The hats are degated. That means all the channels used to get the bronze into the piece have been removed. All the shell has been broken off and the pieces have been sandblasted.
Top side or outside.
Two small places did not fill with bronze on the above piece. I have scrapes of a previous piece that I am going to use to patch this piece. I am excited to try to patch it. My plan is to make the patch look like natural tears. It will be a challenge and I am looking forward to seeing if I have the welding and chasing skills.
inside of piece.
Part of my series of bronze hat series "gust". where it is in the series I will not know until I finish.
Two hats in the series together.
The next step is to do the chasing. Chasing is grinding down the stubs from the gates and recreating the texture so that you can not see a trace of the gates. It is a skill that takes practice.