Learning the Art of Art Casting

Hans lived in Loveland, CO briefly in the early 1970's, when he was a youngster. His father, a creative entrepreneur, became involved in the art casting business which is how bronze sculptures are made. This ultimately lead the family to move to Grand Junction, CO where they ran a precision casting foundry, making high tech metal parts. As a teenager, Hans worked at a variety of jobs in the Grand Junction foundry.

Fast forward 40-some years to our brief stay in Loveland, CO. We drove past the house where Hans lived in 1971 - 1972 and also discovered that the foundry where his dad worked those many years ago offered tours. Art Castings of Colorado is one of the largest art casting foundries in the US and they bring you right up to the action throughout the foundry, teaching about the "lost wax" process along the way.

Here's how a bronze or stainless steel sculpture is made...

An artist creates a sculpture, usually in clay or wax. A mold is made from the art piece by covering the original in liquid rubber, then applying plaster for support. Wax is poured into the mold and, when cool, the rubber is pulled off producing a hollow sculpture. The wax sculpture is cleaned up using a variety of tools to produce an exact duplicate of the original sculpture.

Next, wax gates, or sprues, are attached to the piece as avenues for the molten metal to flow into the piece. Then a ceramic shell is built up around the wax by repeated dippings into a slurry and coating the slurry with fine sand. The completed shell is kiln fired and the wax is melted (lost) from the shell.

Once the ceramic shell is emptied of wax, it is reheated to 1600 degrees and molten metal is poured in at about 2000 degrees. Once cooled, the ceramic shell is removed with a pneumatic hammer and extensive sandblasting is done. If it's a large piece, it is created in multiple parts and the parts must be welded together.

Many of the workers in the foundry are artists themselves, and it is evident in the detailed finishing work that must be done to get to the final finished product.

Wing molds.

Here a worker pours wax into a mold 

In the Wax Chasing area the wax is made to look like the original.

Ceramic shells are built up around the wax parts.

In this kiln, the fired cermics are white (in front), and in the back are yellow ceramics ready to be fired.

Kendra tells us about the finishing process.
She is standing next to a piece of a giant horse being welded together. It will be about 30 feet high.

Finishing booths.

This is a mockup of the giant horse/Indian sculpture.

Most of the large pieces here will be part of the giant horse and Indian sculpture.

On the same day we walked through the lovely Benson Sculpture Garden. The Benson family homesteaded the land in 1877 and in 1961 donated some of the family farm to the city to be used as a wetlands and bird habitat. In 1985 the sculpture garden was built around the wetlands, creating a beautiful, artisitc statement in the middle of the city, with 148 pieces of art on permanent display. Bronze sculptures can also been seen around town as a testament to the local art casting culture.

Walking the sculpture garden and the doing the foundry tour in one day was a perfect way to learn about and appreciate this unique form of art.

A Few Nights in Longmont, CO

It was a short drive North of Denver to our next destination, St Vrain State Park in Longmont, CO. Longmont sits on the Western edge of the plains of Colorado, not quite bumping up against the foothills of the Rockies.

For our first outing we drove about 20 miles NW of our campground to hike at Rabbit Mountain. Once again, we were trying to avoid muddy trails because we were still getting afternoon thunderstorms and this was one of the few nearby open spaces that didn't list trails closed due to mud. We did end up with some pretty muddy conditions, but still enjoyed the views into the Rocky Mountains.

A view over a rocky escarpment from the Eagle Wind Loop.
Rabbit Mountain parking lot is visible next to the canal.

The Rockies are a sunlit line of white peaks above the foothills.

Sunday was my birthday and I was excited to spend it in nearby Boulder, CO. I just love spending my birthday in a different location each year! After a fantastic, huge breakfast made by Hans, we got an early start on the day due to anticipated Sunday crowds and temps forecasted into the 80's.

Eldorado Canyon State Park was our destination (see how much we are using our Colorado State Parks Pass...it's been well worth the $70 fee). It's a very popular park so we were very pleased to make it to the trail head by 8:15am. Our seven mile out and back hike on the Eldorado Canyon Trail included several steep up and down sections so we were happy to have cloud cover for the first hour or so. The early start also gave us an almost solitary hike out, but on our return the Sunday crowds were apparent as we passed dozens of people just starting out in the full sun and growing heat.

There's lot of switchbacks up from the canyon floor, opening up vistas into the Rockies.
The red building is a private home.

South Boulder Creek slicing through a canyon was our turn around point.

Downtown Denver could actually be seen from Eldorado Canyon.

This area is a rock climbers heaven.
On our return we could see those daring souls clinging to the rock faces...

Let's take a little closer look...see the person in the crevice below the rock spine?

Now you can see him!

Driving out we saw dozens of people on the steep rock walls,
this one was especially cute!

After our hike we had a delcious lunch of tapas and salad at The Med.
Then a stroll through the lively downtown plaza...a perfect birthday!

Yesterday we drove to Boulder once again for a short hike near the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Miles and miles of trails can be accessed all along the foothills of Boulder. NCAR was a good place to start because after our hike we strolled through their free exhibits and learned a lot about weather and climate change.

We had a bit of excitement on this hike...Hans did a little dance when he heard this guy rattling just off the trail.
He was not the least bit happy to see us, and was kind of hard to hear due to all the crickets buzzing around us too!

The dramatic Flatirons dominate the Western view from Boulder.

Great information and displays about Earth's climate at NCAR.
Lots of school groups on a Monday though.

As a former Computer Operations Manager, Hans was excited to see a Cray 1 on display.
That's the first computer system he worked with back in 1980.
Looks like something out of Star Wars, doesn't it?

We slipped back in to Denver one last time before we got too far away. The Royal Aces, a surf band, played at The Beer Depot and John and Pam met us there for one last hurrah before we part ways for many months.

Campground Review

We spent four nights at St Vrain State Park. Half of the sites are full hook ups with gravel roads and paved pads, picnic tables and BBQ pits. The other half of the sites are electric only, fully paved roads and sites, picnic tables and BBQ pits. The electric-only section has pit toilets and one central restroom facility with flush toilets and paid showers. All sites are well separated. Though the park does not have wifi, our Verizon signal was excellent. There are a couple of miles of trails in this park and fishing is allowed.

We stayed in the full hookup section in site 66 and had a pond 30 feet from our door. The good things about this park are the views of the ponds and the mountains, and there are lots of birds. But there were a couple of negatives: the freeway is only a quarter mile away so it is a constant background roar. Also, Greeley, CO is just Northwest of Longmont and when the wind blows the wrong way the stench of cattle fills the air. Lastly, the mosquitos are just beginning to come out. They weren't terrible yet, but still...

Be mindful of the speed limit throughout the park, there is a ranger that actually uses radar to make sure people are doing the 15mph speed limit. We didn't get a ticket, but we did get a talking to for going about 20 - 25mph.

If we were to stay here again we'd probably choose to stay in the electric-only section and as far from the freeway as possible. There are some really beautiful sites in that section.

Our site, #66.
The shade cover was perfectly placed to give us afternoon shade.

Another view of our site from the pond trail.

On a clear day you can see miles and miles of the Rockies to the West.
On the left you can see some of the waterfront sites in the electric-only section.

Waterfront site #30 in the electric-only section.

Western Meadowlark on our TV antenna.

We're off to our last stop in Colorado, Boyd Lake State Park.

Campground Review: Chatfield State Park, Denver, CO

We spent our second week in Denver at Chatfield State Park. Whereas Cherry Creek State Park was smack dab in the middle of the city, Chatfield felt like a calm oasis due to its location on the South West edge of the city. During our stay the lake was at least eight feet above the high water line and the South Platte River flooded its banks and closed the road around the South end of the park.

We had back-in site #196 in the D loop. Roads and sites are paved and each site has a picnic table and fire pit. All utilities were towards the back of the site, making it quite a stretch to the sewer hookup. Sites are well separated. Our site was wide open to the East allowing us to watch all the storms passing through the area. The Remote Control Aircraft field was visible across the plains and was enjoyable to watch except for the occasional noisy aircraft.

There are many miles of paved and dirt trails throughout the park, though some were flooded during our stay. All types of watersports are allowed on the lake and there are stables for horseback riding. There are pit toilets in each campground loop as well as showers and real toilets and a small laundry facility more centrally located. Verison signal was strong, as was the campground wifi.

Deer roamed through the campground a few times during our stay.
This was taken from our doorway.

There are lots of prairie dogs in the lowlands.

Chatfield Reservoir viewed from the top of the dam.
The campground is located on a rise on the far side of the reservoir. There was no danger of the campground flooding.
Had the trails not been flooded we could have had an excellent loop bike ride around the entire park.

That's a bridge sticking out of the water on the left and the very top of a BBQ on the right.
This is a picnic area on the West side of the park.

The structure in the center is a restroom which encloses pit toilets...I shudder to think about that under water!
This road led to parking for a picnic area.

We drove through here twice before the road was closed for the duration of our stay.

Western Tanager.

Taken from our doorway.

We let the huntress out to roam free in the tall grasses...she was in heaven!

Rosie in her element!

The old Slocum cabin claimed a prime spot on a bluff overlooking what was the South Platte River valley in the 1800's.
Six people lived in this small cabin!

A paved trail winds among the grassy knolls along the tree lined reservoir.

This trail has been overtaken by the river!

We walked a big loop one day that included the Highline Canal trail, shown here.
Just outside Chatfield State Park, the Highline Canal trail took us past bucolic looking farms and pastures.

Our site, D196.

Storm watching from our site.