Even after the weekend forge-in at Nigel's we still had an unfinished arch and very little time left so we decided to organise another day, this time at our forge in Essex, in order to complete the construction. Once more, generous and enthusiastic help arrived, some from far afield. People were well fed and watered... and the project was, well... .almost there...
The next step was to get a protective coating applied to the Arch, with shot blasting and zinc spraying being the best. We were recommended to try a company called Beevers in Kent. I sent them all the details and back came their wonderful reply that not only would they do this at short notice, but that they would not charge us as it was for '' charity. After discussion with Adrian, we decided the primary colour should be Light Admiralty Grey as we wanted something that would not hide the wonderful detail of the ironwork, be interesting and that would gel with the other colours we had planned to use.
Sue volunteered to paint the lettering, to use her artistic skills to add colour to aspects of the Arch and to highlight the beautifully intricate pieces which the blacksmiths had made. Nine days later and many steps up and down ladders, the Treloar's Arch was resplendent and ready for transportation to The Lord Mayor's Show! |