We recently had the opportunity to cast a life-size memorial/portrait project for artist Shelley Kolman Smith. The final piece was installed at the Brownwood County Club in Brownwood Texas and will be dedicated on June 7th.

This project was inspired to memorialize a pillar of the Brownwood Community, O.C. Jarvis "Putter." Mr. Putter attended Texas A&M University and earned a degree in Animal Husbandry and was the founder of Landmark Life Insurance Company, in Brownwood Texas. His contributions to his community and his love for golf inspired this project.

Artist Shelley Kolman Smith was commissioned to sculpt a life-size depiction of Mr.Putter. At her home studio in Poetry, Texas, Shelley worked in clay to make sure everything from the hat, shoes, and glasses he wore to the position of his arm were true to who Mr.Putter was. "She has a natural gift for portraying not only a likeness, but the personality of her subjects."

Once the original piece was delivered to our shop in Springtown, Texas we started the process to preserve the piece by casting it in bronze. Through the Lost Wax Process, we created a mold on the original clay model so that from there we could create a wax copy to put a ceramic slurry shell on. Once the ceramic shell dried we melted the wax out and poured molten bronze into it. Then we let the piece cool and pieced it back together in the metal, while preserving the detail of the original piece. This particular project took us about 12 weeks from the time it arrived at our shop to be complete and ready for install.

We love casting life-size projects and working with artists to really bring these pieces to life in bronze. The best part is always the story and journey behind the piece, from the initial idea, raising the funds, finding the perfect artist, and casting it in bronze, so many hands go into bringing these pieces to life, and we love that we get to be part of the journey!