Peter Wright's batcave and the art of crating bronze sculptures.

Recently I paid another visit to Peter Wright's batcave.
He's the man who offered to take on the risk of casting some of my larger pieces in exchange for half of what's left when they find homes after the gallery cut and casting costs are subtracted.
For which I am, of course, extremely grateful.
He's also a fine glass artist in his own right (no pun intended!). I love the colors he uses in his pieces. For me they are quite exquisite. (click HERE to see his work).

And he has a secret bat-cave, which is where you're seeing him here!

That big crate has got my Sumo Wrestling Toads in it.
I've never seen Peter in a cape, but he can appear and disappear very quickly, and he's always talking by phone from some far flung part of the country or other, so I keep wondering just how he does it...

We're sending Sumo Toads to the Natural History Museum in San Diego (for the Society of Animal Artists 50th annual show) and another pair to Grand Rapids, Michigan (for ArtPrize), along with Big Boy, and some other toads.

The Sumo's are crated, with cross bars inside to keep them from wobbling around. Some kind of plasticky rigid foam is glued to the crates, and the cross bars, and other sheets of it are wedged in here and there.
Everything is marked and coded with numbers and letters so anyone who un-packs it, can later re-pack it exactly the same. The cross bars are screwed in from the outside of the crate.

Big Boy is put in a double thickness corrugated cardboard box, with slabs of softer foam that's more squashy. Each is numbered with a hole in it, so when they're all stacked together horizontally Big Boy nestles cocooned inside his new world of soft foam.
Super thick heavy rope handles round out the procedure.
This is how Peter sends his glass as well. It would take a pretty determined person with a fork-lift to do any damage to it (oh no, I haven't just jinxed it have I?).
Of course everything's also insured, just in case...

My Bumper to Bumper is part of the National Sculpture Society's 77th annual exhibition in Brookgreen Gardens, SC.
Since the base is granite great care is needed for the packing process.
The wooden crate has a foam lining, and sides which slot into place allowing no movement.

The foam top locks it all into place, and the lid is screwed on.

Again, everything is very carefully marked and coded so anyone can re-pack it correctly later.

Besides that, here's a table full of recently patinated bits and pieces which will all hopefully be enjoying life in their new homes very soon (if they aren't already!). Looks like it's almost time for a new tin of paste wax (for brushing on the bronzes while they're freshly hot from the patina process).

As you can see I indulged in a little beer towel thievery during my student years. How could I resist, after all, it had my name written all over it!
I think this one came from my local in Portreath, Cornwall at the time, the Waterfront Inn.

Oh, and don't forget of course, the end of this month is the DEADLINE for entering my latest win-a-mouse contest (click HERE).

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

'Bumper to Bumper' bronze turtle sculpture accepted for NSS show

This week I was delighted to learn that the National Sculpture Society accepted the large version of my 'Bumper to Bumper' turtle sculpture as part of 2010's annual show.
Unfortunately this year the New York part of the show won't be happening since they've moved offices, so it will only be on display at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.

Exciting news none the less, it has to be one of the most prestigious shows in the country, and I feel extremely honored to be participating for the fourth time.

Speaking of four, I've previously posted four 'making of' demo's of my large 'Bumper to Bumper'.


If you'd like to check them out, click HERE for a post which has a whole bunch of 'how to' posts listed within it, including the Bumper to Bumper ones.
Or instead you could type 'Bumper to Bumper' in this blog's search bar if you like!

I've also made it in two smaller sizes.

Incidentally, I just recently got my medal and certificate from Brookgreen Gardens for the 'People's Choice' award from the 2009 annual show, for my large bronze, 'Sumo Wrestling Toads'.
I was told it was very popular with the security guards at the New York location too!
Brookgreen Gardens had sent the medal and certificate many months before, but they'd got lost in the mail.

So, a pretty good week I'd say!

I have other exciting things going on, but I'll save some of that for future posts...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Snakes alive (and snakes dead), people's choice and bright shiny things.

People.
Gotta love 'em.
Thanks folks, for voting my Sumo Wrestling Toads the 'People's Choice' during their stay at Brookgreen Gardens as part of the National Sculpture Society's annual show (which is over now).
I am stupendously happy to have got your votes. I think that's a pretty big deal.
Yeah!

Twice in the space of a week I've had to jump out of my car to shoo a coachwhip snake off the road.
On one occasion I was in an awful hurry to get home due to certain biological emergencies that result from a fondness for green chiles on everything, washed down with copious amounts of strong coffee.
I'd been driving us home like a vampire hurtling to his coffin against the quickly rising sun, only with the prospect of a much messier outcome should I lose my race against time.

Almost home... rounding the last corner... what's that across the driveway?
Right in my way, a 4 foot long coachwhip snake dammit! And a beautiful shade of raw salmon pink to boot.

Beeping the horn won't help, they're deaf to airborne sounds.

And for some odd reason, they aren't scared of cars.
But when you hop out and they detect your human form they flail away like a mad thing.
Much like my attempts to get the keys in the door.

Then a few days later I saw another one across the road laying there without a care in the world about a block or two away.
So I hopped out and pranced around it, to see what it would do.
First they try to make a mad dash for the edge of the road, but they thrash so hard against the smooth asphalt that they slip and slide about instead of moving forwards.

So I danced past it and it turned at me and raised it's head with its mouth wide open.
Just until it figured it could zip past me and off through some rabbit bush and away.

Then I spied our 'pet' bull snake in the garden while I was looking for our weed spraying bottle.
He was patrolling among some large flower pots near the bbq grill.

I noticed he had particularly rich reddish brown blotches. Must have recently shed his skin.

He casually nosed around, and took up residence inside the bottom of the grill.


Besides that, I saw another Coachwhip snake right on the road outside our house one evening when we drove home from somewhere or other.
I hopped out, but sadly it was dead.

I was wondering if one of our neighbors might have killed it by running it over. There's only 5 other houses on our cul-de-sac, so it couldn't be too hard to narrow it down.
But it was kind of right on the road where we'd be after we've backed out of the driveway.
So now I'm plagued with the thought that I in-advertantly killed it, after saving it a couple of times.
Could have been some one else, but then again, could have been me.

Will I ever sleep again?

Probably.

Other than that I'm pondering just how super bright and shiny to do the patina on my tree frogs when they get cast.
I fancy taking a leap into the super bright arena for a change, since I think the subject matter could handle it.

No news regarding progress of my pieces, it's all a bit out of my hands for a little while 'till they come back from the foundry for finishing and patina.
But I think I'll be bugging Lee for a progress report this week...

My website, and Etsy store.