The Creation of Qiqsmu'
Pronounced "kicksmu", which is the Chumash word for Life, or Existence,
(in the San Luis Obispanean dialect).
(There is more background information in the newsletter section.)

For this sculpture, Zima decided to go directly to the full size, instead of first
constructing a maquette, or smaller sculpture. She felt that in this case, since the
basic feel of the piece is already determined by the existing Bear and Child,
it was not necessary. Rather than using clay for the sculpture, she is using
a polyurethane foam which will then be built up and detailed with a nontoxic
sculpting medium. This is because the original sculptures were made with
these materials, and the look needs to be the same. Also, the bears will have to be
taken to the fountain, to test size and placement. This would be impossible with
a heavy clay sculpture. The following photos show how the work is progressing.

Initially she determined the basic size of the hindlegs of one of the bear cubs.
This was traced onto a piece of foam, and then cut out. In the second photo you can see
the dollie that the sculptures will be built on, and the mock-up of the rock that
their paws will be resting on. There are several pages of photos of bears, for reference

Here you see more cut out sections of the pink foam.
They are being moved around, to determine just where they ought to be placed.

On the photo to the left you see the chunks of foam being added to shape the bodies.
The photo on the right shows heads, with ears placed, and paws.
The pieces of foam are held in place with a thick wire, called baling wire, or tie wire.
Using this method, rather than carving out of one solid piece allows for a lot of experimentation,
and subtle changes. Changes can, and probably will, be made up intil the very end.

When the placement is okayed, the pieces are painted with a white primer, to seal
the foam. The initial coating of the sculpting compound is then applied.
The bears have been moved to a different room where they will dry faster.

Now the sculptures are starting to look more like little bear cubs.
More of the sculpting compound has been added, and in some places
you can see that the foam has been cut back, mostly around the haunches.
That's part of the process, doing the best you can, and then adjusting
until it finally looks the way you want it to. The heads and the paws haven't
been added to yet, Zima is working on getting the shape of the bodies closer
to finished before the working on the details. The sculping material
is water based, and because there has been some rain, and the
humidity is high, the work isn't drying very quickly. She wants to wait
until the cubs dry out a bit more before continuing to build up the shapes.

The cubs are getting fatter, and the hind feet have been shortened a bit,
they look a little less like kangaroos now.
Here is a photo of them taking a break for the holidays!

Remember not to use that term any more. "Taking a break for the holidays", turned out
to be more of a fact than we expected! The bear cubs were tossed around in the earthquake,
and suffered some damage. This looks like a scene from after the battle. That's part of the
process, you just never know what is going to occur along the way. So, just deal with it,
as best and cheerfully as possible. The damage wasn't really all that bad. The paws and arms
hadn't been worked on yet, and were more fragile. That is were the breakage occured.
A little fiddling, and some wire put them together again. Now it's time to finish them up.

The cubs are becoming rounder, more like real furry bearcubs. The photo on the left
shows where the white sculpting compound (Sculptamold) has been carved away,
exposing the pink foam underneath. The chest was too prominent, but that was easily
fixed. The foam was cut back, and new Sculptamold applied. The photo on the right
shows them getting more refined, the faces are starting to look more like real cubs.

The cubs are nearing completion! On Friday April 30th, the pond was drained,
and they were brought down for a "fitting" to make sure they interact well
with the rock that they will be leaning on. The smaller bear, with her arm up,
fit perfectly. The larger cub, who is looking at the same focal point as the mother
bear, needed to be cut apart and moved around a bit. Here you can see some
wood shims in place while the final placement decisions were made. Metal pins were
driven into the sculpture to hold the parts in position, and then the cuts were wraped with
duct tape to hold everything in place for the trip back to the studio.

The sculpting of the cubs has finally been completed
and the sponsors have given their approval. Hooray!!!

Now the next phase can begin: the mold making. The first step, in this case, will be to paint
each of them with a coat of blue primer. The material that they are made of, Sculptamold,
is like a soft wood when it has dried, and is very absorbent, it will not release the mold rubber
unless it has been properly, completely, sealed. The blue coloring will help to make certain
that no places are missed. Changing the color also allowed Paula to see if there were any more
places that she wanted to work on before giving it her final okay.

The cubs are being painted with a top coat of an oil based enamel, thin enough to maintain
all of the detail, but tough enough to not absorb any of the mold rubber. The paint
is a different color, pale yellow, to make it easier to detect any places that might
get missed. After this has completly dried, a coating of mold release will be applied.
This can be as simple as petroleum jelly thinned with mineral spirits, cooking pan spray
or something specially designed for the purpose and purchased from the company
that provides the mold rubber. The photo on the right shows the cubs standing up proudly
so that the the best placement of the mold can be determined. A great deal of thought
goes into this next step. The rubber mold needs to be pulled away from the sculpture easily,
so the parting lines are figured with that in mind. These cubs are fairly simple in shape,
so the mold will not be a complicated one.

The cubs are now carefully positioned on their backs, and the first clay "dam" has been
built. The clay is one that was designed by Disney Studios years ago as a sculpting clay,
it can sit much longer than most other clays before it begins to dry and crack.
You can see the little round indentations that will act as keys for the other half of the
mold, later, after this half is completed. The clay dams, and the bears have all been carefully
coated with a mold release. The photo on the right shows the first pouring of the mold rubber.
We are using PolyTec 74-45, a two part self thickening room temperature vulcanizing liquid (RTV)rubber.
The first layer needs to be smoothed, or poured on very carefully so that no air bubbles form.

On the left you can see the second and third layer of mold rubber being brushed on. Each coat
has a little more thickening agent added, to build the mold up more quicky. The photo on the right
shows the final coats. The mold rubber we use is a bright yellow, and you can see it now is very thick
and is a deep yellow in color. The drips will later be trimmed away.

Now it is time to build the "mother-mold", this is provides a sturdy backing for the rubber mold
otherwise, it would lose it's shape, as the rubber is very flexible. We are using plaster, sometimes
fiberglass is used if a piece is very large, in order to keep it from becoming too heavy.
The mother-mold is made in as many parts as necessary to make it easy to remove.

The cubs have been turned over, the clay dams removed, any clay residue cleaned away
and the mold edges trimmed. The mold has not been removed from the front side
of the bears, you can see the the white plaster of the mother-mold, and the yellow
of the rubber mold. The little depressions in the clay, were filled by the mold rubber,
now you can see how they are raised on the mold. This side of the mold and the bears
will again be carefully coated with mold release.

In these photos you can see the mold rubber has been applied in several coats, it is now curing.
The duct tape is holding the parts of the mold together. One of the mothermold halves was
removed on an arm of a cub in order to keep the bear level. In the photo on the right you can
see some little pins used to secure the mold to the mother mold to make sure everything lined up.
It is very important that the two halves of the mold will align perfectly.

In the photo on the left, the rubber mold has been pulled off of the original sculpture, you can
see the inside of the mold. The photo on the right shows the next step in this long process.
Melted wax is painted into the molds. When it cools, the wax is quite firm, and will pick up
all of the detail that is in the mold. This wax is painted on to about 1/8" thick. The next step
which is being shown here, is to paint on a dark brown wax which is more flexible, and acts
as a back up to the firmer red wax the total thickness of the two layers of wax will not be more
than 3/8" to 1/4". The wax will be removed from the mold, and the parts "welded" together
(with more wax). Then the texture is carefully reworked at the seams. Voila, a wax bear cub.

In the photo on the left, you can see the wax bear, and the original bear cub. Next they will go
to the foundry, to be cast in bronze. The photo to the right shows both cubs at the foundry,
ready to be prepared for the slurry. They are lying on foam to protect the detail. You can see
a line across the belly one of the cubs. They will both be cut in half for the casting.

In the photo on the left, one of the cubs is receiving some reinforcement on the bottoms of the
feet. A hot tool is used to bond the wax pieces together. The photo to the right shows the waxes
cut in half, with the sprues, or pieces of wax that are about one inch square, and several inches long.
They act as reinforcements for the wax sculpture, and will also provide the way for the molten bronze
to shoot down into the piece, later, during the pour. The large dark shapes are actually cups, vase like,
hollow inside. They will provide a place to pour the bronze.

The next step is to dip the wax piece into the green slurry. After it is carefully coated with the green goo,
each piece will be covered with a fine coat of silicone sand. This happens two to three times building up
a thick coating. The photo on the right shows a view looking down into the slurry vat.
What will be happening is called the "lost wax" process.

After each piece has been carefully dipped in the slurry, and then in the silicone sand, it is allowed to dry.
In these two photos you can see the top of one of the cubs, the bottom halves of both of them.
If you look closely, you can see a wire mesh that has been tied around one of them to add extra reinforcement.

When each of the pieces has thoroughly dried. They are placed in a kiln, here the door has been
opened, so that you can see inside. The piece is turned so that the sprues and the cup are down,
in the heat the wax melts, runs out and is burned up. Now there is only an empty shell. As each
piece reaches the correct heat, it is carefull pulled out of the kiln with large tongs, and lots of
protective gear on the foundry workers. Then it is placed in a sand pit, with the sprues and cup
facing UP. The molten bronze which has been melting in another furnace is poured out of the
crucible, and into the cup of the shell which is now white from the burning. The bronze is
a brilliant orange because of the heat it will soon cool, and harden and become a coppery color.

After the shell, now filled with bronze, has cooled down, it can be knocked off. The photo on
left shows the bronze exposed under the partially removed shell. The sprues, and the cup
which were wax, are now bronze. They will be cut off, and the two halves of the bear will be
welded together. Now you can see two, almost finished bronze bear cubs.

The cubs had a simple brown patina applied to the raw bronze, after it had been
sandblasted. Then they were brought down to the Mission Plaza to be permanently installed
in the pond. The large bear and Chumash Child were cleaned and given a fresh patina, so
that all the sculptures would have a similar look.

The day of the dedication ceremony, Saturday, October 23, 2004, was clear and blue,
a lovely small crowd assembled to wish them a good life, Mayor Romero accepted them
as a gift to the city. Past Mayor, and City Council Member, Ken Swartze spoke about his
two friends, Bea Von Stein, and Mary Jane Duvall, for whom the cubs were dedicated.
The cover was pulled off, and colorfull balloons bobbed up, held by tethers in the pond.

There you have it, a succesful project. We hope that you enjoyed this photo portfolio!