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November 1997
"Lady Justice" arrives at Jan & Dan's Gallery. The statue was delivered by a local contract company for major refurbishing after being struck by lightning. The exterior shell had approximately 60 holes, with not a single support brace attached to the shell or core center. The pre-Civil War statue stands eleven feet, six and one half inches in height. |
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Damage on the statue's chin is clearly visible. It is ready for soldering and filling ("reconstructive plastic surgery"). |
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This is a close up of the leaves of the "laurel crown". Notice that all leaves are missing on one side. A total of 40 leaves (20 on each side) are needed to complete the crown. |
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The statue lies in repose in the gallery, awaiting major reconstructive surgery of its interior and exterior. |
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Mild acid is used to clean the statue inside and out. The statue was washed at least three times to remove the heavy coatings of oxides, acid rain and stains from bird droppings. |
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Daniel Niebauer cleans the exterior of the statue. |
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Russell Banks cleans the statue after rotating it the first 90 degrees. |
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Dan and Russell then cut a back panel to start repairs to the interior supports and core. The supports were broken at every connecting point to the outside shell. |
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The center core and supports continue to be reattached. This is done by tracing the original marks and keys to the original location. Extreme care is used to reestablish the center so that "Lady Justice" will stand straight again. |
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Paul Niebauer helps out by cleaning the bottoms of broken skirt panels. |
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Scott McKenzie continues work on the lower interior supports. |
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Carrie Rosenthal and Russ work on the upper interior supports of "Lady Justice". |
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Russ works on the interior core, braces and shell reinforcement with his volunteers, David Majczyk and Ken Niebauer. This will strengthen the aged butt joints. |
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This view shows the interior core of the statue with the reattached supports. Each support is reestablished one at a time so that the shell and main core supports will be on center. |
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Sculptural shaping begins on the statue's left hand and arm. This will be used to cast a replacement in the same composition of metal (tin and zinc). |
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Leaves in the "laurel crown" worn by the statue are replaced by matching the originals. This was completed by making a mold of the six distinct shapes and curves of each side. In all, thirty-three of the leaves needed to be remade. |
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This is the right side of the leaf replacement. Work continues on proper alignment and angling so that the leaves follow the original contour. |
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Russ continues to work on the leaves and begins repairs to the face. He works with extreme care as the metal has aged to the thickness of a piece of facial tissue. |
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This is a close-up of the leaf replacement on the right side. Notice the classical Greek style of the face profile. |
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The "laurel crown" is completed after the newly cast leaves are attached on the right side. |
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Russ shows attention to the fine detail of the face. He takes care to make sure that once the sheet metal and soldering are completed that the curves and contours of the face remain the same. |
