After creating the maquette, the tiny clay sketch of the sculpture. I sculpted the portrait in water based clay. 

I then sculpted the life-size figure in oil based clay and added details to bring out the story elements of Larry Callen's books and message of kindness, childhood adventure and the importance of literacy to encourage children to want to read and get lost in a book.  

Using the tiny maquette sketch as a bases, I converted the tiny 18 inch model into an over 6 foot life-size figure sitting on an actual park bench. The figure was changed since this picture but it gives you an idea of the process. 

After the sculpture was created, it had to be cut into pieces. Every piece became a separated mold I had to create.  Yes, hands were cut off, arms, legs, even things like the collar of the shirt!

The inside of the mold appears in reverse. This is a message to inspire the Pass it On For Papa movement to continue. A movement where throughout the world people preformed random acts of kindness in his honor. 

Once the mold were created, wax could be poured into each individual mold. Then each piece needed to be worked on in wax to prepare for a new mold to be created for the bronze to be poured into. 

When I was creating this sculpture, I asked for feedback and many people wanted to see Homer, Pinch's hunting dog pig somewhere in the sculpture. He needed to be touched up before beginning the new mold. 

Once the wax was ready we needed to create a place for the wax to be melted our and the bronze to be poured into before we created the mold. 

Once he was ready we could begin making the new mold for each piece of the sculpture. This is a multi step process but I thought it would be fun for you to see part of the process. 

Each body part is dipped in slurry and different grades of sand. Once they are coated they are hung to dry before the next coat. Multiple coats are needed to create a shell that is strong enough to hold the 2000+ degree heat of the molten bronze. 

Once each mold is ready the wax is melted out so the bronze can be poured into each mold. The molten bronze is over 2000 degrees!