Paula: This was my proyect for CANTALAO Sculpture Contest in Chile. A tribute to the famous poet Pablo Neruda.Norman Lee won the sculpture prize with a rather simple design as he stated himself, but very creative in my view too.Was a great experience.First,I learned about Neruda,his life,his poetry and how to make a scaled prototype sculpture incorporating the actual structure to build it.Learn about important ing.concepts like weight distribution, quake resistant,copper sheet work, and some many other issues that came up with my 40ft tree design.The tree depicts
femenine shapes of main branches represent love.There were loves that marked him and his poetry.In the detail pic one can also see the poet`s silohouette with the "boina" he
used to wear.The tree has 20 leaves,aluding to "20 love poems and a desperate song" his most famopus and universally known. This was an oportunity to read poetry and truly enjoy it, feel it and even cry. Don`t know what it may sound like translated, but it`s just moving. He was a man with great sensibity... read it you`ll enjoy it! This tree emerged from a bulk of rocks like those in the coastal region where Neruda set his refuge. The shape of the trunk was segmented as stones that turned into femenine shapes as it branched out. The tree exibits the typical shape of a constantly wind blown region like Cantalao, located on a high rocky coast line. In all, a unique growth experience... nelson.

It makes so much better sense now that you've explained that your tree was inspired by a poet and his poetry...it really is very very nice!
Paula
Guthrie, MN

Paula: you know about forging so thanks for your kind words.
This was like I said, a very involving proyect, tecnically and emotionally. Before it, never crossed my mind I could take on this scale proyect, and although it didn`t come through, now I can say I definetely could in fact make it well, and all thanks to the challenge. By the way, I feel grateful to Rich,Gene,Warren, and others from Artmetal I cannot remember now, as well some guys from the American Cu Association, all of who provided usefull input. After looking into the materiality, decided to go copper, for many reasons, among which the natural patina as that of the Statue of Liberty, would have looked great on such poetic tree. Well, I kept my small scale tree, and wouldn`t sale it for nothing. In fact, anybody who likes this kind of work could make a tree like that or even higher and better. Seems to me, that once you believe and feel at heart you can make it, hey you`re half way there, the other half is making it.At first, with rather,mid size to bigger proyects than I was used to take, God knows how hard it was to set myself to believing I could make it... and how?.Don`t mean to brag, but I feel I can make anything (almost!) provided the client gives me enough time and money to do it. And all of us can do as well.It`s just a matter of wanting it! This Cantalao proyect, and PABLO NERUDA himself, his poetry,his biography, were the most inspiring experience ever. He had to flee on foot to Argentina, crossing the Andes and encountering life threatening situations with other guys, as he was prosecuted by the Pinochet regime. Reading those passages was just incredibly nourishing . Excuse me for extending myself Paula, inspiration takes over... Nelson.

Charley, if you read the top blogs I posted, most of your questions are answered there. In regards to unexpected challenges, my project didn`t win so actual work challenges never happened.During the design stage, there was a big challenge at gathering all the information necessary to assamble all the variables that came into play, like deciding how to make it: with people contracted there who you don`t know, or making a team here at home. Keep in mind I live by the Caribean Sea and had to travel down to Chile and spent about 9 month work there, leave family behind, etc... big inplications! This a part that I was never quite sure I could easily do. Anyway, figuring costs of equipment, labor,materials, lodge, food, etc was actually as much work as designing and making the prtotype itself. In regard to prototype, the big challenge wasn`t making it, but rather to make something well thought out that would take in consideration so many variables... at home we all know pretty much what to expect, how to go about things, etc. being a international project, I guess this a pretty complicated design, and not so much as for what it actually takes to make it. Hope I answered your questions. nelson.

Hi Jake, I invite you to read about Pablo Neruda and Cantalao, its very inspiring. No Jake, mine didn,t make it.Anyhow, my shop is a small place with a shed under some big old trees. This proyect was to be undertaken in Chile if it had won. Here`s a short explanation of how the sculpture was to be made: A well calculated steeel structure and concrete plataform underground(actually for safety purposes) you always over estimate by a factor that will depend on soil type, quake risk area,etc. Actually, this thick concrete plate 50 cms thick, had columns sticking down for stabalizing structure under sismic stress. The tree trunk structure is made of steel bar conected to steel structure of foundation plataform.This trunk structure is fabricated only up to where main branches arise, and shuld have the shape of what you want the trunk to look like after is covered.If you observed the tree, you`ll notice that is segmented as stones that fit into one another till the reach the branches base. Up to here this pretty easy, and basically bulk work. Here comes the very laborous part: covering that part with 1/8" Cu sheet pannels that fit like well carved stones. Imagen you want to make a 1x1 ft square shape Cu pannel.Weld 1/2" round bar in that square. Grab anhnealed Cu sheet that size plus calculated the excess length to fold it or forge it around the bar side. Fold nice and tight around bar and weld, on and on...Now,imagen doing this with less regular shapes, and not flat, but having nice concavities and deppresions as real wood, then besides the contour shape, you would also need to define those ups and downs , to adjust the copper sheet to the chosen surface. Weld that pannel to the main 1"+1/2" trunk steel structure. Next pannel got to fit nice, so now you`ve got to forge your next shape around the one welded in place, by forging the structure and maintaining the same distance (using separators) all around, so when you forge the copper sheet over, the next pannel will fit nice and look like stones. The effect you get is just amazing. I`ve done with steel which is harder to forge and fold over the roun bar frame.Once you finish that lower part of tree which ends in thick 1" steel plates with holes to bolt the 3 main branch with plates themselves, then concrete is empty to conect structurally the low half of tree (trunk) with the underground foundation.Forgotto tell you that before doing the panneling, the big roots anchoring tree to rocks (NOT FUNCTIONAL, just looks of design), should be put in place.The roots have no pannels, one piece, and each one of them is a long 3-D pannel per say.At this stage, the tree trunk will show the roots like coming from the wrong place (too high in the trunk), but that`s ok because once you make the faux rocks with cement in space left it`ll look all right.Now is when the scaled structure and scaffolding makes more sense to start bolting plates and initiate individual branches structure.Once all the branches structures distribution is made, you can unbolt one by one and tig Cu sheet over, as well as leaves pertaining to each branch. Leaves where thought to be thicker for resistance (1/4"). Don`t tig a top portion to bolt branch plates, and finish that portion thereafter. Rehardening the anhnealed Cu sheet by brush polishing would also give and initial luster......I`ll post the efect of this laborious panneling which I did on one sculpture. Gee my fingers hurt. Hope this clear matters, and I know you could also do this, if you wanted to... nelson.

That does sound like an ambitious project, Nelson. However, I foresee a possible problem with your use of copper panels over steel frames. Galvanic corrosion. Copper against steel is almsot certain to produce galvanic corrosion rather quickly. I think you'd be much better off to use copper all the way, or possibly use stainless steel for th eframework, rather than mild steel.

Richard, yes! when I said steel I meant stainless 304 L,for this "was" a project for a marine environment,to worsen matters. Months back, you and other guys here, gave me plenty advise regarding SS-Cu TIG welding,brazing,etc ... remember? So again, yes, all the above ground steel was to be SS.The underground foundation, would have been made with rebar steel and sealed concrete. You`re quite right about it being an ambitious project, in all, when I addedup materials, equipment and tools(all new to be used and left as property of the Cantalo Foundation), meals and accomodation for the work team I expected to be 4-5, plane tickets, transportation of materials from central Chile to coastal region,labor costs, my own fees, etc, etc, it amounted to about $ 500.000 at least! Although it was an organized contest the information was somehow vague, understandably due to the so many variables and things to know, that for people far away are important.So in a way,one would always be like going a bit blind till you get there. They were giving a 9 month time period to finish the wining project, for which I figured that I`d have had to move my butt efficiently due to amount and quality of work to be done.Although didn`t come through, CANTALAO was a bit stressing but fruitful learning experience.Just out of curiosity Rich, now you have a good idea about this project magnitud, what would you think would have been a worthwhile straight fee to charge as a "working"sculptor (all expenses being paid).? It was the first time I tried this sort of contest, and have my doubts if a pointed reasonably well. The aftermath is simple to me, much less money at home is more than plenty that far! Well, prestige, all that humans pursuit you know. You may be interested in reading a bit about Pablo Neruda, Cantalao, and his worldwide most famous poem: " 20 love poems...and a desperate song" On some other writing,he describes in a very flowery way his fleeing to Argentina, on foot across the Andes, as he was prosecuted by the Pinochet regime, a truly enjoyable little piece of literature. Nelson.

Jason, this just like making a big J.Merrick, the only differnces being that here you don`t have pieces made like from found scrap, and just the size. I know, easier said than done... it`s just plenty work. Hey, J this could be included like another stupid mistake, I`m not sure this big tree panneled in copper would pay off so many headaches. nelson.

i went to your website
nothing wrong with your game
it's getting better and better as you go along, chronilogically, i think, after seeing your work as a "body"

charley

Nelson,.
That is a really cool design. When you were asking about copper sheet long time ago I had no idea that the tree you wanted to make looked like this..........absolutely fantastic.

Sure would be a lot of copper fitting work.

Just curious on the galvanic corrosion, I have a few pieces with copper and steel together. What I find is just the steel rusts away and the copper stays if using fasteners. If welded like brazing no problem at all though.
warren

Hi Warren, you were giving me some advise too, on Cu brazing and so on as I remember. At the time and for obvious reasons, I was right into the first stage of the project presentation, and could not open my mouth too much or I`d have beeen dismissed! Definetely, SS - Cu! People keep on asking about how this project is going, etc, etc. It`s all written above already: who won the final project, and a few tecnical and other interesting aspects of this contest. I`m proud that although the project didn`t make, I learned so much during the process. I do feel my proposal was well structured fisically and subjectively (designwise), and that people here who know about sculpture, appreciate what with effort I was able to offer. Regardless of what may appear as boastful comments from my part at times, I do mean all of us can make and achieve whatever we really want. Not to say, someone who might be an expert working with certain material, would not make it better.I view myself more like" a jack of all trades and a master of none", so humbly I have to say all I know is I know NOTHING!
Nelson.