The Howard Theatre

I'm very excited to announce that the Howard Theatre Restoration is nearing completion!
I had posted on my involvement in the restoration project and a bit on the process I was using.

Here are some pictures I took along the way:


larger version of the slideshow HERE

 My trumpets are complete and have been shipped off to Mid Ocean Studios for final fitting to Brower Hatcher's Jazz Man. The entire sculpture is en route back to DC for installation. Early morning on Monday April 9th, the statue will get hoisted up to sit on top of the restored facade. There will be a second trumpet inside the lobby display so you get to look at it up close. Additionally, you are all invited to the Howard Theatre Community Day to celebrate the restoration!

On Monday, April 9th, come on down and breathe life into The Howard Theatre's Rebirth. At 11:30am, we'll kick things off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by live performances by Robert Thompson & The James Brown Experience Band, along with a host of other talents. Also, get a glimpse of The Howard Theatre's magnificence, which will open its doors to the public for the first time in over 25 years.
For this special occasion, we're closing down T Street to dedicate the recently installed sculpture of Duke Ellington and make way for fun and celebration. Hope to see you here at The Howard Theatre, on this Grand Reopening day!

So join us:
The Howard Theatre
Monday April 9th
11:30-2:30 PM
620 T St NW
Washington, DC

trumpet progress

I've been working on creating the model for the trumpet project I mentioned before. I've also been doing a few tests on materials. I wanted to find a concrete casting product that was fiber reinforced,  as strong as possible, and as resistant to freezing and thawing as possible. I wound up choosing NeoMix D, a two part polymerized cement system. I was able to create a very strong casting at less than one quarter of an inch thick. That's pretty sufficient for what I need.

concrete mixture test

Then I needed to see how the cement accepted colorants. I'm going with a sienna color for the trumpet. I think it will compliment the blue of the figure very well. I will still do a few more tests on this. 

Concrete Color Test

So I began building my model. My first step was to create the center portion since that holds everything together. I first tried creating it in foam, but i need it to be much stronger so I went with wood.

drilling middle section

Holes need to be drilled for the pipes to fit through. I used PVC pipe for the pipes of the trumpet. I figured it would be strong and that it would be easy to assemble. The curves in PVC and the connection points weren't exactly what i needed so I improvised.

I epoxied all the joints so that it would be a very solid model. The model needs to survive a two part mold making process, but I wanted it to be able to remain intact just in case I would need to make another mold of it. you never know, and it's sometimes best to make it much stronger than you need.

Here is the whole structure coming together. 

I then added 1/2 round fluting to create the valves of the trumpet.

adding 1/2 round elements

Once that all came together I added the prototype bell created in glass. Still a little tweaking will need to be done.

 I roughed in the glass inserts that will act somewhat as a sun catcher, and add a bit of a glimmer to the piece.

I still have a lot of fine tuning and cleaning up of the model and adding a bit of detail here and there before prepping the model for moldmaking.