‘Yep.’
‘How do you get it to go gold?’
‘That’s actually the natural colour of bronze. The surface has been polished and lacquered, but it takes a lot of maintenance to keep it that way.’
‘What about the green?’
‘That’s a hot patina, done with heat and chemicals.’
‘I don’t really understand how it works with clay. You make something and then what?’
‘You build a mould and then cast it.’
‘But how do you do that?’
‘The method I use is very traditional, but combined with some more modern materials: first you take a silicone mould of the clay and then you pour in liquid wax. Once the wax has solidified, it’s released from the mould and covered in a ceramic shell mixture. When you heat this up, the wax pours out – which is why they call it the lost-wax method of bronze casting. The void that’s left behind is filled with molten bronze.’
‘That sounds like a right faff.’
‘It is a bit, but it’s worth it.’
‘Do you still want to do your gran in bronze?’ he asks me.
‘How do you remember everything I say?’
‘Because you’re interesting.’ He flashes me a playful look. ‘If you were a book, I’d highlight half your lines,’ he adds cheekily, causing me to burst out laughing.
‘You should put that in a song,’ I say.
He smirks. ‘Yeah, my bandmates go all in for cheesy.’
I take it from his tone that he’s being sarcastic.
‘Ihavewritten about you in one of our songs, though,’ he says offhandedly.
‘Have you?’ I shoot my head round to look at him. ‘Which one?’
‘Track three off the album.’
‘“Leah”?’
‘You know it?’
‘I told you, I’ve listened to your album. Many times,’ I admit coyly. ‘Am I supposed to be Leah? I assumed she must be some girl you fancied.’
‘She is,’ he replies with a knowing look before grinning. ‘Nah, she’s mostly made-up, apart from all that “when she talks, I listen” stuff.’
His cheeks pinken and he wanders away.
‘I can’t believe I’m in a Door 54 song.’ I catch up with him, my glee bubbling over.
‘Make the most of it. It’ll probably be the one and only time.’
‘Yeah, I don’t really think metalcore, whatever that is, would suit my personality.’
He comes to a stop in front of one of my favourite pieces,Garden Sculpture (Model for Meridian), a tall aquamarine structure that looks like a distorted spiral with ribbons of bronze forming triangular loops.
‘I doubt I’ll be in the band for much longer,’ he says.
