"City Man and Country Women" Sculpture

Whether through found objects or mixed metals, Kate Valleroy loves to exaggerate the diversity of people's lives and their surroundings into playful and humorous sculptures.

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Kate Valleroy is a people watcher. But after this witty artist watches, she goes to work. Whether through found objects or mixed metals, she loves to exaggerate the diversity of people's lives and their surroundings into playful and humorous sculptures, as we'll see in her "Man from the City, Woman from the Country" where her connection to the subject this time is not as an observer, but instead as the subject herself, along with her husband--the man from the city.

Materials and Tools:
silver sheet (flat stock)
brass sheet
copper sheet (flat stock)
lead free solder
soldering tools/station
copper backing
sandpaper
Dremel tool
roll press

jeweler's saw
jeweler's file
buffer
pickle solution
crock-pot
patina
gloves
toothbrush
dish soap
rubber cement

Steps:
1. Draw the desired design of each scene.

2. Choose metals (brass, copper, silver) and designate what they'll be used for:

Copper: man, woman, cow, hanging hook, ears, fire hydrant, and street sign
Silver: background, woman's necklace, and man's collar
Brass: frame

3. Texture the man's landscape using a roll press and sandpaper. Texture the woman's landscape with a hand Dremel tool.

4. Photocopy and cut out the drawing into templates including the ears and the hanging hook.

5. Rubber cement the templates to the chosen pieces of metal (figure D) and cut them out of the metal using a jeweler's saw.

6. Drill small holes to thread the jeweler's saw into the piece to cut out the inside holes. Example: Windows in the city and the fence in the country.

7. Clean up the edges with a jeweler's file and buffer.

8. Begin sweat-soldering the pieces together, starting with the largest and moving to the smallest. Put the figures on the landscape with a copper backing to lift them off the surface of the metal in relief. Place in pickle solution.

9. Add accessories and extra pieces (cow, hydrant, necklace and collar).

10. Solder on the hanging hook to the back of the top horizontal bar of the frame.

11. Put both pieces in the pickle solution.

12. Start soldering on the frame, one piece at a time and pickle between each piece of the frame after soldering.

13. After the frame is attached, turn the piece over, bend the ears and solder onto the frame.

14. Buff and polish the silver surfaces. Inspect and clean up the pieces, pickle them and remove any residue from soldering or buffing with a toothbrush and dish soap.

15. Let pieces dry, or dry carefully with the torch. Note: Pieces must dry completely or the patina solution will spread everywhere.