We’re back! Our pieces have been carefully trucked in from our Goose Creek workshop to the cathedral on Broad Street in downtown Charleston.
Tomorrow is the big day! The tower lift! We still owe you all some videos from previous posts–and they’re coming, but rest assured we’re making a video of this lift, too. We’ll work hard to get all these posted ASAP.
Today we permanently affixed the copper finials to the top of the archway and refined some details on the collar of the cross.
The silver colored pieces under the finials and protruding from their tops are lightning protections. They will be grounded tomorrow after the lift. The copper cross also works as a lightning protection as its very thick inner stainless core acts as a highly effective means of diverting electricity. Beauty and brains!
The black rubber pieces in the inner corners of the archway are bumpers. The stone veneer embellishments that fit inside these corners will be lifted and installed tomorrow. The bumpers will keep the aggressive copper from direct contact with the veneer.
Check back tomorrow for lift pics! So exciting!
We’re heading back to our homes and office in Utah this evening, but we’ll be back here in a couple of weeks to finalize everything before the big, exciting lift.
Before we left, we fitted the finials to the lightning protections and finished the gilding on the collar at the base of the cross. We have pictures, but as we will be traveling, it will be a few days before we can make our next post. Also, we’ve got video in tow! Stay tuned for those as well.
We apologize in advance for the quality of these images, but just wanted you to know we’ve been on task! See you all in a couple of days!
We had some fun today! As you can see, we added the copper spire to the archway.
We temporarily lifted the tower so the specialists could attach the lights. Yes! The tower will be lit! And Jesse Rhodes from Hightower Construction (pictured on the left) added a makeshift cross (about the height of the real cross) made out of 2 x 4s just so we could better visualize the end result. Ok…and because it was fun!
Wondering about the stainless steel poles extending from the top of the arch bows? That’s where the finials go. Though they are all finished, we won’t add them until the last minute.
While the workers were up there installing the lights, they set up a lightning prevention system as well.
The spire comes back down, maybe not tomorrow as it is scheduled to rain all day again, but soon. We still have some details to finish on the top of the archway and can’t do that with the spire up there. But there’s not much more to do as far as that is concerned. In the meantime, we’ll be working on the cross. See you next entry!
(Disclaimer…Remember Copper Exclusive did NOT make the spire. We want to give credit where credit is due.)
This is an anachronistic post, but our only entry thus far highlighting the ornate copper finials (or “chalices” as they are called by the architects) shows them as finished pieces. As the purpose of this blog is to be a case study of how our pieces were made, it makes sense to include these photos, late in the posts though they may be.
The four copper finials on the cathedral are representative of those carved into the brownstone. Each one is now complete and ready to be put in a place of prominence forever. These beautiful copper ornaments are even more stunning “in person”. Here are some detail shots.
