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.

Building up the form of the figure

I'm continuing to build up the forms in this water-based clay sculpture that is based off of my tiny maquette, "Loss". I cut off the arms and removed the wire armature as they were drying out too quickly - that then started to place the arm shapes back into place with toothpicks to bolster them until the clay firms up a bit. 

The clay is old and isn't the best to work with. Seems like I buy clay - then another deadline hits and I store it too long - and it loosed the placsticity a bit. Nevertheless, I will continue to refine the sculpture and add the hands next. On a different note, I've been accepted to the Loveland Sculpture Invitational again this year and will be working hard to have new works for the show in August!

Wax chasing Harriet Tubman for bronze bust

Publishing deadlines have delayed my sculpture a bit and I've fallen behind. I have two waxes of "Fierce - the triumph of Harriet Tubman" ready to be chased and taken to the foundry that I need to complete.  Each and every bronze goes through a lengthy process. The sculpting of the original is only the beginning. After a multi-piece piece mold of the original is made a rotational, hollow cast of wax is made. This wax will likely have seams from where the mold rubber is joined as well as bubbles and other imperfections. Whatever your wax shows will also be shown on your bronze casting - so care must be taken to make the wax casting impeccable. 

Now that I've chased one wax, it's time to chase the second one and then run them both down to the foundry. There are several foundries that I use and for this particular bronze, I'll be using Madd Castings.

Sold - Harriet Tubman in bronze

This weekend was the Loveland sculpture Invitational held in Loveland, Colorado. While quite hot on Friday and Saturday, it was a comfortable on Sunday.

I had a very good response to my sculptures and was especially glad that I paid the rush fees to get my bust of Harriet Tubman finished in time for the show, as she seemed to be a favorite not only of mine, but of the people that viewed her at the show.

I have named the bronze of Harriet  #1 of 9 edition- "Fierce", as she was indeed fierce, brave and very smart. She's been carefully packed and is en route to the collector in Kansas City, Mo.

A new order for the #2 of 9 of "Fierce" will be going in next week.

Now that the show is over, I'm going to take a few days off for some much needed family time before starting back up in the studio on Monday, Aug 20th.

The page-turner - maquette (clay sketch)

I created a new maquette, or clay sketch, today. This little bust has been quickly fleshed out in Jmac Classic Clay and measures about 6" from top of head to bent elbow.

The general inspiration was my daughter, a confirmed bookworm and talented writer. She often looses herself for hours at a time in her books, sometimes absently fiddling with her necklace while absorbed in the story.

The sketch is a quick gesture and I'm in love with pose already. I'll refine this a tad more just because I really want to - I may even take the sketch to bronze in this state before working on it again in a larger size for a more finished version.

The working title for this new sculpture is "The page-turner".

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.

Re-sculpting the figure

 Well, I had my time to pout, eat chocolate and have a glass of wine. Then it was off to the hardware store for supplies and home to start re-sculpting the smashed figure.

First I had to fix the armature base and reassemble the rod. Next I cut the clay off her legs from the knee down where I found that the wire was badly bent and rounded. Then I took pliers and straightened out the legs.

Then I cut her head off at the clavicle. The entire neck region had smashed and reworked the armature there before putting her head back on and lengthening her neck back into proportion.

Overall the entire figure rolled around in the box, so everything was a bit compressed, so I spent some time getting her stretched back out a bit.

Finally, I put her back onto the armature stand and started to put the clay back on her and begin the process of resculpting the figure. I started with giving her new feet and legs, then pulling out her right arm and working it and finally, starting to give her a face again. I'll try and get a little more done today and tomorrow but then will be out of my office for the holiday.

I'm still very unhappy about the shipping accident, but it feels good to start making the repairs - I was very excited about this sculpt and am looking forward to continuing the work.

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~

Making a silcone mold and wax pour

Another lesson learned: two right angles are difficult and time-consuming to produce in bronze.

My bronze sculpture, "Ascension"  is the woman that is rising from the base, supported by the cloth that is draping off of her hips. While I love the waterfall effect of the drapery, in reality, it causes a lot of headaches for the wax chasers, metal chasers and base makers. It also makes production more difficult, time-consuming and costly.

Additionally, the foundry mold-maker misunderstood my instructions and added wax to the back of the fabric in the mold-making process that required hours for me to remove and chase.

So, since I learned that the the two right angles are a problem and the current cloth in wax required so much time (every single time one is made!) I decided it would be best to sculpt a new section to the drapery to replace the one that they were currently using. I took the existing wax, removed the mistake in the back and designed new draping to the bottom that just clears the base. This will limit the sculpt to only one right angle (thus making production much smoother) and will also reduce the chasing done by more than 3/4 of the current time spent on this one part of the sculpture.

Once I perfected the wax fabric, I made a pour mold and then did a sample wax pouring. I was pleased that it worked well on the first try, enabling me to get the new chased wax and the new mold to the foundry so the next two in the edition can begin their process into becoming bronze #2 & #3 of 33.

Bronze Ascension with stone-like patina

 

Ascension is finally finished. This bronze is number 1/33 and has a neutral stone-like patina. You can see that the fabric draping from her hips begins to darken until it becomes the same value as the base granite. This is what I had envisioned: a light to dark composition emphasizing the rising of the woman. I had planned on having the drapery more earthy greens and blues, but that was before I started the bronze process and before I had learned about the limits of good patina. Rather than risk having the patina change too much over time or be garish in color, I opted for a more muted palette, which is in keeping with the very quiet nature of the piece. The base is a lovely granite called Nordic Green. Truly it is more of a soft black with hints of greens and coppery browns when the light strikes it on an angle. I also paid extra to have a revolving base, which makes it easy to turn and view all sides of her.

This first bronze has already been sold to Marie...I have an Artist's Proof for myself with a traditional patina, which I will have photos of tomorrow. Two more waxes of Ascension are nearly complete and will be taken to the foundry soon to begin their journey into bronze.

It's a matter of balance...

 I let this piece rest a bit as I finished up my latest book, "Bully Goat.". I'm glad that I did too. There was something about the piece that wasn't quite what I was looking for and needed the time and distance to mull it. I am trying to achieve the same sanguine feel of "Ascension" but there is a fine line between calm relaxation and stagnation of a pose. I came to the conclusion that the the pose was looking a bit too much like she was levitating instead of rising...there wasn't the balance of dynamic tension that I needed.

So I began to smush, cut, twist and turn until I got a pose that still is sanguine and relaxed, but now has some forward energy. The woman is leaning slightly forward as she ascends and the fabric that will be her support is going to trail backwards, giving a bit more movement.

I'm very glad that I decided to do this maquette (clay sketch) before going to final art, as it gave me the opportunity to practice and work out some problems, which will allow me the pleasure of pure sculpting on the final piece next week! I am going to take "State of Grace" down to my foundry and base shop tomorrow to have them verify that the balance of the sculpt will work in bronze and get some base ideas too. I'll also have the pleasure of picking up my first two finished bronze "Ascension" pieces!

Next, I'll be off to the hardware store to get a few odds and ends to finish up the armature before starting the final 18" version of "State of Grace".

Below is the newer pose with more dynamic tilt to her body and flow of fabric behind her:

Here is the original pose. While I liked how quite and relaxed and in repose she was, I was concerned that the overall feeling was more of stagnant levitation instead of active ascension. What do you think?

Hot Patina on Bronze Ascension

 Nearing the end of the bronze process. The final chased bronze sculpture was attached to a temporary base and washed wshed in a mixture of Potash Sulphurated (also known as Liver of Sulphur).
Then the whole thing was heated in an oven for 20 minutes. Next the patina artist, Chad, layered titanium while and other earth colors and blazed it with a torch.
Once the metal has cooled, it will be sealed with laquer and waxed an attached to the final base made of Nordic Green Granite.I should have photos of the final bronze sculpture soon!

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.

First Bronze Pouring of "Ascension"

Today was the first pouring of bronze for "Ascension"!  The shells had been built up over the hollow wax sections over a period of time. The shells were then placed into the furnace and the wax was melted out - a process referred to as "lost wax".

Next they took special buckets and collected the molten bronze and poured the liquid metal into the now-hollow ceramic shells. Once the bronze cools, they break apart the ceramic shells using hammer and pneumatic tools. After removing the hard shells, the sprues are then cut off using plasma torches.

Once that is completed, the sections of bronze are cleaned up by sand-blasting the last bits of plaster shell residue.

Finally, after the pieces are cleaned up they are ready to be welded back together.

Tomorrow I'll post photos of the sculpt being metal-chased.

Maquette - clay sketch for next scuplture

While I have my 18" Truform armature set up and ready to go, I'm still working out the pose in my head. I decided that some sketching was in order but instead of breaking out the sketchbook, this time I decided to sketch in clay to work out some of the mechanics before I go to finish.


Anyone who know me know that I am an unlikely mix of spontaneous impatience (I want to get started NOW!) and relentless perfectionism (it must be as good as in my mind - no better, Better, BETTER!)


That can make for some frustrating work habits. So I'm killing two birds with one stone - starting work NOW and accepting that it can't be perfect because it's only the maquette (small clay sketch).


I am using an inexpensive 12" wire armature and some old Chavant LeBeauTouche HM plasteline. While this plasteline is perfectly fine, I do like Jmac quite a bit too. Since the LeBeau is softer than my extra firm Jmac, I though it was a good choice for clay sketching - it is quicker to warm up to workable consistency and softer/easier for my hands to manipulate, facilitating a faster, looser approach. Hopefully that will lend more life movement to the sketch and yet make it easier for me to stop at a less-than-finished state and then move on to my 18" final model, using the sketch as my reference.

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.

Attaching wax sprues & making ceramic shell

Jeanne from Art Castings foundry let me know that the sprues were being added to my wax Ascension today. So I grabbed my camera and drove down through the snow to get some shots of the process. Wendy was working on the piece as I walked into the sprue room. She showed me how she evaluates each section to envision how the bronze will flow into the cavity left by the wax, then creates different sized channels out of wax (sprues) to act as the funnel for the bronze to pour down.

It's amazing how much work and time goes into the creation of each and every bronze. This whole process is created for every one in an edition and also means that no two bronzes are 100% identical.

Once all the wax spruces are in place, Wendy adds a pipe to the bottom of the pour cup and takes to the slurry room and places them on tall poles called 'trees'.

Next John will take each wax section and dip it into a slurry mixture, let it drain a bit then take it to a sand box and shake silica over it. The slurry and silica are built up layer, by layer over a period of 1-2 weeks, creating a hard shell encasing the wax. They are placed on the trees to dry and harden.

Once the shell is complete, it's off to the furnace to burn out all the wax and pour the molten bronze.

Wax Chasing & Lessons learned

I worked on the first two wax castings of "Ascension". The folks at Art Castings were very helpful and Mac did some good work on the chasing. However, he was working blind, as he got her in pieces and had no real idea how she went together. Can't imagine doing that! So I learned that it's a good idea to provide a series of photos for them to work from.

Another issue was that there was some confusion over how the bronze was to be mounted onto the base. Since they didn't have a photo, they thought it was one way and realized that there wouldn't be enough metal to support the floating woman.  In reality, there was, mounted the way I had planned. So I had to go back and carve out all the wax that they had added.

Never worked with wax before so after a few hours at the foundry, I decided to pack her up and take back to my studio, since it was taking longer than I thought. You can see my desk with the various tools. The hot tool that is plugged in on my desk proved much too hot to use on the sculpt much. It vaporized the wax and melted much too aggressively to be much use to me. So I kept it on and placed my metal tools on the hot tool to heat the metal carving tools. That worked much better, overall.

It still took many hours, but that is mainly due to my inexperience and I'm sure it will go much faster next time. I may even chase the entire wax next time to gain even more understanding of the practice and to familiarize myself with what casts easily or harder to incorporate into my next sculpt. After finishing her up I took her back to Art Castings. Luckily for me, Jeanne too a look at the photoshopped image I had made explaining the mounting process - she didn't think it would work - that the stone would chip!

So I buzzed over to the Base Shop and spoke with Brian. Thanks to Brian and Jeanne, we were able to come up with a solution that will enable me to mount the sculpture as I had planned, with a bit of extra effort, and another lesson learned!

Wax pour for "Ascension" Bronze casting

It was quite foggy this morning and I nearly postponed my drive down to Art Castings in Loveland. But, since I'd already filled my travel mug with hot tea and charged up my camera, I decided not to wait and I'm quite glad!

When Jeanne greeted me, she knew just where my work, "Ascension", was in the maze of other sculptor's molds and waxes. They had just poured the first two waxes and Mac was starting to chase them.

In the montage photo:

1) collection of rubber molds inside the mother-mold

2) the mother mold encasing the rubber like a clamshell

3) you can see that the rubber comes out of the shell

4) the mother mold seams together tightly

5) hole where the wax is poured in

Here are some photos of the hollow wax that was poured. Mac is working on taking out imperfections in the wax. He will also fix where the armture came through. When he reaches a certain point in the process, they will call me and I will head down to spend the day doing finish chasing and detailing until I am satisfied before preparing the wax for the bronzing process.




You can see the whole process of making a bronze at the Art Castings site http://artcastings.com/casting-process.htmlhttp://artcastings.com/casting-process.html