Threaded attachment hole ...once I achieved the desired color with the patina for my cast piece of driftwood, the next step was to figure out the best way to mount it on a base. The question really answered itself. There was only one area of the piece that was thick enough to drill a hole for a threaded rod. I ground the end of the projection flat and used a tap and die to create a threaded hole. The projection was angled, so drilling the hole was a little tricky - it had to be drilled so that it would be perpendicular to the base. Tricky but do-able.
| After creating the threaded hole, I sealed the sculpture by heating the bronze with a propane torch and brushing on butcher's wax. I then buffed the surface with a cloth and was ready to construct a base for the piece. I used the same construction technique that I used for the base of "Up the Down Staircase" (see blog entry for 6/12/14). I cut four 4"x6" pieces of yellowheart and angled the long sides at 45 degrees. I glued two 6" pieces of 2"x4" together to use to fill the center space to hold the center rod. After sanding and rounding the corners of the wood, I glued the four splined sides and center piece together then glued and screwed a piece of 4 1/4"x4 1/4" yellowheart to the bottom and plugged the holes. Finally I glued on the top piece. Next I used a scrap block of wood to determine where the piece needed to be mounted on the base to appear centered and then used that information to drill a hole through the actual base. I recessed the hole in the bottom board to accommodate a washer and nut. The final step was to coat the base with satin polyurethane and attach to the sculpture to it. I epoxied the threaded rod into the hole in the sculpture then threaded the rod through the base and tightened the nut. Finished. The photos below show just a few of the different profiles that this sculpture offers the viewer to explore. |  Base with center filler  Assembled yellowheart base 7 5/8" h |
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