Bronzing in the rain

This summer, we ran the first bronze casting workshop at Kinsale Pottery. Helle Helsner, a specialist in neolithic bronze casting techniques - including the use of horse dung and terracotta to make molds, took five students through their paces on a rainy weekend, and everyone produced more than one small bronze sculpture, cast from black wax. The hard work - filing and burnishing the pieces - came after the most exciting moments - pouring the bronze and opening the casts.

Helle often runs this as a three-day course, but for the pottery, two was enough to produce the work. The course runs again on May 24-25th 2008 and we can hope that the rain won't interfere next time