it not?)

There are so many tricks and variables with chemicals and heat. Temperature is a most sensitive part of the equation. If the bronze is too hot, the reaction is too swift and the results often look burnt. If the bronze is not hot enough, very little happens. If the bronze (or leftover investment mold inside) is too thick or of inconsistent thickness, results will vary tremendously. It takes quite a lot of experience to get a feel for why the metal is heating up as quickly or slowly as it is and what to do about it.

Once the bronze metal has become the desired temperature in any given area, the liver of sulfer is applied. This can be done in a variety of ways, usually by hand with a paintbrush or with a sprayer. The effect is different with each application.

Allora, I save the rest for another day as I must return to work now.

But for your reading pleasure, here are some other goodies I ran across recently:

Wanna see images of Michelangelo, the brute?
Click here
This in conjunction with a related exhibit at Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy.
Portraits of Michelangelo
The museum’s English site

-----
Here is an article about art being used as loan collateral:

http://www.nysun.com/arts/borrowing-with-fine-art-as-collateral/82333/
Quotes from article (please read full article in context):
"Art now is seen as a definite asset class which is traded,"
“They may loan against a specific work, several works, or a whole collection, generally up to 50% of the market value of the collateral.”
“Often, a collector who borrows against his art can keep it on his wall.”

Bronze Casting Patina

Cari Amici,

So, the foundry has finished the casting of my newest bronze “Against the Dying of the Light” and now it is my turn to work. I look over every section of my metal sculpture and rework any details that may have been changed by the bronze casting process. Once the sculpting has been finished again, glass beads are blasted over the entire sculpture to remove any remaining mold material and to remove the oils from my hands. The bronze must be absolutely clean so that the chemical patination application process has fewer variables.

Stay tuned . . .

Lost Wax Bronze Casting

I received a wonderful gift this month. A new collector with a vision and trust is helping me to realize one of my most personal artworks in bronze. I first created “Against the Dying of the Light” in 2001. I originally sculpted most of the clay in a week in my Texas studio and then later added the large hands at night at my site at the MARBLE/marble Symposium in Colorado. After I returned to Texas that summer, I hired several different models to assist me in getting details such as the veins in the arms and, as I told one model Todd, “quads like diamonds.”

For various reasons, this sculpture was put on hold and finally finished in 2005. Then in August 2007, a mold was made. While I had received wonderful comments and several inquiries about this sculpture, it was only while I was in Italy this past fall, that a serious collector contacted me. So my foundry created the wax from my mold in time for me to arrive back in Texas and work the waxes that will later become bronze.

For those unfamiliar with the bronze casting process, most bronzes are created hollow, like a chocolate bunny. Smaller pieces can be cast solid, but if very thick, that is not practical. Not only because of the ever-increasing price of the metal, but mostly because of the chemistry of cooling molten metal. Bronze is poured into a mold when it is around 2000 degrees hot – after the metal has become a beautiful liquid. Thin sections cool faster than thick sections, and this unevenness, if you will, causes problems in “shrinkage.”

In the case of “Against the Dying of the Light,” the arms will be cast separately, and solid. The upper body will be cast hollow, but as its own piece. And the hips and legs of the figure will be cast as one hollow piece with the large hands. After the sculpture has been cast into bronze, the parts will be welded together and then “chased,” resculpting details in the metal where all the connected parts require it. Then I will add the patina and carve the stone base.

Here you see my original work in plastilina (an oil-based clay) and later the wax pieces that my foundry poured from the mold that was made from the plastilina original. I am spending this week “chasing the wax” or removing mold lines, bubbles or holes in the wax, and checking that every detail is true to my original idea. The first step I do is examine the wax and thicken thin parts. My goal is to have a wax of consistent thickness, to minimize the effects of bronze shrinkage after the pour. It is difficult to pour a hollow figure, and often (internally) protruding parts (receding parts in the outer surface) must be reinforced from the inside. (One image shows how transparent the wax looks in the crotch area of the figure. I can clearly see where the wax is too thin.)

I will finish these waxes and return them to the bronze casting foundry before I return to Italia soon. I cannot wait to see “Against the Dying of the Light” in bronze!