My Process
Medieval Blowing Horn
This piece is the most elaborate that I’ve created so far. The piece was inspired by High Medieval manuscript decoration only I’ve chosen to apply it to a signal horn. Such a horn would have been used for announcements, signaling the hunt, or in warfare. It utilizes many of the techniques used in my work and is a good example of the care that I take with every piece I create.
Each material has its own voice
I look for a horn with the right color, size, and thickness
The horn is first sanded
I do a sketch and begin planning each step
I measure the circumference where I want each band to be
I cut out the sheet brass to the right width and length
The ends are filed flat and the piece is bent around so they meet perfectly
The seam is soldered together
Here is the soldered seam
The three bands are ready to be forged
each band must be annealed (softened) and forged to fit
This is a laborious process requiring several courses of annealing and hammering
After much work the three bands are fitted to the horn
now its time to create the bell of the horn
The bell must fit snugly inside the outer band
Now that its the right size and soldered I begin forging out a flare
I’m beginning to see a flare
Each course moves the metal closer to the desired shape
The bell is in its final form
The bell fits nicely into the top band
Now that all the parts are fitted I can move on to the next step
I cut the end off and begin shaping. This will get drilled out to make a functional blowing horn
A file is used to cut spiral grooves
This is fine tuned and prepared to receive a mouthpiece
I begin to draw on the horn
After working out the details in pencil I go over it in pen
Now I’m ready for carving
I begin by roughing out the forms with a rotary tool
I slowly work my way over the surface removing the negative space around the details
Now I’m ready to go in with chisels
I begin refining the shapes
My world becomes very small behind my magnifier
Many hours hours go by with lots of breaks for stretching out stiff muscles
Slowly getting there
Finally done carving
Now the horn is shaped along with the metal parts and I’m ready to begin etching.
Each band is wrapped tightly with paper
Excess is trimmed
A pattern is made
I divide the pattern and mark where gemstones will go
The design is carefully drawn on the paper pattern in soft pencil
The metal bands are cleaned and prepared for masking
The bands are covered in removable masking tape
The pattern is positioned over the piece with drawn design facing tape. This must be positioned so the design is registered properly on the horn.
The design is transferred to the tape with a burnisher
Successfully transfered
The design is cut out with an sharp knife
masking tape is removed exposing metal
Etching resist is painted on
after drying the remaining tape is removed
The bands are acid etched
The design is etched very deep to achieve a 3-D effect
The resist is cleaned up
Now I am ready to add bezels for gemstones
A silver cup bezel is positioned for soldering
The piece is fluxed and heated with a torch
Each band has several bezels. This is very scary!
After soldering the metal is cleaned
Chemical patination is applied to darken the brass
The blackened metal has a sculptural beauty
The raised design is sanded and polished
All the parts have been sanded and polished
Sapphires and garnets are set in the bezel cups
All the parts are ready to be mounted
The horn is sealed with Tung oil
The finished part is fitted and holes drilled through
to accept rivets
The parts are glued in place with high strength epoxy
The bands are riveted in place
Rivets are pushed through from behind and peened over
The mouthpiece is sculpted in wax and cast in bronze using a lost wax process
The finished mouthpiece is glued on.
