The stylized pine cone – the trademark of Classic Garden Elements – was modelled 20 years ago on an ancient Etruscan original from the Vatican Museum in Rome. A sculptor from Trnava created the first plaster mould in 1997. In a second version, the individual scales of the first model were clearly broken up and the tenon was given its current, highly structured shape. Finally, a long-established bell foundry near Trenčín cast the first examples.
This symbol of fertility, renewal and immortality reflects the harmony and beauty of nature. The picture shows the cone end of the Charleston Trellis with Rose Ballerina on the Chelsea Flower Show in London. But also our rose obelisks – the round Obelisk I and the three-winged Obelisk II, the Gothic-looking Victorian Rose Arches Kiftsgate and Brighton, the romantic Victorian Rose Arbor, the Rose Pavilion Kiftsgate and the mighty posts of the St. Albans Arcade, the Pergola Piedmont and the Divider Screen and Restaurant This distinctive, unique pine cone crowns it all.
How is the heavy metal pine cone made?
The metal pine cone for our rose arches, rose pavilions and metal garden decorations is made in an art foundry that specializes in the casting of church bells. The bell foundry uses an elaborately created metal mold of the pine cone for the casting. The pine cone is cast in aluminum and weighs two kilograms. It is 18 centimeters high with a circumference of 45 centimeters. First, the aluminum is heated in the oven. The aluminum is completely melted in the crucible and then poured into the mold. The melting point is 600 to 680 degrees. The attempt is made to liquefy the metal so that no bubbles form. This is because hydrogen dissolves in the aluminum when it melts, which causes bubbles to form. The mold is then cooled. The art lies in avoiding the formation of bubbles and not allowing the aluminum to oxidize immediately in the air. Back from the foundry, the pine cone is prepared for powder coating in our workshop. Before this, a thread is drilled into the pine cone by hand. On average, an employee needs more than two hours of manual work for each individual pine cone. The pine cone is handled up to 22 times and subjected to a total of five quality controls.
Lost wax casting
For particularly high pavilions or trellises, we use a significantly larger, extremely impressive version of the pine cone, 26 centimeters high and 65 centimeters in circumference. Here, the casting is not done with a metal mold, but with the lost wax process, which has remained unchanged since ancient times. A wax model is modeled on the basis of the plaster model. This wax model is coated with a clay-based mass. The so-called green mold is created. This is fired at high heat. The wax liquefies and flows out through small openings. What remains is the hollow, fired clay mold with the openings. The hot, liquefied aluminum is then poured into this. After cooling, the clay mold is broken and the aluminum cast of the pine cone remains. All important bronze art castings of antiquity and the early Middle Ages were created in this way. Today, the Rolls-Royce radiator figure, among others, is made using the lost wax process and, last but not least, dental technology also uses this method.
Pine cones with gold leaf
Since the company was founded, for twenty years now, we have been fulfilling the customer's wish for gold leaf on the pine cone. The gold is applied in the workshop of the Hamburg gilder Anja Gerbrandt applied to the pine cone. And it shines and shines like only gold can. Two gold leaf pine cones have been resplendent on the roof ridge of one of our partners for 16 years. The amazing thing is that even after such a long time they have not developed any patina, but rather shine in pure sparkling gold like new.
Rose arch with two metal pine cones
"Pine cones” is the archaeological and art-historical term for the type of ornament that appears in the stylized form of the fruit of a pine tree. In heraldry, the figure is also called a stone pine. In Christianity, the pine tree is considered the tree of life and its flower cones are seen as symbols of resurrection and immortality. This symbolism was derived from the ancient cults of the Isis, Dionysos as the Cybele The Romans already decorated their pillar graves in the Central European provinces with pine cones. A huge, 2,5 meter tall, formerly gilded bronze Pine cones, probably created as the centrepiece of a monumental fountain in the ancient Agrippina Baths near the Pantheon, today transports Vatican visitors in Courtyard of the Pigna The fact that it once closed the opening in the dome of the Pantheon is probably just a legend. With the advent of Christianity, the pine cone spread throughout Europe and was also used as a decorative element in secular buildings, especially in garden design.
