Dick Bonham Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I would like to show another example of how sculpture can be builtup with layers, carved and engraved. This is a quarter scale fully functional miniature Springfield 1855 pistol carbine. The stock is removable. Included with it are items a cavalry officer might carry on a campaign in the west. These include a powder flask, bullet mold, bowie knife, side knife, tomahawk with steel bit, eaglehead spurs with functional rowls, eaglehead dirk and a eaglehead sabre. The sabre, dirk, and knife blades have been engraved, blued and gilded. Nothing was cast. Steel, brass, maple and walnut. The coin pictured is a dime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janel Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Dick, How big are your hands? An often asked question of me, do you use magnification? This work is incredibly small and is quite remarkable! Janel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Bonham Posted January 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Janel, Thank you. I have fairly large hands and I do use magnification for most of my work. I seem to need it more and more as the years pile up. I also do large bronzes that have a lot of texture or are highly polished so I do the small things as a balance. I an posting two small pieces that I produced. The dime coin is for scale. The materials are silver and brass. The bullet mold functions and the cylinders revolve. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kelso Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Those are amazing Dick. Since nothing is cast, how did you do the miniature carving? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean McKay Posted February 1, 2005 Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Wow the intricacies of those pieces is amazing! Thank you for showing this beautiful work. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Bonham Posted February 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2005 Jim, The Springfield set is carved using a Foredom micro motor with dental burrs. I layered the metal first to get the basic shape or sometimes start from a solid block. It’s like carving wood without the grain or splinters. The pistol carbine is made of steel. All of the parts inside and out were cut out with a saw, filed, polished and tempered where necessary. The piece is functional in every way. It would shoot with a tiny Maynard primer and fine enough black powder. The set of Colt pistols was cast. The parts for the pistol were first fabricated out of silver stock. I made a rubber mold form these pieces, injected wax then cast the wax in silver and brass. These pieces were then soldered together. The grips are ivory. The powder flask body was first made in silver. I then made a two piece plaster mold. The stand of arms on the flask was carved into one side of the plaster mold and a wax model was produced. This wax was then cast in silver. The top of the flask was fabricated and a rubber mold made. Wax was injected into the mold and the waxes were cast in brass. Each time a piece is cast in wax or metal shrinkage results so the original prototype must be larger than the finished piece. I have posted pictures of the various pieces at each step of production. The molds were destroyed when the edition was completed. Dick Dean, Thank you. Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett McCormack Posted April 4, 2005 Report Share Posted April 4, 2005 Beautiful pieces! "fine enough black powder" just be careful grinding it, right?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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