The Grenadier.....Finished

Here's the first finished casting of The Grenadier. The sculpture is based on a photograph I took of a Lance Corporal Turchich during Operation Steel Curtain in November of 2005. The piece was created using a technique called ecorche. I built a wire armature, added the bones and then the muscles with plasticine clay to create a flayed man. The flayed man was then wrapped in a skin of plaster of paris cloth. The resulting naked figure was then fully fleshed out and geared up using sculptor's wax. Once this was all complete and the figure married to a small vinyette depicting a blasted concrete pillar, the foundry cast a series of molds. These molds were then used to produce a series of hollow waxes. Each wax was then re-tooled by me to bring back or add details. Finally, the waxes were prepped for and underwent the "lost wax" bronze casting process. And, viola, you have the first version of this, my third attempt at sculpture.

The figure is shown with a pomegranate in his right hand and his helmet in his left. Across his chest an M-16 rifle with an M204 grenade launcher hangs on a three point sling. On his back hangs an AT-4 rocket. At the grenadier's feet lies a branch blasted off a pomegranate tree and scattered leaves, and spent rifle and grenade casings.

The word for grenade originated from the word for pomegranate. The gardens in Iraq and Afghanistan are always filled with them.

Finished......Sort Of

The Grenadier

An actual Marine grenadier in combat during Operation Steel Curtain, Ubaydi, Iraq-2005

Well, the Grenadier is finished.....sort of. The next step in the creative process is to take what I've just completed to a foundry to be cast in bronze. This piece will be cast using the lost wax technique. The next step in this process is for a foundry to make a series of molds. These molds will then be used to cast hollow wax versions of what you see in the top picture. The wax facsimiles will then be coated, both inside and out, with silica. Once fully prepped with the silica the wax will be melted out as the ceramic is baked, hence the term lost wax. The final mold is then filled with molten bronze and allowed to cool. Once cooled the work is then hit with everything from large hammers to small delicate drills to dislodge the ceramic. In the final steps the bronze will be buffed, sandblasted, treated to an acid bath to create the surface patina, and given a final coat of bowling alley wax.

In future posts I'll show you the lost wax process as it unfolds.

Almost There

I'm down to the last few additions to this sculpture. For all intents and purposes this piece, titled "The Grenadier", is finished. Originally it was going to be simply a Marine rifleman. But last week, thinking about my own battlefield experiences, I decided to put a pomegranate in the figures' right hand. During Operation Steel Curtain, while standing in a bombed out garden, I tried my first pomegranate. A heavily damaged pomegranate tree had a few ripe fruits clinging to its leaveless branches, and I decided to give one a try. It was delicious; despite the seeds you need to navigate around. But what does adding a pomegranate have to do with changing the piece?

What you're looking at here is the grenadier standing next to a heavily damaged pillar. The ground is scattered with chunks of concrete, spent shell casings, leaves and a branch with a solitary pomegranate still attached. The Marine has an M16A4 with a M203 grenade launcher attached. Why change the figure to a grenadier at the last minute? Simple. It turns out that the origin of the word grenade is the French word for pomegranate. The Spanish word for pomegranate, granado, is another word for grenade.