Randall's Urban Architectural Sculptures

A fellow in Nashville from whom I bought a number of pieces of 1856 cast iron that he had collected during demolition of the Morgan-Reeves bldg in the 1970′s sent a note last December saying he found a few odd left over fragments of iron which probably went to or with some of what I purchased, and did I want them?
Of course I said please send, and so Larry bless his preservation minded heart sent them via mail, but the package never arrived.
A disapointment for sure, because the small corinthian capital I have from him is missing a few fragements and it woulkd have been nice to complete it.
Well, amazing as it seems, six MONTHS later Larry gets the damaged package back as undeliverable!

Re-packaged and sent again it finally arrived!
The 3 pieces were well wrapped and I found one of the pieces goes to one of the ground floor capitals I have for which I had to make a wood mock-up for because the leaves were removed off the original columns which probably weighed a couple thousand pounds!

So now the empty spot on the lower right will have it’s leaf as soon as it’s cleaned up and oiled.

Another of the pieces is a broken-off fragment of one of the tiny acanthus leaves for the other capital, (below) so I am happy to have at least that with which to repair it with. The capital still has one broken leaf which is missing the broken portion, but it’s mostly complete and is the only surviving interior capital- the rest were scrapped by demolition men who threw them on the truck one evening after Larry had previously paid for salvage rights. He came back and these were gone, sold for maybe a penny a pound…
The capital is shown before cleaning and oiling, it is easy to see how fragile the leaves are;

Anyway, kudos to Larry for everything, and I wish him well in his future endeavors!

It looks like I will be modelling a large Sullivanesque panel for a client in Chicago, 18″ x 36 but in a vertical format.

I look forward to working with the client’s masons and landscaping contractor to ensure their client has something unique, inspiring and interesting!

There’s a number of salvaged pieces around when they are available, but of course finding the size, design and configuration one wants for a project is almost impossible, especially if the project involves the need for several of the same design, mirrored pairs and so forth.

The salvaged pieces of course come with a price-tag, mostly due to their being antiques, one-of-a-kind and other intrinsic values such as as sentiments due to where they originated from, or by whom they were made.

The prices on salvaged pieces are now at the fine-art level, where I can offer competitive prices on a custom model designed the way the clients wants, one does not have to settle for “whats available” and paying premium dollars for it no matter what condition it might be in.

Make no mistake, custom models are not for the client hoping to duplicate something they have for $100 or $200. The average set up, design and modelling of a sculpture takes around 20 to 30 hours. This depends on many factors of course and some will be less, while others will take more.

As such, and due to mold material costs, custom modelling starts at $1,250 this includes all materials for the model, and up to 30 hours of setup and modelling time. Most models come under that 30 hours.
Change-orders, alterations or additional time modelling past 30 hours is $60 per hour.

I do not charge for the design/consultation time, and this is not part of the 30 hours.

Once the model is approved and finished, there is phase 2; the mold making, this is charged on a 50% basis for time and materials as I retain all molds and rights to the designs produced in my studio.

The exception is for designs of a personalized nature which I simply cannot use, i.e. a family crest, or if the design is such I feel it has no use to me and doesn’t “fit” my line.
Then the client pays the full cost for time/materials but the mold is destroyed or stored for the client for subsequent casts.

Casts are generally priced based on similar sized/weight/complexity pieces I produce, and will vary somewhat depending on material, finish etc.

Shipping is FedEx ground, or via freight truck for heavier pieces/quantities.
Shipping several sculptures crated on a pallet via truck can be cheaper than shipping several boxes via FedEx, the break-even point is around 500#. Truck shipments are FOB via a loading dock here to your business, loading doc or residence.
Truck shipment pickups are arranged and paid for to the trucking agent directly by the client providing them with the information I provide the client when the shipment is ready- weight, size, crated/palletized, class etc.

Sample of a small Elmslie block that was sold at auction recently, notice the “estimate” for final price for this rather plain design, this is probably the most simplistic design I’ve seen but it serves to demonstrait how insane the prices on these pieces have become- the auction houses’ estimate is right about what I would charge to custom model this design.

I had this attractive brass name plate made up for the base of the eagle, now mounted on it for a finishing touch it looks real classy.

Now that I brought back my sculptures which were on exhibit at the Blanden Fine Arts Museum, they would be available.
The new updated technique to obtain the buff yellow finish I experimented with on a couple of the sculptures for this exhibit turned out extremely well and uses mostly tints in the casting material rather than applied paints. I think I will be using this technique as a replacement since it worked so well!

The red terra cotta finish is much harder to find a tint replacement for as red pigments turn pink when added to the mixture. However, since I do plan to buy a large ceramic kiln and add a premium hand finished fired terra cotta line, the red terra cotta finish would instead be available in a kiln fired genuine terra cotta version, but I am waiting for the overall economy to pick up again and see if there’s an interest in this before investing a few thousand dollars on the kiln and setup.

New client Doreen will be receiving 2 of my Art Deco Folies panels shortly and is excited about using them as soon as her fire damaged home is rebuilt and she has the wall to hang them.

The panel has proven popular and I may also make a second model of this but smaller so as to have it in 2 sizes.

I expect sometime this summer when I decide what models to add, I will be ordering more clay and starting work on a few new designs. I’m sure at least a couple will be Art Deco. Still, I’d sure like to make something really big that can go in a garden. I was looking at the pair of winged lions on a landmark Louis Sullivan bank, one of which was destroyed by a drunk who knocked it off the pedistal. Those are around 5 feet tall but I have measurements and lots of photos.