Friday, December 17, 2010

Finished up forged copper baptismal font for church

I haven't posted a whole lot lately, but it doesn't mean I haven't been busy.

Among other things, I finished up and delivered the copper baptismal font recently. Here's how it ended up after final shaping:





It's approximately 29 3/4" across the inside of the rim.

After cleaning up with muriatic acid:





And after going over it with a ScotchBrite ball chucked up in a drill:




Although shiny, the basin is highly textured, with ripples left from the raising process and hammer marks from sinking it. The church wanted this rather than a smooth, perfect finish. Personally, I really like the textured finish, particularly the ripples, which mirror the ripples of the water.



A steel stand was fabricated for it at another shop, then plated with a bronze patina at a third. Finally, after many months, it was delivered and installed at the church. If you look to the left of the large doors at the back, you can barely see it in this picture:



In addition to being used as a baptismal font, the basin will stand next to the door and hold holy water.





And here I am, looking dirty but pleased to have it in place.



I have a lot more pictures and footage of the process of making it that will be put together into videos and uploaded to my Youtube channel at some point.

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