Hagatha Crusty

@obviouslycloe.bsky.social

Crusty Hag

Spent some time at a small forge in Missouri- a nice 2 week residency that gave me access to forges and power hammers, and enameling for both copper and cast iron. I went with more parts than plans, left with 2 sculptures built and lots of bits to play with. Ran an aluminum casting workshop, too!

A small iron casting- a circular void in the middle with radiating flashing and texture around it. It’s dark black with bright green enamel in the texture. It has forged steel spirals coming out of both sides on the void, and 3 forged tapers welded on each side.A wide photo of a cast iron and steel sculpture on a gravel drive. The black iron casting in the center has green enamel in the texture, and forged steel tapers radiating from it in 3 main clusters. There are flat bar semi-circles (broken arcs?) around it as well. It stands on 3 small taper points, making the overall work look very light.A closer image of the larger casting, showing the green enamel and black iron of the casting. You can see from this angle that the original form was a cast iron skillet mold that was sliced apart and carved to make the work explosive and energetic in appearance.A small home-made portable aluminum foundry setup- a stainless steel crucible furnace and lid, lined with foundry refractory, with ingots positioned on top to pre-heat. A bucket of scrap aluminum sits behind it, and lifting and pouring shanks sit in front of it. There is a small stand set up using cinder blocks and a steel beam to hold the bonded sand molds during the casting process.