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Slideshow: Violence Prevention Coalition Turns Guns to Art
A crew of metalsmiths and youth volunteers are collaborating to melt down guns from Los Angeles's streets and turn them into art. (You can find out more about that project here.) Check out the slideshow above for a tour of La Fonderie, a metal shop in the heart of the city that's providing the resources to make the project happen.
Photos by Zak Stone
Every piece starts with a wax model.
Volunteers Athina Cuevas and Joe Rodriguez show off some of the wax carvings they've made.
A closer look at the wax pieces.
A prototype of the angel statues the team is creating. The statues are for a anti-violence prize, the Angel of Peace Award, given out by the Violence Prevention Coalition in Los Angeles.
The foundry uses recycled pieces of silica to make molds, which allows the metalworkers make additional copies of each model. This is a mold for an angel statue.
Wax copies are dipped in a silica slurry.
Later, the silica is baked around the wax in the kiln. The wax will run out, leaving a negative space for the metal.
The silica is placed into the crucible (right), which is put into a 2,200-degree furnace (left). The workers then pour molten medal into the silica shell.
The team's goal is to create three angel statues. Rodrigues and Cuevas pose with a statue made by other workers at the foundry.
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