Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Restoration :: Charleston, South Carolina » copper steeple

Our Finished Ornamental Copper Pieces

Copper Exclusive — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:28:37 +0000

Like we mentioned in the last post, we’ve got just a little bit of finishing details to wrap up upon our return in a couple of weeks. But for the most part, our pieces are complete.

Video is on its way!

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Lifting the Cross to the Top of the Spire

Copper Exclusive — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:44:51 +0000

Our gorgeous ornate, gilt copper cross was lifted by crane to be fastened to the top of the copper spire today. The cross is a creation of the artisans at Copper Exclusive. Just to remind our readers who might not have been following us in past posts, the spire is NOT our work. The amazing, archway, visible in many of the pictures in the gallery below, however, is our creation as are the copper finials which you will see attached in future posts.

We had some technical issues with a couple of machines which took time we weren’t expecting and prevented us from assembling and attaching the copper collar as we had planned to do, but we intend to finalize the remaining details tomorrow. We’ll also fit our finials to the top of the archway tomorrow. They won’t be a permanent addition until after the tower is transported and the brownstone veneer pieces have been installed, but we’ll temporarily add these ornaments to finesse the fitting details, so on installation day, everything will be a snap. And, hey, we just want to see it all put together!

We filmed the lift and install of the cross to the spire and need a few days to edit the footage, but you can expect to see some fun video posted in the next couple of days. Until then, please enjoy these pictures showing the lift and assembly.

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Temporarily Dismantling the Copper Tower

Copper Exclusive — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:31:24 +0000

Now that the measurements have been calculated for the lightning protection and the tower lights, we needed to temporarily dismantle the spire to finish our work on the top of the archway.

We’ve said this in every post involving the spire so far, but just so there is no misunderstanding, Copper Exclusive is NOT responsible for crafting the spire. We built the archways, ornaments and the cross.

The following pictures show the different stages of dismantling. We’ll show you the finished top of the archway, soon.

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Golden Glory

Copper Exclusive — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:45:26 +0000

We scared the living daylights out of a lot of you with our last post when we showed pictures of our copper cross masterwork completely coated with a matte yellow primer, but hopefully we’re on our way to redeeming ourselves with this entry. As you can see, we’ve finally started the gilding process! We’re about a quarter of the way done at this point.

We worked late into the night to keep up with the drying times of the glue (size). But finish our commitment, we did, and closed up shop to get a quick snack before turning in. Coated from head to toe with gold flakes, we got some interesting looks from the clerks and patrons of a convenience store we stopped at on the way home!

We got a little carried away with the volume of pictures we posted for this entry, but they are fun and beautiful and we hope you enjoy all of them. More pictures and posts about this gilding project are on their way!

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Adding the Copper Spire to the Archway

Copper Exclusive — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:51:25 +0000

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.)

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Copper Archway Top

Copper Exclusive — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:14:32 +0000

We should shortly have the top of the archway completely clad in copper. The gallery of pictures below shows the start of our work on the base, but we’ll be adding copper to the back side of the arch bows as well so the entire structure is covered.

You’ll be able to see in some of the photos that we have soldered the copper at the base. In 99.9% of cases, we will never use this technique. This is one of those 0.1% times. Since the spire sits flush with the base, this is the only appropriate option here. You can see the bolts protruding from the base where the spire will be secured.

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The Copper Tower and the Elements

Copper Exclusive — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:20:52 +0000

Remember the pictures of our bright and shiny, newly made arch bows? We had visions of lifting a gleaming, unblemished copper tower into place, just to show the “new-ness” of the piece. Well, what we’ve built here is essentially a really big copper ornament. So big, in fact, that we don’t have a facility large enough to keep it 100% out of the elements while we work on it. And it’s been raining down here. A lot.

As we all know, one of the most remarkable features of copper is how it reacts with the elements. These reactions are what build the glorious and sought-after patina that only copper can produce. So even though the copper arch bows will be a bit on the brown side when the tower is placed, they will be every bit as beautiful. Like fine wine, copper becomes more valuable as it ages.

If you’ve read about our company, you’ll know that we’ve spent most of our lives restoring some of the most beautiful castles, cathedrals and other important historic buildings in the world. Since the methods of installation in Europe are so stringent and have been for hundreds of years, the majority of our restoration work on copper has been almost exclusively due to “acts of God” like fallen trees or nasty hail storms but also, sad to say, damage from the world wars.

When we examine the copper on these centuries-old structures, the copper can be over double its original thickness! It is an honor to work among these buildings and see the depth of character they have taken on after so many years.

So all the details on this cathedral spire won’t be perfectly shiny on reveal day, but the copper is on its way to developing its own unique character people centuries from now will appreciate and love. We are proud to be part of this legacy!

Copper Spire

Jesse Rhodes — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:56:14 +0000

Another sheet metal company was responsible for the spire construction on the Cathedral tower. The spire will rise directly from the copper arch bows built by Copper Exclusive and will be crested with the gilt copper cross also by Copper Exclusive. Here are a couple pictures showing details of the spire:

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This spire was NOT created by the artisans at Copper Exclusive.

Finished Copper Inserts

Copper Exclusive — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:18:21 +0000

We’ve got the copper inserts for the spire about done at this point. Some interior details still to do, but almost all there!

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Copper Spire Inserts

Copper Exclusive — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:17:47 +0000

No detail on any of our work on this structure has been missed. Few people will have the opportunity to see inside this copper spire as it will eventually live hundreds of feet in the air, so here’s your exclusive chance to peek inside the structure. What we’ve done here is install the four copper insets at the top of the arch bow. If you were to look up through these when the spire is completed, you’d see up inside the steeple extension (which we didn’t make) all the way up to our lovely gilded cross (which you’ve seen in previous posts).

We’ve compiled a few photographs detailing the progress of the build:

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