Home of the Innocents sculpture installation

We had picked up the bronze plaques for the sculptures from Eagle Sign and Design, and were now ready to receive the granite bases, to which the sculptures will be mounted.

The granite bases arrive and Don is getting ready to receive the stones. The granite was cut and lettered at Century Granite, which is located in Georgia.

The granite is loaded onto our 2 ton truck.

Don drills holes into the granite base so that the sculpture can be mounted to it. They will not be epoxied to the stone at this point, this is basically a dry run to make sure everything fits properly. The plaques also will not be epoxied. All will go separately to the Cemetery and will be reassembled and epoxied there.

There are nuts welded into the bottom of the sculpture, into which Don will place stainless steel threaded rod. These will
fit down into the holes that Don drilled earlier. Careful measurements of the nuts were made to make sure that the holes were drilled accurately.

The granite bases are loaded using a crane. Paul Roerig, the new owner of Brummett Monuments, helps Don position the granite, while Johnny runs the controls of the crane.

Steve (left), Don and Johnny(right) load the bronze sculptures into the back of a pickup truck for delivery to Cave Hill Cemetery. The sculptures and bronze plaques will be permanently affixed on site.

The crane is set up to install the granite base.

Don (on the left), Johnny (on the right) and Paul carefully adjust the granite base.

Ascension is lifted into place. Someone said, "it's the Flying Nun!" Actually she's a flying Deaconess! I'm not going to post finished photos of the pieces until after they are dedicated Sunday.

The second "Flying Deaconess" is held in check by Paul. The dedication ceremony is this Sunday at 2:00. Everyone is welcome...

Yew Dell show load out

The Yew Dell show was a great success this year with almost everyone selling, most selling several pieces. I'm looking forward to next year, see what people come up with.


When we loaded up the sculpture to go out of the Yew Dell show we also helped load up Raymond Grafs limestone base for his Lincoln sculpture. Matt Weir and David Bibelhauser are loading the bronze, but the stone base is a bit heavier so we loaded that with the crane.

The wolf and pups get loaded.

Don loads a sculpture, I can't remember its name, ah well.

Miss Jessel sold during the show. She has a beutiful site waiting for her, but for now she's waiting to be loaded onto the truck.

The sea lion gets loaded onto the truck.

Karla gave me a sampling of different tomatoes and herbs from the garden- they were delicious, many thanks Karla! While she was picking tomatoes and cutting herbs I couldn't resist taking a pic of this blooming bean, the color is so striking....

Karla watches the truck as it prepares to depart. But we'll be back Karla, we'll be back....
Right now I'm a finalist for a public art project but I can't show a picture of it, so I'll show you more pics of the Home of the Innocents project...

This is close-up of Ascension.


This is Metamorphosis from the side. Next, the sculptures will get a patina.

Home of the Innocents bronzes

This is ascension. It has yet to be sandblasted and have a patina applied

Here is Metamorphosis with butterflies flying from the blanket.

A side view of the butterflies

This is Art Castings Foundry in Loveland, Colorado where the sculptures for the Home of the Innocents are being cast.

The waxes are dipped into ceramic slurry (a 14 day process to build up a sufficient shell) and are then put into a burnout
oven where the wax is melted out and the ceramic shell hardens. When the shells come out of the oven they are ready to be filled with bronze.

Here is the bronze being poured. It is over 2,000 degrees fahrenheit.

These are the areas where individual sculptures are "chased" Chasing means that the places where the gates and sprues were attached, as well as welded areas, are carved to duplicate the original surface of the sculpture.

While posting pictures from my trip to the Colorado foundry, I found a couple of images that I thought were interesting.
This is an odd flower, no idea what it is. It had been raining and the light was getting low, so I had to use a flash. But that made it stand out more from the background.

This is the summit of Sundance Mountain.

Home of the Innocents mold work finish

The mold work comes to a completion on the two sculptures for the Home of the Innocents which will commemorate the work of Sister Emily Cooper and the over 200 children

buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, KY.The hands are readied for the mold work.These are two butterflies. They will be placed on the blanket in various patterns, emerging from the blanket and flying up from the children's blanket.This is the blanket, the spaces where the emerging butterflies are to be attached are marked on the blanket.

The sculpture has two coats of mold material, now it is ready to get shims. Steve applies the material into which the shims will be placed.Attaching the shims.Her shims all in place, she is now ready for the rest of the mold material.After all the layers of mold material are applied, she gets a mother mold of plaster. After that

dries, the mold is removed.This is the inside of the blanket mold.

Steve helps pack up the molds for the trip to Loveland, Colorado. The sculptures will be cast at

Art Casting of Colorado.
An assortment of mold sections.

A head and two hands is within this plaster. Don wraps a mold section in preparation of it's journey. It will then be placed with all the other mold sections into the crate behind Don. R & L Trucking picks up the crates.

Loading a crate with our truck.

Steve from R&L and Don position the crate on the truck.

From Nun to Deaconess..

It turns out that Sister Emily Cooper was a Deaconess, not a nun. So she would not wear a habit,
but working clothes. So first the sleeves, wimple, etc are removed, and the lower part of her garment is changed from the full gathered appearance of a habit to that of a skirt.
Her hair is now loose and flowing and I feel gives her a lot more life.

This outfit is based on a day dress from 1872.

Home of the Innocents sculpture

These are materials I used to build up the armature over the pipe.

Pink construction foam is attached with liquid nail and wooden skewers which help stabilize the foam. A knife is used to cut the foam to the desired shape.
After the foam is blocked in, I pack on clay. This is an oil based clay called Chavant HP.
I use sidecutters to remove the ends of the wooden skewers.
A detail of the dove and child. The arms have been removed so that detail on the doves tail can be applied. The arms will be reattached when the work is finished.
One of the babies arms.

Here is the sculpture as of August 3rd, 2008. I am still working the clay on around the edge of the skirt. Next will come finish texture.