When a toddler stumbles and falls for the fourth time.  No body says, “Just give up.  You’re a failure”.    But by the time we get to high school it’s common.   Failure is synonymous with looser, flunkies, stupid, retard.  The whole idea of failing at anything is abhorrent.   So most of us rightfully avoid failure, and in doing so avoid trying new things altogether.  The jock, stays a jock, and may never tries to play an instrument or sculpt.   And we carry it on into adulthood.  We seek for “the way” something is done rather than “our way” by exploring, investigating, or using our creative ability.

CNC cutting an EPS foam pattern

I have the pleasure of working again with Seeker crew member Paul Walter from Rochester New York.   Paul is a software developer that also has a goal of not just sculpting but also casting his sculptures in metal.   My goal is to develop casting processes that can easily be replicated almost any harbor in the world by using commonly available materials where ever possible.  Together we are building on more than a dozen casting failures with foam, candle wax and plaster.   We now have built and tested a temporary burn out furnace,  built another pattern and invested it inside of 180 pounds of sand and plaster.   Tomorrow we get a night off, and then on thursday we start the 36 hour burn out process that leads up to pouring 70 pounds of bronze on Saturday.

It may not work.  It may fail.  But the greater failure would not be trying.  It makes me wonder how many potential Nikola Tesla’s,  Thomas Edison’s, Mark Twain’s and Wright Brothers’s there are out they that we will never see succeed because we taught them to never fail.

So don’t be afraid to fail.  –LIVE.

Dipping the foam pattern in wax to smooth the surface.

Investing the pattern in Hydrocal and silica sand.

Testing the burn out furnace with a failed investment piece.