Little Harbour - Abacos

Since we still had some time until the next round of visitors we decided to visit Little Harbour which was only 3 miles south of our anchorage.  On the morning vhf net we heard the foundry was going to do a "pour" in the afternoon and everyone says it's a "must see".  For once, everyone was absolutely correct!

Little Harbour

The road to the foundry, notice the "speed" bump  

Into the small, fully protected anchorage we went and picked up a mooring ball.  There is very little room to anchor and the few spaces were already taken.











We may have mentioned some of this a couple of years ago when we visited with Grey Hound but here goes anyways......

Randolph and Margot Johnston came to Little Harbour in the middle 50's with their family and founded an art colony.  Randolph, who died in 1992 was an internationally know artist renowned for his "lost wax casting in bronze".  His wife, Margot worked in ceramics.  Now the foundry, gallery and "Pete's Pub" is run by one of their sons, Pete.  For additional information click on:  Abaco life in Little Harbour.

Very life-like!

At the foundry entrance

In the middle of the afternoon a bunch of interested visitors went over to the foundry to take in the "pour".  What an experience!!  Here, standing in the foundry with flip flops and bare feet we see the entire pour process from only a few feet away.  To start in the beginning...........

1. A wax model is created from a mold they build right in the foundry.  Below is Kristen (an artist in her own right) refining a wax model of a hinge that someone has commissioned them to build.  Her husband, Brett is one of the artists on site that will be involved in the pouring process.

After the wax model is complete they then encase the model in a ceramic covering and it is moved to the drying area.  Once the covering is hard they then melt the wax out of the ceramic so that it then became the negative image of the model.  The next step involved heating the ceramic model in a kiln so when the bronze is poured in it would not crack.  The Bronze (94% brass and 6% other) is made in the foundry, heated to over 2,250 degrees and then put into the molds.

ceramic molds drying

The kiln is in the background

Richard and Brett looked like a couple of strange characters in the tropics when they put on the heat resistant suits but Richard said it made the cold beers that much better at the end of the day!

The actual pouring process was a dramatic event!  Molten bronze inside a carbon vat is raised out of the furnace by chains and let directed over to the molds that are sitting in sand.  They poured a number of molds and here we were less than 20 feet away!

Brett checking the temperature

pulling the vat out of the furnace

The first mold get some heat!

Almost complete

This does not appear to be an easy task!

A half an hour after the "pour" Brett took one of the castings out into the yard and opened it up.  Most of the ceramic chipped away and look who popped out!!

Brett & Richard

Mr Turtle!!

A perfect day in the foundry was followed by a great dinner in the Pub.  Now this is what the islands are all about!