That is one hot tiger! Pouring the tiger head.

I could not wait to show you all this video.  Here is a spectacular video of the pouring of the tiger head that was provided to me by Shidoni Art Foundry in New Mexico.   They report that the tiger is coming along. This is the last piece to be cast in metal and has you have seen by previous posts it is coming along nicely.  We will not have it there for homecoming, but will be delivering it later in November.  I can't wait to see it all together.    More news later. Until then check out the pouring of the Tiger head. 

Rocking out! Putting together the tiger sculpture in metal.

Each piece, once cast must be welded.

There is still much to do with the tiger. If you have been reading this blog you have found that the process of creating a mascot is quite laborious.  Here is the process with links, once again.  Note: there are a lot of other posts of the process in between all of these links below.

• The First blog post -The beginning  June 1, 2012 The blog begins. 
• Design process June 17th - The designing and working on project begins long before the actually sculpting. 
• Approval process  January 23rd- Approvals and final paper work is received by client. 
• Enlargement of Design January 23rd - The enlargement of the sculpture is being made into foam for us to sculpt on. Meanwhile we search for a warehouse to hold this big creature. 
• Foam Armature arrives in Houston.  The CNC milled foam gives us an armature to sculpt on and arrives in Houston in March
• Approval of Sculpture May 27th post. Which means we have sculpted this huge cat in 2 months! this would never be able to be done without the digital technology of CNC milling to enlarge the foam pieces.  It is a huge accomplishment. There were many interns who worked endless long hours. 
• Mold making The sculpture comes a part and we begin the first part of the foundry process the mold making. 
• Molds shipped to Shidoni art Foundry  July 27th They will finish the foundry process. 
• Wax and Sprues or gates Beginning in August the Foundry makes waxes from the molds. 



A giant puzzle of rock begins to take shape

• Pouring of metal- The pouring of metal happens each weekend at Shidoni art Foundry.

This is what we have accomplished thus far. In the next few weeks the last steps will take place

• Welding
• Patination
• Delivery 
• Installation

Here you can see that the many, many bronze pieces that are poured are now welded together.

Creating Rock

Update

Someone pointed out to me today that this blog has not been updated in over a month.
I'm so sorry.

What I have been up to.

I love giving lectures about art, technology
and other subjects.  Inspiring others makes me
excited. 

While Shidoni Foundry has been busy working on the tiger, I have been very busy with my own creative endeavors. For the last few months I have been putting together 3DCAMP Houston.  3DCAMP Houston. is a day long symposium on everything 3D. It crosses disciplines such as oil and gas, engineering, computer graphics and others. It is also used with my own passion- art.  I am  co chair of 3DCAMP Houston  which was a marvelous success held at the University of Houston Architectural Department. It was a huge undertaking,  I was also a speaker.  My lecture was on Copyrights, Ethics and Responsibilities of 3D.  I have been writing a book about 3D technology and fine art and craft and this lectures is from of my chapters.

I'm also happy to report that the Grambling Tiger head was displayed in the art gallery at 3DCAMP Houston.  The art could be displayed because the show consisted of art that was created using some form of 3D technology. As you know by reading this blog, the tiger was first sculpted in the computer and then later it was CNC milled as it was enlarged, and then clay was added.

I cleaned up the tiger head to have it at 3DCAMP Houston.
The clay suffered some damage  in the mold making process. 

The Tiger update
I have spoken to both Grambling and Shidoni Foundry  it is confirmed, that the tiger will not be at homecoming. Instead, I hear there will be a separate celebration at Grambling for the installation of the tiger.

I have been waiting on some more photographs and a video from Shidoni Foundry.  I can't wait to post those. I think they will be coming any day now.  The entire tiger has gone through the casting process. The last piece that I was waiting for was the head.  Now they have to put this puzzle piece together, create an internal armature and give it a patination. I am scheduled to come to Shidoni Foundry  around the 11th of November.  I will be monitoring the tiger the entire week at Shidoni.  I'm not allowed to post pictures of the entire tiger together, until after the unveiling, but I'll be sure to post some glimpses. The tiger, at this date, is scheduled to leave Shidoni Foundry  on the 18th.  It will be traveling in an open bed trailer from New Mexico to Louisiana. I wonder if anyone will spot it going down the highway?

Stay tuned for more information concerning the installation and celebration of the tiger.