Commissions

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Every commission begins with the client thinking out exactly what they are looking for, and in what sort of pose. I cannot give an estimate of costs until I know the size of the sculpture, what the pose will be and the medium it will be cast in. Photos of the subject help a lot. Price is affected by whether it's sitting or standing and how complicated it is. I can certainly help you by giving a few suggestions. Once I have this information, I'm then able to give you a quote.

If you are selling the idea of the sculpture to a group, I will often have an illustrator produce a detailed rendition of what the sculpture will look like when done. I can also sculpt a basic maquette, which is a small version of the sculpture, in clay. This shows what it will look like 3 dimensionally and is often helpful.

When you decide to go ahead with the project and the timeline is decided, I take a deposit to get started on the project. At this point, I start by collecting photos of the subject. If the subject is alive and at the age you are wanting to have him/her sculpted, I will come and take photographs all around as well as some measurements. If you are not in the Victoria/lower mainland area, I may have you send me these photographs & measurements, but I normally take them myself. I take detailed photos of every angle, paying attention to things such as how the clothing folds.

I have often sculpted people who have either grown up or have passed away. At times, I've had to work from one existing known photograph. I prefer to have as many photos as possible at as many angles as possible, but I am able to improvise based on the information I am given.

Once I have the information, the photographs and measurements, I'm able to begin sculpting. Depending on the work load at the time and the size of the sculpture, children can take 4-6 weeks to sculpt and adults can take 8-10 weeks just for the sculpting.

After the sculpting in clay is complete, the molding process begins. I brush on a coat of polyurethane or silicon rubber over the entire clay sculpture, which captures all the details of the clay. After the rubber has cured, I make a mother mold out of fibreglass to support the rubber. This fibreglass mold is made up of a variety of panels that can be fastened and unfastened for the casting procedure.

Once the mold is completed and the clay removed, the mold of the sculpture is ready to be cast. Depending on the material that the sculpture is cast in, the process differs.

In cold cast bronze, the mold is laid up with a gel coat of bronze powder and resin and then backed up with a fibreglass matt to provide further strength. The sculpture is removed from the mold and the seam lines are cleaned up, imperfections are corrected and the bronze sculpture is then buffed, hand-finished with a patina and finally polished to create the desired effect.

Finally, with a bronze sculpture, each sculpture is done in the "lost wax method." This procedure is detailed in the Foundry page of this website.

Once the sculpture is completed and finished, I will either install it for you or ship it to you with clear instructions for installation.

With any of my sculptures, people are often concerned with theft. With all of my sculptures, I make provision so that they can be bolted down with tamper-proof bolts to benches, or secured to rocks by way of structural epoxies. I make sure they are as theft-proof as possible and I haven't had any stolen.

People are sometimes shocked by the cost of a bronze. I encourage you to take a look at the pages showing the entire process. People generally don't have any idea of the amount of work and materials that go into the entire process of creating a bronze sculpture, especially when it comes to a private commission. A 'one-of-a-kind' has to absorb the entire cost of the mold into that one piece, whereas if you wanted more than one sculpture, the cost of the mold is spread out.

Click on the links below to view my past commissions:

Private Commissions | Public Commissons