The gilding on the copper cross is finally complete! You’ll notice a few areas around the copper collar that still have bare patches. The reason for this is, the copper collar is the transition between the base of the cross and where it attaches to the spire underneath. We still need to solder the pieces together. Soldering a pre-gilded surface is not a workable practice, so we’ll gild those spots after assembly.
Tomorrow we assemble the cross and spire and solder the as of yet ungilded regions on the collar. When that is accomplished, we’ll quickly gild those untreated areas and the whole spire will be complete.
We’re videoing the assembly, so watch out for some exciting footage. In fact, as the project nears completion, you can expect to see far grander pictures than have ever been posted thus far!
Artisans from Hightower Construction create the veneer ornaments for the tower.
If you recall, we have mentioned in previous posts that we elected to use a veneer on the tower to keep the structure as light as possible. The gallery in this post shows pictures of Hightower Construction craftsmen and engineers creating some of these pieces.
The molds are for the decorative elements. The large, fiberglass pieces, created by Hightower Boatworks, will be fit into the corners of the copper arch bow. We have included a draft of the finished piece as the last photo in this gallery to better illustrate how these items relate to the rest of the tower.
This phase of the project has been quite messy, but all our hours creating this veneer and these fiberglass pieces will culminate into a well-designed and beautiful result.
