2 Ravens Studio

Mr Balkema was a portrait commission project for the Weatherwax High School Class of ’55. The class decided to honor their beloved principal, Mr. Balkema who was head of the the school from 1923 to 1955. He was the longest tenured high school principal in the state of Washington and when he retire in 1955, he told the graduating class that he too was finally graduating high school. The class of 55 contacted Two Ravens Studio to do the bust of Mr Balkema after reviewing Michael Haney’s (foundry studio co-owner and fellow sculptor) portfolio. Michael says he enjoys the challenges of portraiture and the subtle dynamics of creating a likeness; in the case of Mr Balkima much of what he had to go by was small, grainy, yearbook pictures! You can see more of Michael Haney’s work here at winterhoof.com. Two Ravens Studio also provided the plaque that will go along with the principle’s memorial.

Two Ravens Studio completed a series of antique hat reproductions that were commissioned by Kirk Albert Vintage Furnishings in Seattle WA. Their client, a large, national, upscale retailer visited their store on the hunt for some unusual decorative pieces. They fell in love with the 1930′s novelty hat sign, which used to hang in a hat shop in the Dominican Republic. They wanted to put several of them in their new stores and department store remodels, so Kirk Albert contacted Two Ravens for the job. The staff quickly went to work on making the mold and casting the hats in aluminum. The hardest part was making the rust look authentic and giving the surface the right aged paint finish to match the original and then do it eight times! Both Kirk Albert and their client were very happy and plan to have more hats made as well as other projects for their store.

Here’s a shot of the gates of our new digs in downtown Tacoma, WA. After you come through the gates there is a big courtyard parking area which will be very useful to have for future events. Our facility is located in the old Waterhouse Motors building which used to rebuild engines. Ed Davis, our landlord and former owner of Waterhouse Motors is glad to see a new business in his place. It’s a big building, 17,000 square feet but we are only renting 4800 ft of it so there is lots of room to grow.We are actually hoping to expand into the area behind us for extra mold storage but that will have to wait for the time being since there is so much to do to get set up!

There is our landlord Ed! He’s a great guy and likes to help out when he can, and boy can he drive  a forklift!  It’s a tight turn on that ramp by our doorway. To the right is two large bay doors and a loading dock. Our patina room will be behind those bay doors.

We have been busy painting our entryway. This room has a stainless steel counter top -a big selling point for us when we decided to rent the building. Clients can bring their pieces in and also have a place to wait with a view into the patina room.

This is where the mold making magic happens or where Ed Kroupa checks his email, probably busy figuring out bids. Mike Haney is wax chasing and giving his opinion on estimates.

Here is the slurry room and plaster area. It looks much better than it originally did. The walls and the floors were covered with grease from being the tear down area. Ed spend a lot of time power washing the floors and painting the walls white again.

This big room is the home of the metal shop and sand blasting booth. The furnace and the kiln will go here too. We are lucky there was a hood and a big vent in place, almost as if we were meant to be here!

This is going to be our future gallery area. It will also serve as the staff room where we are planning on building a free standing bar for events which can also double as a lunch table. We are looking forward to having art shows and workshops here too.

Welcome to Two Ravens Studio website and blog!

Two Ravens Studio is a Tacoma, WA based art business that offers foundry services and sculptural design. Our staff of experienced artisans will help you complete projects from small scale to monumental.