I had an amazing time working with my friend Eric as sculptors for a company Sculpture Workshops based in Blue Bell, PA. The owner Fred was contacted by Campbell's Soup to create two large displays for the 2010 Philly Flower Show. One was a large Campbell's soup bowl and the other was a salad plate. We had about a couple of months to plan and complete the project, finishing just in time. We were almost crushed more than once having to move these huge things and I think I may suffer from fiberglass flashbacks for the rest of my life but it was a lot of fun.
Check out Fred's website if you get the chance. He is a great artist and I hope to work with him again.
http://sculptureworkshop.com/pages/1/index.htm
The bowl was about 6 feet across with a frame made up of 2X4's. We had to stand each one up evenly which seemed easy until we actually had to do it.
After that we used sheet metal to shape the wall of the bowl. And since these will both end up outside Campbell's headquarters eventually, we used fiberglass resin to make them able to withstand any weather.
The plate was 8 feet across and was made in a similar way to the bowl. The hardest part for the plate was trying to get the smooth angle of the lip. We painted a large table made of plywood with silicone and drew out a template and made a wall to keep the plate's lip the right size. Next we added layers of fiberglass cloth and resin until we got a thick circle for support. It took awhile to peel up the circle and place it correctly on our plate frame but evevtually we got it together and could start adding the fiberglass cloth.
After getting a good amount of fiberglass on the plate we flipped it over and started to work on the side which was made with the same process as the plate lip. This time though we used sheet metal as the template and layed a few layers of fiberglass on there.
Before it began to cure we peeled it off of the sheet metal and curved it into a circle, letting it cure before attaching it to the plate lip. After that we used a lot of resin and and sanding until we got it to where we needed it.
Sadly, I didn't take that many photos of the process but here are photos of the final product. I couldn't make it to the Philly Flower Show but heard from a lot of people that they looked great in person. I was just sent some pictures of the Flower Show team setting up. I'm hoping to get photos of both the bowl and plate once they get moved to Campbell's headquarters.
Here is the bowl on the left used as a planter for locally grown vegetables.
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