Meet Henry the Tortoise... he's a lovable kind of guy...

...and this is the begining of his story...

This wasn't the  messiest part, but most certainly the most uncomfortable:)

Soon, however, thinkgs became much more fun...

A few late nights... because I'm an night owl, that's why... and clay became Henry.

This was Henry in the back of the SUV, on his way to get molded. The back had to stay open the entire ride, and since it happened to be very early in the morning, parents with their kids would drive behind the SUV, honk, and wave pretty much the entire drive; no highway for Henry on that day.

Meet Mitch... If there's one guy you should get to know in your life, it's Mitch.  He's the owner of BITY Mold Supply and was the biggest help in making a mold for this guy.

Now, this molding process isn't like a one shot deal... you have to keep applying think layers, then thicker ones, then put something on top of the rubber to release the mold from the mother mold, which is applied on next, and it's there to make srue that everything hold in place when the inside sculpture is removed.

That's right... it takes a little bit of elbow grease to demold a tortoise... but Mitch can handle it!

And the mold came off...

Now, this is the number one reason for having a mother-mold... without one, you'll just get a floppy piece of rubber.

While we were at it, Mitch made himself a plaster cast of Henry's head, which is still at his shop...

A layer of wax is painted onto the rubber mold, which will later be used for casting.

Henry's head was slushed in wax, but the rest of him was painted into the mold.

This is where I happen to be missing a few photos... which is sad.

So Henry was transported to the foundry, where he was put back togetehr in wax, and then cut apart again by George Cadell.  George is an artist who cast the sculpture for me.

 

After the big guy was cut into pieces again, the wax was invested, which is another way to say that he had to be molded again.  This molding process is very special in that the wax is melted out of teh form, creating a negative space into which bronze will be poured.

After the investment was broken off, the bronze pieces were left behind... now Henry had to be welded back togetehr.  George did an excellent job welding Henry back together, in fact, no one would ever suspect that Henry was ever in pieces.  Thank you George!

And that's how Henry came to be!  The end.