Lost Innocence
Standing in the rising shadows of our sculptures, Denny looked above my head straight into the steel eyes of the Phoenix. Holding his hand to his heart he let these words fly:
“The Dragon trumpets the call for war
The Phoenix answers
Quell the beast.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, as we slipped into our morning conversation sipping hot mochas. We talked, taunted and twisted our dueling minds around what he wants all of us to think about on Memorial Day.
“It’s our loss of innocence,” he said. “It will never come back. Yes, war took our friends and we will always remember them. But war also killed our innocence. Let’s remember that for all of us who survived our tours.”
And as we bantered and batted our thoughts about, these words emerged.
Lost Innocence
Our dragon trumpets the call to war
I am in this fight
My phoenix answers
Quell the beast
I am this fight
Our Shadow
Packs my heavy load
Whispering thank yous
At my closed ears
My once-sure step falters
My innocence lost
My home lost
My trust lost
I am the beast
I am the fight
Quell me
Thank you Denny.
Our sculptures flow from these conversations. Check ‘em out below:
1. Thiago and Robert bolting test wing base on Dragon
Thiago Leâo and Robert Bellows mounting light weight outline of the Dragon’s wing structure. We’ll use this mockup to experiment with the size, shape and curvatures of the 5 wing panels. Our plan is to build the full wing on the ground and lift it into place.
2. Andrew brazing crown flames of the Phoenix
Ben, Ann, David, Leo, Isabella, Thiago, Christina, Jocelyn, Jeff and others contributed to the long process of creating and installing every feather on the Phoenix. Andrew is pictured here brazing a fiery finish on the crown feathers.
3. Denny And Andrew building frame of Phoenix body
Denny Sedlack and Andrew shaping ½” steel rod into the “skin layer” of the Phoenix.
4. Bob Lecy building front shoulder of Dragon
Bob Lecy is shown here shaping the right front shoulder muscle of the Dragon using 1/2” steel rod. His favorite projects over the years have been sculpting the heart, ribs, skin, and teeth of the Dragon.
5. Dave comparing test cuts of Phoenix feathers
David Schares shown here comparing various test cuts for the secondary wing feathers of the Phoenix. He’s using slots cut out with our Hypertherm to convey fire through shape. He’s our feather guy. Whatever he decides is what we’re gonna use. Can’t wait to see what they look like with a heated and hammered texture. Hmmm, do we braze these too?
6. Denny, Jeff, Andrew and Andy
Test Fire for test Feather: Denny, Jeff, Andrew and Andy fire up one-half of the 8-foot-long forge built specifically for heating, shaping and twisting all of the Phoenix feathers. Andy and Andrew, a father son team, designed and fabricated the forge complete with speed-controlled fan and swage block stand. It works great!!! Yowsa!!! We’re ready to start building the whole wing structure.
7. Denny, Leo & Bob on Dragon
Denny Sedlack, Leo Barth (left) are shaping the hips, glutes, and thighs of the Dragons back legs using 1/2” steel bars. Once these muscles are in, we can begin to add the base of the Dragons tail. Bob Lecy is up front forming the front shoulder and chest of the Dragon. It won’t be long before we get to add skin texture on those muscles to match the skin on the Dragons neck.
8. Shaping Hips of Phoenix
Denny Sedlack and Robert Bellows shaping the hips and tail bone of the Phoenix several years ago. We designed the shape of the hips by looking at some chicken bones then sketching out a larger shape on a cardboard template. We then scanned our cardboard model into a dxf file to run through Hypertherm CNC. Two quick cuts, add a bit of heat and and extended pressure and zip…we’ve have Phoenix hips.
9. Ruffled feathers back of Phoenix
This shows the feathers on the back of the Phoenix. Andrew inspired the placement and expression of the feathers. Dave designed and cut each feather. Ben, Leo, Ann, Isabella, Jeff, Andy, Jocelyn, Christina and many others did the heating, shaping, texturing and welding, feather by feather.
10. Robert wondering what comes next
Robert Bellows at the end of the day. Hmmm, what do we get to do tomorrow? Heat, shape, design, explore, talk, wonder? Guess we’ll wait and see.