Sturdy armature for new sculpt

 Excitement and enthusiasm for sculpting is a wonderful thing. Impatience is not, however. I've had a few occasions where my excitement over starting a sculpt when I didn't have all my materials ready led to trials and tribulations later.

This time, I'm spending more time in the prep phase which is going to pay off in spades later when I get to real sculpting adventure.

On my last sculpt, "Loss" (working title) I didn't secure the armature 'feet' firmly to the base board, which meant that with jarring, came shifting. Any kind of movement of the armature can create problems and an armature that is weak or prone to movement can wreak havoc on the work.

I reigned in my enthusiasm for my new piece, "Joy" (working title) and set about to make the bones of this sculpt strong. I began by drawing out the template on the baseboard of where the clay base for the sculpt and placement of the feet will be, as this will be a companion piece to "Loss" which is currently at the foundry being poured as a bronze.

Next I used my drill to countersink a hole for the washer and nut that holds the vertical post onto the baseboard. Then I created arms using armature wire and wire sleeves and attached the arms at the shoulder. The arms are long at the moment and I will cut the excess off once I start laying in the anatomy. Measure twice and cut once - a wire that is too short is useless.

Finally, I marked where the bottom of the feet will be on the leg wires and then hammered nails over the remaining wire ends to secure them firmly to the board. No shifting! It's a bit awkward looking - you have to keep in mind that there is going to be clay on the base that covers this up and the feet are actually higher up on the leg wire. You can see that I started to wrap some fine gage wire around the armature wires. I don't always do this, but some clays need more to grip onto than just the smooth single armature wire. By wrapping wire I give the clay a lot of area to grab onto and hold tight.

This sculpt will measure about 15" tall by 15" long by 6" wide when complete.

Refining the pose

 I've been a bit preoccupied with the High Park Fire near here. It's been very smokey and some of our friends were evacuated. The fire is over 50,000 acres but the firefighters have been amazing and we're at 15% containment - if we could get some rain and a break from the winds....

We've spent the past two years renovating a little log cabin by the Poudre river in the mountains. We only just got the new well, pump and bathroom installed, not to mention all the work re-chinking and a huge amount of overall repair. Hoping it survives this fire.

So - on to work. Have I mentioned I'm not in love with this clay? Chavant makes wonderful products and Le Beau Touche is one of them - however it takes the right clay for the right job and my opinion is that this clay is wonderful for larger scale works. At 1/5 scale its too soft and creamy but I can see how those attributes would be delightful at a larger scale and much easier on the hands. I'm sure that I'll enjoy using it again when I work larger. For now, just trying not to squoosh all the hard work.

I've been refining all the areas that I had to recreate after the shipping disaster. You can see that I have taken her hand off to sculpt separately. I added a bit of wax to the clay to resculpt the hand to make it a bit firmer. Still working out some issues on the dress wrinkles and need to get her other sandal sculpted again. Have fallen way behind. My original goal was to have this finished and in bronze for the Loveland Sculpture Invitational, however with the major setback of having the resculpt without the model, well, that's simply not going to happen. Moldmaking takes several weeks and bronze another 10-12 weeks. How disappointing.

Adding clothes to the female form in sculpture

 The pose was classical nude, but I wanted to sculpt something a bit more casual, contemporary and fresh. When I began sculpting this figure, the attitude of the stance gave me the impression of someone waiting - caught between patience and impatience - you know - when you've been waiting patiently but now are beginning to get just a bit antsy because there is really someplace you want to be....

This summer we took a trip to Switzerland and Italy and I was enthralled by the public transportation there. Buses and trains, in addition to walking and bikes are an everyday mode of getting around and people are so cavalier about getting where they want to go in this manner. As we don't have commuter trains and not a very convenient bus route/time in my town, this was fascinating to me. Especially because we love trains!

So this young woman is representative of that feeling - she's "Waiting on the #9".

The model brought in a beach dress, but I wanted something that looked more like a dress you'd wear in the city - so I created one that I liked and gave her casual flip flops. Next, I'll be adding a sweet and sassy little handbag casually draped from her fingers behind her back.

I never got into dressing up Barbies when I was a girl - I was more interested in making them climb trees, fly like superheros or ride horses - clothes or not! Therefore I'm a bit surprised about how giddy I am at 'designing' outfits and dressing my sculpt...something my 8th grade Home Ec. teacher would be amazed at considering what a total, dismal failure I was (am) with anything to do with sewing ;-) Well - clay is easier in my world so I think I'll stick with that.

Brookgreen Gardens Sculpting Workshop

Lucky me! I'm packing up for a week-long sculpting workshop at Brookgreen Gardens with John Houser on Anatomy and Structure of the Figure. It will be intensive and exhausting and I'm really looking forward to all I can learn~

Refining the clay sketch maquette "State of Grace"

 I spent a little time refining the forms and attitude for this clay sketch. It is next in the series that I'm doing of rising women. The first, "Ascension" is nearly finished in bronze and releasing very soon. This sketch in clay is a study for the next to go to bronze. The simple armature is 12" - about the same size as "Ascension". The final for this sculpt will be 18" using the smallest of the TruForm armatures.

Overall, I'm pleased with the direction that this is taking, but will change the hair and cloth a bit on the final. I'll be taking this sketch down to Art Castings to have them look her over for any casting problems before I start the final. I'll also take the sketch into the Base shop to get some ideas before I go to sculpt that may change the fabric and the overall height. Once I've had a chance to discuss this piece with my bronze team, I can begin working on the final clay to size.

This piece will be titled "State of Grace". 12" armature - but with hair and cloth she is currently 18" tall.

Preparing board and Truform armature

 Time to get my new armature ready. I went to the hardware store and got my flange screws. After deciding the placement for the armature, I marked the board, pre-dilled the four holes, then screwed the metal flange in place.

Next I attached the metal armature rod from my 18"Truform armature. I bought this a while back, but have been busy working on other projects and haven't had the chance to try this.  The head is removable but the rest of the armature is not. In the larger sizes, you can take off the arms and legs, allowing you easier access to work on the sculpt - a real plus in certain poses.

I do know it was very tricky trying to get to certain areas with my "Ascension" so it would be beneficial to be able to take the arms and legs off of this armature. Since that isn't an option on this size of armature, I've been experimenting with creating my own system for making the extremities removable. So far 3 of my four designs failed, but the 4th is showing some promise, so I will do further experiments before starting this sculpt.

This will be a new experience for me, as I made my own armature using multiple aluminum wire for "Ascension".

Also, as I had some difficulties with the hands getting bumped, I'm building some wire armature hands to put on this piece, which may be very helpful or just a big pain in the butt - time will tell.