links to great sites to check out

6th International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art Website

http://www.internationalfe10.com/

Foundry Tree

http://foundrytree.wikispaces.com/

easy does it

The pour crew was awesome and had to plan a pouring method for the car. I found it fascinating to watch these guys do this. It is extremely important to plan the route of a pour ahead of time since this is a team effort. This pour required special focus on how to get the ladle, which is like a giant bowl that holds the iron, from point a (the furnace) to point b (up on scaffolding above the car.) I do believe they pretest first with each person who was doing the pour.

It was a fireworks show. The pour crew did an awesome job. I was proud of all the hard work and thought that was required by them. It was nuts - they poured into a car in the dark - omg they might as well be doing it blindfolded. I was dumbstruck.

WOW

We didn’t get to see the results until the next day. But it was so cool. I felt like an archeologist, brushing, shoveling and digging sand out to unearth a hidden masterpiece. The sand was still hot the next morning when we opened the doors - rivers of black sand came slowly streaming out. The toxins in the air required us to wear face masks. Even though this is not my piece I felt very much affected by the meaning behind the piece and was equally amazed as well at how successful the results were.

almost there

After we removed all of the firebricks and sand, Toma and Miles put the tires on and we rolled it to be seen from the street. Though this sounds like a quick and easy process it was far from that. We had to clean all but a quarter of the sand out then move the sand that others could reuse back over to where most of the iron pours were going on. Wow - all I remember was the three or four of us pushing the giant all-terrain palette truck up an incline saying “RUN RUN RUN!” Wow - such a great crew.

Trust me nice paramedics pouring iron into a car is very safe lol

From what I heard only one guy got a burn on the back of his neck. Keith defiantly took one for the team - thanks man. I hope that it healed fine and you did an awesome job. All of you did an amazing job. Thank you sooo much!

The pour to me is one of my favorite parts because everyone is so great and thankful to all the participants for their help: from the people who prepared the furnace to the people who took pics to the people who brought their empty cans to those of you who poured the iron and those who came to watch and support the pour. It's like the end of a chapter and after you finished that last page of it you get to see what’s next. I was excited to at least see the iron pour. I realized during the conference that we would not be able to actually pour ourselves, but personally I was okay with that. Toma did and he did an amazing job. The pour crew we had was awesome and was far more experienced then we were with pouring iron. Also since this was an experimental pour it's best to have the most qualified participation in that. Also the pour required tall people which if you have met me I’m far from that. It was amazing - they did a great job pouring.

going green with a hint of co2

As you will see the cardboard tubes are built to represent horsetails. The cardboard tubes are the experimental part of this pour because other than the experiment we did at the Mother’s Day Pour at St. Kate's I never knew of anyone ever pouring iron into a car let alone using paper to make a mold.

We then used a different way of making sand cups instead of the material we usually use at St. Kate's. We used CO2 which when mixed with the bonded sand creates a faster set time for the mold. Dish, another artist at the conference said that “he thinks what we were using the material for was a perfect option but recommended that for larger pieces we use something different." ( The catalyzed and resin bonded sand we use at the college.)

We cut cans in half and stuffed them with sand, then poked a hole into the sand and gassed them with CO2. The 13 tubes had half cans at each end; the ones connected to the top guided the iron into the tubes and the bottom ones prevented the iron from affecting the bottom of the car or just pouring right through. I was like a crazy woman chasing people down for cans and going through dumpsters digging out cans. The most popular line I said when I saw someone drinking from one was “Hey when you're done with that bring it over to us.”

A Tamsie line which was repeated by every one else was "Hey give me that thingy." when we were using the CO2. (The CO2 tank has a long hose attached to a very thin steel tube that looks like a straw. This is pushed into the sand which has had sodium silicate mixed into it. It instantly becomes hard on contact with the CO2 gas. - Tamsie) We didn’t add the CO2 to the bottom ends of the tubes but connected them to the car right before we filled the car with sand.

getting down to nuts and bolts

Before the tubes were installed Tamsie drilled holes that were measured by the crew and then she and the guys drilled holes into the flooring of the car and filled them with bolts and flat panels of steel to support the cast iron above the car. To prevent leakage the molten iron would never touch the actual floor of the car, but would stop at a 2" sand floor.

patience is a virtue

We bronze leafed the interior. Bronze leafing is the complete opposite of iron casting and requires a gentle touch and patience which was a perfect job for Miles and Aga. Other than of course Tamsie, Miles was the only one of the crew who had previous experience with bronze leafing. It was really educational. Tamsie was awesome because I was very worried that I was doing it wrong and when you're assisting an artist with their work you desire for it to be perfect, but when all was said and done she reassured me I was doing fine and to not worry too much.

who needs a car seat

Hey every one!

Very busy couple of days.
We have done a lot of stuff the last couple of days.
Tuesday we finished removing some parts of the inside of the car. I found this very interesting and I learned a lot but I don’t think I could ever do it with the skill level of Tamsie, Toma and Miles. So a word of advice to anyone who is interested in gutting a car they should talk to those three. I thought I knew a lot about cars but there is far more to learn. It was sooo cool to see how much more room there is in a car after the fact.

Something I knew a little about before but now I know, is how really important it is to have the special tools that are required to work and remove parts of a car. If you do not have the tools you might as well forget about it. Prior to my arrival Tamsie drained all the fluids because that could cause a massive fire.

We are here!!!

Dear People (as Willy Wonka would say),

It's Monday evening and we decided to share some pictures and things that we did during the day. Together with Tamsie we removed the interior from the car and prepared the molds for the horsetails that will be replacing the interior of the car. Her sculpture "Palus Somnii," is inspired by the recent tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As we progress we will explain all the processes and the project so you can be with us as we progress in creating the masterpiece.
For today... We explored the city a little and found out that Welsh streets are really narrow... Oh Man.... walking in here is probably easier than driving because of the roundabouts and the traffic moving on the wrong side of the street. Plus, the streets can fit barely one car... what a life... phi!
The people here are really helpful and kind. If you need to ask for directions you can ask anyone and some will even walk you to where you are going. The camp site... we had the best sleep - at least Aga (7h), which is impossible for her - we were falling asleep to the lullaby of sheep and cows.
Well, it's getting late and we need to wake up early tomorrow. We will get back to you sometime tomorrow and upload some of the photos we took.