I now have the letters roughed out at least, a lot to do to this yet!

The first cast, already reserved for a client, the red color is a base colorant used in the casting material, this one will be given the bright gold finish.

I thought I would make a model after this very ornamental monogram pictured below:

The antique original pictured above came from the old James McCreary Dept store on 23rd Street, 6th Avenue, NYC, I removed it from the lower portion of one of the metal elevator doors when the building was being demolished around 1974. I had added the frame and painted detailing around then.

The poor photo from 1982 doesn’t show it well, but it’s a very entwined, ornamental 3D design that would translate nicely in clay I think.

I will make the design about 15″ square.

The original sign is low relief but interesting intertwining of the letters, so I thought a much deeper relief would lend itself to some interesting treatment with various relief heighs, shadows and cutouts. I think a textured background, smooth letters will do best, haven’t decided on the texture yet, maybe a ball peened, or wood notched tool marks.

I decided to go with full size, making the monogram end up about 15-16″ square on an 18″ background which will shrink a little. I used course red clay as I have two boxes of it I need to get rid of before it’s too stiff to use.

Setting up the model with the lettering outlines inscribed on the clay for reference:

I will probably make the letters quite raised, 3/4″ or even more.

The monogram is: J M Mc Co. which was the James McCreary Co. department store dating back to the 1880s.

I have the first cast on hand now of this panel, this one is reserved for a client, the red is the base color in the casting material and this is drying out before I can apply the finish to it:

D10 is next, and the mold for that will be finished next week.

Artifact from the Riviera/Riverside theaters in NYC, removed in 1976

She was based on the old symbol for America “Columbia” pictured below, which was the female symbol before the Statue of Liberty. Though bearing a similar resemblance to one another, Columbia is much older.

A client ordered a D8 panel in the red terracotta, and before I crate it for shipping I thought i would snap a picture of it.

Another client ordered one as well, and she also purchased D9 and D10 which have been finished but not molded as they were pending a firm order before doing that step.

Next week I should be starting work on the molds for D9 and D10, for reference they are pictured below and they will be in production in a couple or three weeks or so.