Fabrication of the Savannah Olympic Torch Sculpture

by: Ivan Bailey

"When Jane Feiler announced a visit to Atlanta we set up several sails for her to see an approximation of what they should look like. Jane had interpreted the sails as also resembling flames. I had to explain that although this interpretation was possible, that the flame and the sails ought to be conceived as distinct and separate elements."

Below are images and descriptions of some of the metalworking process which Ivan used in creating this sculpture. Note that all images have links to larger jpeg equivalents.

A life sized drawing of the column and half of a capital in cardboard were first made.This insured that the staves would be the right size and that the capitals would fit.

Column staves were cut four feet long. Ten staves were cut from each sheet of 3' x 8' copper with an electric shear.Two end pieces were left over from each sheet.

Two sets of hammer dies were made.The staves were hammered into the shallower and then the deeper one. Forming in two stages helped avoid irregular bumps and dents.

Staves were formed without annealing (softening) the metal. The factory hardness helped keep the copper from distorting during the forming with a treadle hammer.

Staves placed in position at the top and held in place temporarily with masking tape.

Staves in place at the bottom with curved guides along with the "chrysanthemum" guide at the top keeps them from sliding too much laterally during subsequent operations.

Staves are forced into contact along their length for silver soldering by means of several concentric rings hammered gently down around them in stages. Little wooden wedges further help to maintain contact during soldering.

The upper column drums were held in place above the lower with a stand with a 2 inch overlap. Bent sargeant's chevron shaped pieces were cut for each flute joint and held on with tape for the initial soldering.
Getting the first bit of solder to stick the chevron was an iffy proposition. Too slow and the tape would release and the chevron would fall on the floor. This happened about every sixth time.

Multifaceted pentagon capitals with a steel inner structure were fabricated. It was envisioned that these would be welded on the inside before the one remaining open side was soldered into place.

Two column center poles with capitals were laid out on a movable rack. One was welded on the inside before it was required that an engineer help us out in the technical construction area.

Construction of the sails above the pancake began with a tapered steel inner support welded to a rectangular flat bar 3/4"x1 1/2". Copper becomes very soft when heated to soldering temperature and needs such support.
The copper is hammered into a steel die which has several decreasing sized half round depressions. The steel mast is inserted and then the copper is hammered closed around it and soldered shut, totally enclosing it.

The sail is free formed using the mast and its attached base bar as its only supports. The copper is heated periodically to soften it between bouts of hammering.

The entire area of the sail is hammered to begin the shaping process. This "work hardens" it and requires heating again to allow it to be easily worked further. A heavy dome faced hammer is used to quickly form the metal. The big dents shown will be refined later.

Each sail is actually two sails. In front, but at right angle to the mainsail is a smaller jibsail. This configuration results in a more stable 3 point attachment and fills in what would be an empty space in a fore and aft configuration.

The inner and outer skins of the sails are separated by twisted round spacers. The spacers made laying of the inner skin much easier than it would otherwise have been.

The sails both belly out and lean, as if the imagined boats beneath them lean in the wind. This seemed to be the major point at which to introduce some asymmetry in an otherwise static composition.

Peter Reinhardt and my helper, David Jennings are here shown with the beginnings of the structure Peter designed when the city engineer in Savannah saw what I had in mind for the innards of the pancake.

The inner structure was so complex and with the sail bases making a spiral pattern we named the effect the Mandala.

The top deck of the pancake is about to go on. The bolts for the torch are sticking up around the center and the holes for the sail bolts are being drilled down from the top.
Nuts were welded from underneath to bolt the sails onto. The copper outer skin holes are being enlarged to make it easier to attach the sails during final installation with a pencil grinder.

We had to see just how the sails would actually look when in place. Today Peter Reinhard would come to make a final inspection of the structural aspects and the gas company engineers would do a gas test.

Due to too efficient gas mixture from the first test, this inside view of the cauldron shows the re-engineered burner.

Engineer-technician who made the changes to the burner is setting up for the final fire test.

Much more visible fire was apparent during second test. Everything was ready for shipping. The trucks were loaded and the Savannah Olympic Torch Sculpture was on its way to the site for installation.