They were prompt with quotes... I sent them photos of the maquette with
ultimate scale measurments and they got right back with the lowest
quote of 3 different foundries....
And I mean, lowest by half the cost of the next best quote....
But more importat than the quote was the fact that they said it would
take 12 weeks to do the lifesize casting, and they delivered precisely
on that day... and I did not have to ride them like a pony....
Their foundry specializes in lifesize and larger... and they excel at
it.... and the foundry itself is a dream- you could eat off the floor,
its well organized, and efficient.
I dropped off the molds, and then, 6 weeks later I delivered a large
concrete casting that the sitting bronze figure had to be welded
together to fit ( identical to the concrete casting installed on the
site)-
After seeing the quality of work they did on other projects, I did not
even fly out to check the waxes- They sent some photos and I approved
them via email.
Then, at 7 AM on the last day of the twelfth week, I drove my truck up
to their door, and there was my bronze, sitting on the concrete
casting, fully assembled, but un-patinated...
So- they handed me one of their technicians and we rolled the casting
over to his booth where he picked up the air tools and we went over the
entire surface, buffing out any noticable flaws...
If I found a spot that needed welding, we would mark it and after the
initial grinding, he wheeled it out to be welded and sandblasted and
wheeled it right back in. Total time to weld and sandblast? maybe 15
minutes.
We went thru this cycle maybe 3 times in 2 hours. Buff grind and finish
polish, marking weld spots until it was hard to read the surface- then
weld and sandblast the areas we were working on...
When I pointed out that the eyes were a little crooked and asked him if
he had any small punches I could use to fix them, he asked me to draw
the shapes and sizes of punches I needed...
Then he went and MADE them for me out of bar stock. That took about 10
minutes....
By 11 AM the piece was as perfectly chased as I needed it to be ( it
did not have a high polish finish- more gestural ) and we wheeled it
into the patina room, where I went over the piece with the patina
guys.... then I went out for lunch while they did the toxic part and by
the time I got back it was patinated, waxed and ready for transport....
By noon thirty I was back on the road bringing it back.....
And when I installed it on site the two days later... on the Other
cncrete casting, we dropped down and then I had them lift it back up- I
ground about an 8th of an inch off one small spot on the concrete
casting where his left foot made contact... and then dropped the figure
back down and it fit perfectly.
All in all- a very satisfying experience. Its a pleasure to work with
folks who are masters at what they do...
The place is run by Toy Workman, and I simply can not recommend them
highly enough.
christopher