How to care for your bronze sculptures

Ridgeback tail is welded during the foundry metal chasing process

Bronze Metal Chasing for Ridgeback bronze

The Rhodesian Ridgeback's tail is welded to the body.

Here I proofed the bronze casting and noted imperfections that needed revisiting.
The welder uses my corrections to apply to the other two bronzes.
I am very happy with the bronze casting results.
Here the welder is filling in cavities I discovered; then he will use his tools to reintroduced the fur texture.
Here is a better image of the tail being welded to the ridgeback's body.

Ridgeback dog sculpture last minute corrections

Well I woke up Saturday morning and there was something about the ears and eyes I did not care for; hence, I decided to give the dog sculpture a face-lift and ear change. Now, I am very happy with the results...

Photo gallery of ridgeback final clay sculpt

The study for this composition was the dog featured on "The Ridgeback Register" International Issue - January 2007. The dog's name is "Nashira's Katano Ridgeville" owner: Ana Paola Diniz of Brazil. Thank you for sharing your awesome ridgeback!

Cory Bowers of Southern California, thank you for providing me a copy of "The Ridgeback Register" and putting me in touch with your contacts.

Kumar Kandiah of Australia, thank you for providing me a copy of the "Midlands & Northern Rhodesian Ridgeback Club, Illustrated Breed Standard" ; your keen eye.

More Rhodesian Ridgeback images are available by visiting my art sculpture site. I will post the bronze images once the bronze foundry has completed their tasks.

Ridgeback dog sculpture ready for bronze casting

Rhodesian Ridgeback clay sculpture is ready for the bronze foundry

Rhodesian Ridgeback video from Animal Planet's Dogs 101

The Rhodesian Ridgeback origins

The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a dog breed indigenous to Southern Africa. Its European forebears can be traced to the early pioneers of the Cape Colony of Southern Africa, who crossed their dogs with the semi-domesticated, ridged hunting dogs of the Khoisan people (referred to by the colonists as "Hottentots").

In the earlier parts of its history, the Rhodesian Ridgeback has also been known as Van Rooyen's Lion Dogs, the African Lion Hound or African Lion Dog—Simba Inja in Ndebele, Shumba Imbwa in Shona—because of their ability to distract a lion while awaiting their master to make the kill.

The original breed standard was drafted by F.R. Barnes, in Bulawayo, Rhodesia (today known as Zimbabwe), in 1922. Based on that of the Dalmatian, the standard was approved by the South African Kennel Union in 1926.

Wikipedia

Midlands & Northern Rhodesian Ridgeback Club - Illustrated Breed Standard

Here you will find the Rhodesian Ridgeback breed illustrated breed standard I am using to sculpt the clay ridgeback model. To obtain a better view you will need to click on the image.

Sculpting of the paws, toes; legs ... videos

Here are the short videos of my live broadcast on June 02 and 03, 2009. Enjoy! and please feel free to comment.

Steaming on http://www.justin.tv/handsofcaesar/

I carry on a three-way conversation with two of my artist friends as I sculpt. While streaming on Justin. TV, we were using Skype to carry on our conversation. In coming viewers were just a bit confused because of the 10 minute lag time.

ridgeback eye correction for clay model

This video shows the corrections being made to the ridgeback's eyes




more on eye correction

video posting using youtube.com webcam upload

I believe I will stick to youtube.com for the movie clips. The quality is much better than justin.tv ;however, I will still use justin.tv for the live feed.

Kumar can you and Vicki review this video and comment. While I wait for the comment, I will fix the eyes.

Live streaming and video: sculpting of the ridgeback clay sculpture

I will occasionally sculpt live on http://www.justin.tv/handsofcaesar. The times are random, so if you plan on watching drop me an email and I will try to sculpt during that time. I am located in the PST zone; therefore, my broadcasting times may vary. Sometimes, I will sculpt during the morning hours, but on hot days, I will wait until the evening.

warming up clay dog model

Here you find me using heat lamps to warm up the modeling clay. I use Chavant NSP Hard Plasteline and it is tough on the fingers if it is not warm or soft to the touch.

Sometimes I will use a heat gun, blow dryer, alcohol torch or heat wax pen.

Right now, I am working on the dog's overall confirmation as suggested by Kumar and Vicki Moritz of Ujamaa Kennels.

Welcome Ridgeback enthusiasts

For the purpose of the Rhodesian Ridgebacks and Lion, bronze composition I will use this blog to keep you informed on the latest developments. I will be working with Kumar from Australia in order to tweak the Ridgeback clay model. Kumar Kandiahr is a Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder located in Australia. Kumar Kandiahr and Vicki Moritz of Ujamaa Kennels collaborated on the changes and work-in-progress. They have keen eyes for detail and I truly appreciate their assistance.

This composition will be my main project over the 2009 summer, now that I am just about 100% recovered from a torn bicep to my left arm. I under went surgery back in September of 2008.

Thank you, for viewing; I will make an attempt to answer every ones questions. Feel free to comment I welcome everyone’s input.

I am filming the process and will embed video onto this blog in the near future. The youtube.com movie clips will be in ten-minute segments. If youtube.com ever allows clips longer than 10 minutes, I will increase the length of the movie clips. At one point, youtube.com allowed those with director's accounts to post movies longer than 10 minutes; however, for some unknown reason that is no longer the case.

Once I have enough movie clips I will create a video library page on my main website www.handsofcaesar.com; in addition they will also be housed on my youtube.com account http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=caesaryanez&view=videos