Today, I brought in my large format camera maquette to show Gregory and to discuss how I might go about fabricating it. Gregory thinks we can make it, but it will definitely bring new challenges to the both of us. When I made my model, I used straight-sided cardboard to indicate where the camera’s bellows are. This aspect of the project, the bellows, is going to be the trickiest part to fabricate or cast.
It’s going to take a lot of consideration and planning in order to pull this off. There are many ways to approach this particular issue. I need to make a pattern for the tapering angles of the bellows that will take into account the considerable shrinkage that will happen when cast in either brass or iron. It will be worth all the effort if the camera casting works. More on this as it develops.
Before lunch Gregory took me to tour the Brass Foundry, there I met Bob and he showed us around and explained the process and procedures in making Kohler brass product. We also toured the machining stations and I met Jack, in the polishing area.
Kohler retiree and tour guide Lowell stopped by the studio and he joined MJ, Gregory, and I for lunch at the Design Center. Lowell told us about his life growing up on a farm and how he still lives on that same property.
Later Gregory showed me the Service Department, where a lot of heavy-duty engineering -- and machining of just about anything that needs to be made -- is realized. We also got a look at the Pattern Department. I really wanted to see this department, because I think it probably is most like the kind of work I do in my art practice. These guys make all kinds of patterns in different materials. Glen showed me a resin that is used in putting a surface coating on patterns.
Each area of the Kohler factory has a different tone, and color, and even noise level to it. Some areas are louder than others and in just about all the areas that I’ve been in… ear protection is warranted. “The Melt” is gritty and dark; it is very dramatic with extremes in color and temperature. But I think I like the Pattern Department best so far, the atmosphere is lighter and more organic in material. The workbenches are wooden -- there is less metal and more wood overall. Everyone, in every department, has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and take time out their busy workdays to talk to us and help me get orientated.
At the end of the day, I’d made some paper cutouts testing different widths for the bellows and considering different ways to approach their realization. I made a few notes for tomorrow morning when Gregory and I will talk to Larry in the Pattern Design Departmentt to get his thoughts on how to approach the bellows.
