Here's a 30 minute episode of OETA TV's "Gallery" program. It aired last night on public Television and will air every thursday night for a few weeks at 7:30 pm central time.

you can stream it here: Gallery: Episode 1302

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iMac fixit morning

My optical drive likes the last DVD I burned so much that it won't give it up. It took awhile to figure out that the drive had died.  So today I'm a techie.  

First thing was to order a new optical drive as well as a bare hard drive docking station.

The hard drive in this iMac was fine but it was only 750 GB and I have a couple of new empty 2TB sea gates laying around, so, while I've got the thing apart I might as well put the new bigger drive in.

I downloaded a copy of Carbon Copy cloner and cloned the internal hard drive to the new seagate drive.  Then I cleaned my desk.
Ready to disassemble

Use suction cups to pull the front glass off

Off it comes

Good opportunity to clean the grime under the glass

Removing the screen exposes the guts

old optical drive out

Both new drives ready to go in

Almost back together

Success!! Back up and running
 OK, now back to work and off to the OVAC's 12x12 fundraiser tonight.

"American Beauty" mold making finished!!!!

The final day of mold making on "American Beauty" by the Deep in the Heart crew.

They got here on Wednesday, worked 17 hour days for 4 days, and left Sunday morning having finished a high quality silicon rubber mold of a 4 X life-size sculpture titled "American Beauty."
They loaded up the 81 separate mold sections on their trailer as well as a couple of my large sculptures that Clint will take to his gallery in Austin, Texas.

They left my studio cleaner than when they got here. ( I was very happy about that)

The next step in the "American Beauty" process is casting waxes into the mold sections. This will be done at the Deep in the Heart foundry in Bastrop, Texas (just outside of Austin)

more to come.........

Mold making crew (+ me)


plaster mother mold cont....



building the mother mold flanges


mother mold pretty much finished

getting ready to stencil mold IDs on each section

beginning to stencil


finished with stenciling


Clint drilling alignment holes in mother mold


first mold section being removed

off comes the mother mold section









cleaning up the rubber mold sections

removed mold sections layed out




50 mold sections on the torso alone


matching rubber to mother molds





mold almost completely removed



Patty helped match rubber to mother mold sections

mold removal done, loading the trailer


Early Saturday evening

beginning to load mold




Gary strapping down "Paradise"

Beginning studio clean up

rolling up tarp



moving torso off the tarp



Tarp is rolled up with all the debris 


Tarp went directly to the dumpster





early Sunday morning; ready to roll back to Austin


So long!!


Mold Making of "American Beauty"........Day 4

Rubber is done, time for the mother mold.
Gary is the mix master; gypsum, chopped fibers and water, stir & apply.





Surface areas first, then flanges






Flanges going on next

Adding gussets for strength


mother mold finished on legs








finishing up rubber on torso




Mold sections are stenciled for production efficiency









Finishing up rubber flanges

Rubber is done, beginning mother mold




Silicon Rubber Mold Making Continues......

Day two of rubber mold making with the Deep in the Heart Art Foundry crew.
The first unthickened coat of rubber is almost completely finished. The silicon rubber is white but the normal set catalyst is purple which gives the first coat the lilac tint. The second coat is slightly thickened  and some higher speed catalyst is used which changes the color to tan and makes it easy to see where the new rubber has been applied. The third coat is very thick and applied like putty.
Today is the third day of the crew being here. I expect the rubber to get finished today......next up, plaster mother mold.

last of the first coat going on

Gary is blowing the fresh rubber with compressed air to pop any trapped air bubbles






second coat going on








Clint pouring rubber into the belly button



beginning to add the thickened third coat

spreading it out








third coat is applied to the entire  surface first, only then applied to the shim line






mixing more rubber

preparing the second drum of rubber for use




at the end of day 2, leg rubber is done, torso almost done

Keys have been added and rubber flanges trimmed








Mold making begins on "American Beauty"

I finished sculpting "American Beauty" today. I know I finished because Clint Howard brought his crew from Deep in the Heart Art Foundry and started mold making. 

David L Phelps
This is it; I have to stop now

Laying down floor protection

She's finally ready to go

Creating an efficient work space



using playing cards for the shim lines




Gary joining the playing cards with masking tape






If you knock one card down they all fall like dominos


Shimming is finished on the legs, some of the crew moves on to shim the torso while Clint demonstrates how to apply silicon rubber on the legs.













































Saturday, August 25th Progress on "American Beauty"

I'm at the point in sculpting that I need to do the rest of the work myself. Christie Owen is here working on her 12x12 artwork and I'm working on the shoulders of "American Beauty" Patty's coming by with food soon. I might break later this afternoon for a swim, unless it's raining. The foundry's sending their mold making crew up Monday or Tuesday to start the mold. So.......that's when I'll be done sculpting.

David Phelps





different color clay makes refinement easier








Final sculpting on American Beauty

I'm at the stage in sculpting "American Beauty" that I pretty much have to do all the work myself.  Jose Rodriguez has gone back to Austin after six weeks or so up here in the studio.  The last couple of days I've spent refining the hair and should be done tomorrow. Next up, arms & shoulders. I've thrown in a few shots of other sculptures hanging around the studio.

A double life sized Pastoral Dreamer was delivered to the Tom Ross Gallery in Santa Fe last Saturday by Deep in the Heart Foundry and was set in place by crane man extraordinaire Roger Lamoreux.

Today I'm teaching Christie Owen to mig-weld and I'm finding that she's a natural born welder.

David L Phelps


American Beauty



Christie Owen arrives

practice welds


Big skull



1.5 X life size Pastoral Dreamer
Christie Hackler for scale reference

Life size American Beauty

Watership Down on a 5000 lb steel pedistal

Party

David Tamez of Public TV Station OETA brought his crew in last night for  final shooting for the Gallery program he's producing about my work. He shot at night so he could have total control over the lighting without any daylight coming through the skylights.

Yesterday morning I got a message from Cynthia Rodriguez saying "you stole my husband and I'm driving up tomorrow and taking him back home." Cynthia & Jose had come up from Austin to go to a niece's wedding in Norman two months ago; Jose decided he'd help me in the studio for a few days and he's still here. But no more, I'm losing him today. Cynthia and their kids Isabella & Gabriel should arrive this afternoon to see why Jose disappeared for two months. Then they'll kidnap Jose and take him back to Austin. It's been a great, productive two months of work on American Beauty and she's almost ready for the foundry.

David L Phelps

Boots filming

David Tamez, Myself, Boots

Ryan setting up lighting

Dave Tamez setting up camera


Camera dolly





Mice in the foreground

Skull in the foreground

part of the filming









The End is Near

Tuesday  August 7th 2012

We're getting close to completion with "American Beauty."

It feels so good to be so close. Four of us cleaned and organized the studio today, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow we unify the color in anticipation of the final push to being ready for mold making. Time for a celebration. I foresee a big letdown when "American Beauty" heads off to the foundry. It will be a time of catching up on all the tasks that have been put off in order to get this piece finished. Tomorrow's my parents anniversary; they're off on a much needed adventure at Pismo Beach. I'm ready for an adventure myself. Will probably have to wait until Thanksgiving when Patty, Me,  Sarah and Mike go to Sedona  to Garlands' Lodge for giving thanks for family and happiness.


David L Phelps





















Fridays work on "American Beauty" with Jose Rodriguez

Friday morning I finished sculpting the second foot ( other than overall surface smoothing). Jose continued work on the hair. I built a platform that allows me to get up close to the face without being bent over ( I need to protect my back). I made good progress on the nose with a little more to go. This morning I'll finish the nose and move on to the eyes and mouth. Looks like another long day today.

David L Phelps
sacrificing the knees to save the back



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believe it or not, the white model is life size