This remarkable copper sculpture of a fisherman was created by George Charney of Lovells, MI. The following pictures were taken as it was being created and demonstrate the process that Mr. Charney used to bring this copper sheeting to life!
Here is the finished product:
The fisherman was started with concrete castings of his own hands and his brother's head with alginate molds. The concrete parts were then coated with a heavy duty epoxy glue and clad in 1 mil copper foil.
The waders, shirt, sleeves, and hat were made from 16 mil copper sheet, following patterns Mr. Charney created from a real shirt, waders and hat. These items were formed by hammering and then manually bending the copper pieces, which were then joined together by rivets and solder. The pieces were then attached to a water pipe skeleton. Once the final pose was determined, the hollow body shell was filled with an expanding urethane foam to give it more strength and rigidity.
The patinas were obtained by masking the waders with plastic wrap and spraying the shirt with our Tiffany Green bottled patina solution. After some time, the solution was sprayed off with a water hose. The waders were done using the brown Antiquing patina solution in a similar fashion. The hat and scarf were flame treated to give a little more contrast to the parts. Finally, the whole sculpture was sprayed with polyurethane to help maintain the colors for a few years. The fisherman now stands in a meadow on the banks of the Ausable River in Northern Michigan.
If you have any comments or questions for Mr. Charney, you can contact him at twinbridgeobservatory@hotmail.com.
We think this sculpture made of copper sheeting is inspiring and amazing!