Bronze Sculpting by Nathan Scott

Field trip to a foundry!

We have found some new friends in the Scott family. I first met Janis at the homeschool convention in Abbotsford in June. She was there to promote her curriculum books, Living Books for Life. I'm really impressed with these books and am looking forward to using them with my boys next school year.

While we were chatting, we made an Imadene connection. Janis and her family have been in the Imadene community for a long time and she recognized the logo on my sweatshirt. They came for Family Camp and we enjoyed several chats. Sadly, some of (or maybe all? I forget) their five of their kids became ill during Family Camp, so they spent the end of the week hunkered down in their trailer. She borrowed several movies from me to help them pass the time.

We planned a get-together for the kids to play and for me to look over her books. I knew that I wanted to use the Grade 5 set (Socials, Science, Health/Careers) for Max, and wasn't sure what to use for the younger boys. She and I agreed that I could use the Grade 2 set with Marty and Jax next year. They will be in Grades 1 and 3, so there will be some extras for Jaxon and some gaps for Marty, but overall it should work well. 

Janis' husband is a well known bronze sculptor! See his website for more of his projects. We were eager to see his workshop and foundry when we went to visit them in Victoria last week.

He is currently working on a few projects, the biggest one being a commemoration of the Fathers of Confederation. 

Here's a video with the story.

As you can see, we got up close and personal with 

Sir Gray (PEI) and Sir Gray (NB).

Here is a timelapse video of how these models came to be.

Janis, showing the boys a scrapbook of the process and finished work.

Nathan and his employee preparing to pour brass into moulds.
This work is for a different project, not the Confederation statues.

Janis instructed the kids to be still and quiet while this was done, as it requires great concentration and there it is dangerous to distract the workers. It was amazing to watch them work. Since their hoods and masks prevent them from talking to each other, they both have to know the steps in the process. It reminded me of a dance. 

Pouring brass into moulds.

Big, hot fire.

Brass in moulds, cooling.

The Scott kids were excellent hosts to the Zalinko kids. They spent time exploring the farm ... feeding pigs, mucking in mud, catching chickens by the tail, and making bows and arrows.