Carving and Casting

One of the details for the bench is a rosette that is placed in the corners above the legs. The plan calls for eight of them in total. Carving one out of basswood took a few hours and was then used to cast multiple ‘copies’.

It started with layout, then moved through the carving steps, building a mold box, creating a rubber (silicon) mold, and casting the parts. This was my first attempt at ever doing such a thing and it was actually pretty interesting.

After an initial coat of Gesso, which gives the rosette surface some ‘bite’, they will all be gold leafed. I have started ‘leafing’ with a synthetic gold leaf kit using sheets from ArtMinds and size and sealer from Mona Lisa. The first rosette is partially leafed, if you look at the closeup you can still see some of the white where I will need to add more ‘size’ and additional leaf. The process is really pretty simple and looks amazing like gold and compared to most of the other products on the market like gold paint, which looks almost nothing like gold, I’d say this wins out. I plan to eventually gold leaf the mouldings on the case and perhaps a few other parts, like bands on the bench and stand legs, etc. The cost is really minimal, about $10 for 18 sheets.

The completed rosettes will not be ‘installed’ until I get to the finish phases, i.e. after painting the case and bench. That still seems so far away . . .

Laying out the Rosette

Carving the first petals

Carving continued

Carving complete

Finished Rosette, cut out

Rosette, trimmed and shellacked

Rosette in place, lighted

Building a mold box

Completed Mold boxMold box

Preparing to create silicon mold

Creating a silicon mold of Rosette

Silicon mold of Rosette

Casting a rosette

Rosette Casting close-up

Gilded Rosette (Partial)

Gilding the rosette

Now all 8 rosettes are completed. This process was far more time consuming than originally anticipated, but the result was worth it, I think.