Garden Trends 2010: Creating an outdoor living space with sculpture

With a ever shrinking economy, the shift in focus to create a backyard oasis or "room" has become extremely popular. Experts urge people to really take advantage of the spaces we have and really utilize them for maximum enjoyment. Bold colors and edible gardens are replacing boring drab grasses and shrubs. But like any well decorated room, there has to be some points of interest to embelish the natural beauty of the garden and landscaping.

Enter garden art. Especially metal sculptures and fountains. They are an easy way to add to the serenity and overall theme of your backyard paradise. The possibilities are endless, as are some of the prices! Metal sculpture, such as bronze, is great because it is low maintainence and very durable. It goes well in virtually every setting and can be purchased for bargain prices. They also come in a wide variety of themes including nautical, classical, equestrian, eastern and asian, and wildlife styles.

('’)

Bronze Sculpture 101: Fixing minor blemishes

In this post we'll be talking about repairing and/or maintaining your bronze sculpture in the event that something happens to it. Bronze is a very durable, long lasting metal that ages well. However, it's not indestructible. On occasion, some wearing or scratching of the patina may occur; during movement of the piece from one location to another. And, rarely, cracking can occur when when the weld holding two parts of the sculpture together comes loose. The beautiful part about bronze is that these are both very easily corrected. For scratches and scrapes that may remove the patina down to the bare metal, just a simple re-patination is all that's required. For minor cracks, the area around the crack has to be sanded to the bare metal then brazed and welded. Once the weld is done and smoothed, a simple re-patination is done and the piece will look as good as new. Preventative maintainance goes a long way in preventing these type of issues from occurring. Being careful when moving the piece and putting a protective coating on will help your sculpture stand up to the elements and last for many many years to come.

('’)

Product Focus: Custom Bronze Sculptures and Statues

We can make your vision a reality. No artist ego. No artist mark-up. No artist "style." You are the director. You make the changes you want before your custom bronze sculpture or statue gets cast.

We can go from a drawing:




To a wax model:




To the bronze cast:




To your location:



We want you to be completely satisfied with the end result which is why we keep you updated throughout the whole process. At All Classics Ltd. and bigbronze.com there are no surprises. What you see is exactly what you get. For the Missouri Western Gryphon pictured above, the college was given quotes from $200k to over $1Million. We were able to do the piece for under $50k without sacrificing any quality.

For a more in-depth description of our process, please visit our website:
http://www.bigbronze.com


('’)

Product Focus: Equestrian Sculptures, Statues, and Fountains

One of our most popular product lines are sculptures, statues, and fountains that focus on an equestrian theme. Horses seem to strike a chord with people. The majestic, powerful, and graceful nature of these animals is used as a symbol for a broad range of reasons. It may be used as a school mascot or professional team, to symbolize what industry a ranch or training facility specializes in, even as the marquee of a community or business or simply as an addition to a park or public space. When people see a sculpture or fountain that features horses they just seem to swell with pride. These animals have almost become as much a symbol of the American way as the Bald Eagle. If you have a ranch, school, or business with an equestrian theme there are few better ways to draw attention than a large bronze statue or fountain.

('’)

Spring is just around the corner! Get your bronze sculpture or fountain order in now and save!

It may not feel like it right now, but spring is just a few weeks away and, with it, the time for home improvements begins. If you're looking to add a fountain or statue to your landscape or garden, now is the time to buy. When spring arrives so do the price increases and pieces you could get for significant discounts now, like our victorian tiered fountain or cherub fountain, will soon be gone. This may be the difference of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars back in your wallet simply because you were proactive in your purchasing. Bronze sculpture pricing is highly volatile and increases tend to swing greatly from shipment to shipment. Getting the piece you want at a good price is really up to you. When we say that these are the best prices ever offered, we mean it.

('’)

Snow, Snow, and more snow! Will it ruin a bronze sculpture or statue?

With all the bad weather, and record snowfalls for much of the country, you may be wondering how it will affect your bronze sculpture, statue, or fountain. The good news is there's not a lot to worry about. Bronze is designed to withstand the elements, which is what makes it such an appealing medium in the first place. No matter the conditions, rain, sleet, or snow, it will continue to keep its beauty. In fact, a little snow can add to the elegant look and make people really take notice.

Giacometti Sculpture Becomes Most Expensive Work Ever to Sell at Auction

via ARTINFO on Yahoo Finance:

A rare life-size and life-time bronze cast, from 1961, of Alberto Giacometti's L'Homme Qui Marche I, better known as "Walking Man," improbably became the most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction today, selling for £65,001,250 ($104,327,006).

And people always wonder why bronze sculptures are priced so high! Which is all the more reason to come shop with us! We offer foundry direct, wholesale pricing without the artist or gallery mark up. Many of our pieces our designed in-house and can not be found anywhere else, like our lifesize T-Rex skull.


('’)

Doing our part to be a Green company

Nowadays, being a "green" company is almost as important as being an upstanding, customer friendly one. Here at bigbronze.com we try and do our part; we're always using boxes discarded by other companies in our complex to ship our smaller pieces and we almost exclusively use wooden pallets that were used as the base of our crates for the larger pieces we ship. Both these items would become landfill if we didn't step in and recycle them for our own use. We've also kind of taken it upon ourselves to sort of recycle people too. By that I mean we offer jobs to individuals that would otherwise have little prospect for finding work. These men are often down on their luck or dealing with personal issues that make them not desireable for a traditional 9-5 type of job. We give them the chance to make an honest days wage for an honest days work and to have something to take pride in.
('’)

Buying a Bronze Sculpture 101: Installing Your Statue

After you've purchased your new bronze sculpture, statue, or fountain you'll be asking yourself, "Now what do I do with it?" We constantly get asked what the best way to mount one of pieces is. And, really, there are many answers which is why we don't generally recommend a specific way. This is mostly because each location and use for the bronze is very different. What works in one place may not be a good idea in another. As the customer you'll need to assess what you'll be doing with the bronze and which installation is appropriate. Mounting brackets can be welded to the piece and then bolted to a concrete slab, the base can be drilled allowing an anchor bolt to be fed through. We've had customers simply sink a steel pipe filled with concrete and a bolt sticking out which was set in place through a hole in the base. Another method is to bolt a metal plate to a concrete slab and then have the piece welded to the plate. Construction grade apoxy, which hardens harder than concrete, can be used. The bases are hollow on nearly all pieces and we've actually had people fill the cavity with concrete to weigh the piece down. So, as you can see, the methods are as varied as the styles we offer. We recommend you consult a local landscape designer or specialist who should have some experience mounting sculptures in your area. Their knowledge will be invaluable to making sure your new bronze gets installed the best way for your need and ensure it looks good for many years to come. An example of this is our mermaid and dolphin piece that was installed for a homeowner in florida.

('’)

What makes a Bronze Sculpture Controversial?

If you visit enough parks, museums, or public spaces, eventually you're going to come upon a sculpture, statue, or even a fountain that may be deemed "controversial" But what makes it controversial? Is it just the subject matter or the way a subject is portrayed? Or maybe it's just the reaction it produces from the people that see it. Human nature is to project our belief systems onto others and what would be taboo to some is perfectly acceptable to others. A realistic bronze sculpture of a nude woman is a perfect example. Some see the nude body as a work of art in of itself, which should be celebrated as such. Others view it as nothing more than an attempt to exploit and titilate in order to gain some sort of fame. So, does the controversy lay with the piece or viewer's perception of it? The next time you come across a "controversial" statue or fountain ask yourself who's making it into a big deal, the artist, or you.
('’)

Buying Bronze Sculpture 101: Patina or paint?

When you read some of our descriptions you'll often notice that we mention that a piece is colored with an all natural "patina" finish. You may ask yourself, "What the heck is a patina?" Bronze is made up of a few metals, mainly copper, and some other alloys. These metals, when heated, react in a certain way to different chemicals and acids which produce a certain color. The real look of a bronze sculpture that has no patina is that of a new penny. The "traditional" look of bronze statues, that dark brown coloring like our wild horse, is actually a patina that was applied to the heated metal to create the color. Bronze can be colored in several shades using this chemical reaction process. Most often they are greens and browns. If you want your bronze statue or fountain to have a more realistic look,like our Mermaid with 8 dolphins, traditional paint must be used. An oil based paint, like automotive grade, gives a shinier, almost porcelain appearance, whereas acryllics will be more of a matte finish. In both cases a protective coating is applied to maintain the look for a long time.
('’)