Carving into the oak stave – Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Though I hadn’t intended to do any casting, the excitement and intrigue of the foundry was too much to resist. The technicians at the SSW suggested we directly burn out the wooden fingers in the mold to recreate them in bronze. It worked beautifully and the added weight bring so much to the feel of the piece.

It was such a delicate task of attaching the fingers to the wax to allow the molten bronze to flow in and the air to escape. All those times I got in trouble playing with candles as a kid finally coming to good use.

Sometimes the process itself produces interestingly surreal objects.

Detail of the cast bronze fingers – the tapping mechanism

Detail of the finger tapping machine. The bronze picked up the wood carving and bark beautifully. These guys at the Scottish sculpture workshop know their business.

I had to hold myself back and not do the whole thing in bronze – perhaps at a later date – but I do think that the combination of materials actually accentuates the cast elements. I was also a bit worried that by working with a material like bronze it would be difficult to avoid calling to mind its art-historical heft but now find that it does sit pleasingly with the found materials.