| Step 7: Breaking ceramic shell to reveal rough bronze casting and then welding, grinding and polishing to finish building sculpture |
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| When the bronze cools, the shell is carefully broken off with a hammer and the metal sprues and metal cup are cut off. |
| The two pieces for each owl are then sand blasted to remove any remaining shell. |
| It's time to "build" the sculpture in metal. |
| Since this sculpture was cast in only two pieces, the first step in metal is welding these two pieces together. A larger sculpture may have 20 pieces or more. They are put together just like a big three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. |
| The weld line is removed with very careful grinding, engraving, sanding and polishing. |
| Air hose powered hand tools (called die grinders) with sharp carbide bits of every shape and size, rotating abrasive disks, flexible sandpaper "cross-pads" and other polishing tools are used to finish both the welds and overall surface of the owl. Imperfections and impurities are removed with additional grinding and precision "tig" welding. |
| The sculpture is now ready to have its patina done. |
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