The Installation Crew

Katy and Anthony Castronovo....

(mr and mrs CRAZY)

Look what we built

so here it is folks...the wind bocker. fully completed with roof by noon today.

Katy has to leave on monday afternoon. So we have 3 days to finish the whole thing, and take down this lovely wood structure....we should give it a name...

We couldnt do any work yesterday. So instead of sitting around any more days, we decided to do something: to build a house over the sculpture to block the wind.

a run to lowes before dinner, and making walls and connecting them after dinner, we finished the structure last night just before midnight.

Here is our "worried buyer" Larry Rubin. he looks pretty concerned that the sculpture wont ever get done.

He and his son, Simon, helped us to lift the huge walls up to where they had to go.

the casualty

then the wind picked up, the fastest wind we've had so far: and a ladder tipped over form the wind and landed right on one of the glass disks.....

but for a huge heavy ladder to land on it, it held up really really well. The glass just breaks in lines and doesnt shatter and fall all over: so we eventually said that this was a good occasion.

However, we couldnt work anymore, because the tent wasnt....so we decided to relax a little. this was good for our souls...
tomorrow is supposed to be less windy...we'll see!

we woke up this morning with the ambition that we would finish the first tree today...

we welded most of the canopy really quickly...and were very hopeful that we could finish each tree in one day: that the three trees would take three days....

Tuesday:
Today was even more windy than yesterday...........!!!!!!!!
But we finally perfected our wind tent as much as we could (ant bought some more tarps and clamps). Isnt it beautiful? There was a point where the tall ladder almost fell over, using the tarp as a sail.

we did not anticipate this wind problem...and we get pretty mad sometimes...and it feels like we are getting nothing done..but when I look at these pictures, it does seem like were are getting somewhere...

anyway: send us some positive vibes...we need them!

monday was exceptionally frustrating with the wind and trying to figure out a working tent. The only pictures we have of this day were when we were cleaning up for the night, and had just taken down the tarps that werent working very well...we both thought it an interesting picture with all the ladders around the pieces.

"The Wind Catastropy"

The good news: The first two canopy parts were welded on!

The Bad news: the wind is a problem. We are on the Jersey Coast and there is lots of wind that changes directions all the time...this messes up the weld, and it's been really frustrating. Here you see our first attempt at a wind blocking system using ladders and a tarp.

to sum up the problem: when welding, you attach a hose that feeds argon gas into the weld to protect it from oxygen, which corrodes it. Even a little bit of wind just blows the argon away.

After a long day, Anthony cleaned some welds and we called it a night.

the oldest son, Simon, poses by the sculpture.

more branches are added....

All the trees were anchored by yesterday morning...
and anthony welds on...

Noah thinks about hitting Anthony with a noodle while he is drilling....

and a view of the pool next to the sculpture

After a couple days, we finally got ahold of a water drill that does the job perfectly: 9, 1.5" holes through stone and concrete.

The sun is setting as Anthony starts drilling...

view of the house where we are installing, and a lone trunk waiting for drill holes so it can be anchored!

When we arrived, we thought we would drill the anchor holes into the concrete, but it proved to be difficult with the bit that we had.

While waiting for a solution, Katy washed the stainless steel canopies using an electrolite process.

boy did she have fun!

After a long trip from Columbus to New Jersey in a Penske, we managed to transport all the parts of the sculpture without one casualty.

Here are some parts and one of the trees in the garage after the trip.

the pieces are getting prepared for the trip to New Jersey....check out the photograph Katy took of the cucumber vines on the balcony with the pots in the background: they look like green versions of the canopy circles!

The three work spaces in columbus: the welding shop, the washing station, and the storage

Revision
a computer rendering using Cinema 4D

Revision is a sculpture installation consisting of three large tree forms. These forms are to be created out of stainless steel and stained glass. Above is a computer drawing of what the finished product will look like.

Anthony will be welding parts together in his studio in Columbus, Ohio, and will be installing it in Rumson, NJ beside a pool at a private residence.

This blog will document the building and installation process.

Questions can be directed to anthonycastronovo@gmail.com