Steel base construction

I have been cleaning up the bases ready for painting today. The furthest one from view in the photograph needed completely grinding back to bare metal as it had been left to rust. The sculpture that it belongs to is just sold and the client has asked that the base be painted rather than remain in its previous rusted state. The rusted steel bases look great outside but they do have the problem of the rust splashing up against the marble and staining it. I might try and stabilise the rust to avoid this problem sometime as I do like the colour of rusted steel in the landscape. On this third steel base you can see the cruciform shape of the stainless steel structure that sticks into the bottom of the sculpture to keep it upright and prevent it falling over. This cruciform can be adjusted with four threaded rods that are welded to the underside of the steel box. We now have three steel bases ready for painting tomorrow.

Sub base

The welding gear arrived and enabled me to finish the steel structure to go underground. The attached photo of it is of it upside down. The cross form that can be seen will lie ( the other way up) in the bottom of a carefully dug trench. I then spent the rest of the day welding up the steel bases for two other pieces that are to go to On Form London in a few weeks. The sheets of steel are already cut to size, so it is a matter of ‘tacking’ the box together on the inside before welding the long seams together on the outside. The excess weld has to then be ground off on the outside to make a fairly clean joint. I will then fill any remaining pits with filler before the final rub down and spray painting. Jordan had the day off today as it is a bank holiday, I expect he was in the sea surfing as it has been a beautiful blue skied day.