I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the fabulous work of Bettye Hamblen Turner, Texas sculptor and visual artist extraordinaire. A little transcontinental e-mail ping pong ensued and I was fascinated to find that her creations were Hot Dip Galvanized as a complete unit – without distortion! Bettye explains how this was achieved:
Planning, coordination, and luck. Luck never hurts, even when I am sure I have planned for everything. The American Galvanizers Association has a website that offers tutorials, http://www.galvanizeit.org/. I studied the tutorials when I made the horses. I spoke with the plant manager at US Galvanizing in Arlington Texas several times during the sculpting process on the horses. By the time I made the bull (J.E.) I had a better idea of how to brace the floating pieces to avoid distortion. All the large pieces are edged with 1/4" or 3/8" round stock, like piping on upholstery. This has become a signature look for me even when I am not planning to galvanize.
The staff at US Galvanizing in Arlington,Tx was great to work with. I always let them know when I planned to arrive at the plant. They did carefully control the immersion time. When we dipped the horses they added zinc to the kettle to drop the temperature slightly. The staff spends most of their time galvanizing components for dairy cattle barns. The sculpture is a pleasant change of pace for them.
Well done is all I can say – see more of Bettye’s work www.bhtsculpture.com
Planning, coordination, and luck. Luck never hurts, even when I am sure I have planned for everything. The American Galvanizers Association has a website that offers tutorials, http://www.galvanizeit.org/. I studied the tutorials when I made the horses. I spoke with the plant manager at US Galvanizing in Arlington Texas several times during the sculpting process on the horses. By the time I made the bull (J.E.) I had a better idea of how to brace the floating pieces to avoid distortion. All the large pieces are edged with 1/4" or 3/8" round stock, like piping on upholstery. This has become a signature look for me even when I am not planning to galvanize.
The staff at US Galvanizing in Arlington,Tx was great to work with. I always let them know when I planned to arrive at the plant. They did carefully control the immersion time. When we dipped the horses they added zinc to the kettle to drop the temperature slightly. The staff spends most of their time galvanizing components for dairy cattle barns. The sculpture is a pleasant change of pace for them.
Well done is all I can say – see more of Bettye’s work www.bhtsculpture.com
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