Beginning State of Grace final

     Starting the final clay for "State of Grace". This time I'm using Jmac Classic clay - medium for the body and firm for the head and hands. I did the maquette a while ago and now that I've finished a few things, it's time to start this one. I'm using the 1/4 scale (16") Truform armature for the first time. So far it's going pretty well. It's nice to have the hips and torso blocked in with the Truform, but I did find I had a few problems with the placement of the support bar. After working on it for a while, the weight of the clay pulled down on the lower part of the body and elongated it out of proportions.

Using my calipers, I was able to tell it was quite distorted, with the upper torso much too long. The weight have pulled down on the wire spine.

So I cut her up and removed her, shortened the spine wire in the torso and re-bolted her back into place. Hopefully I have it tight enough now that this won't repeat.

Because she's floating the weight is more of a factor - if she where standing and supporting her weight it wouldn't happen as much. But I won't be sculpting the fabric support until later. You can look back into earlier posts to see the maquette that I'm working from.

I'll be taking time on Friday and Monday to chase the waxes for my bronze Harriet Tubman and Waiting on the #9 - then back to working on this pose on Tuesday.

Ascension Traditional Bronze Patina

This is the traditional bronze patina on the same sculpture, Ascension. Interesting how the patina can change the look of a sculpture. They are both beautiful in different ways.

In other happy news, I'm happy to say that I was again selected to show my work at the Loveland Sculpture Invitational 2012 - so time to get back in the studio, finish those two waxes and get back to sculpting!

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.

Refining clay sketch maquette

I got a little more work in on the clay sketch - refining shapes and forms a bit. This is Chavant's LeBeau Touche' HM (High Melt) plastelina oil based clay. As it's softer than my J-Mac Extra Firm, it's proving to be much easier to work quickly and the softness of the clay (when warmed under a light) makes it much more malleable. I originally started working with Chavant High Melt nearly 20 years ago when we lived in Sarasota and Placida Florida. At that time I was doing a lot of bas relief sculptures for Image Creations of Florida and found that the HM was the safest clay for me to use in my studio and then transport in the high Florida heat to my client's offices nearly 2 hours hot drive from my studio. Other clays would sometimes literally melt in my car during the commute.

So if you work in a high temperature climate I would highly recommend Chavant's HM (High Melt) clays for your use.

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.

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

Ascension Figurative Sculpture is at the foundry! ~Lori Kiplinger Pandy's first bronze

After some delay, my sculpture, "Ascension" has been delivered to the foundry at Art Castings of Loveland! They will be making a multi-piece mold of her. Then they will cast her in wax. Next they'll chase the wax. After that, they dip her into plaster and sand many times over a period of a week or more. Finally they'll melt the wax out of the plaster shell, then pour in the molten bronze. After the bronze cools, they'll smash off the outer shell to reveal the bronze pieces.

Finally, they'll assemble the pieces and weld her back together and chase all the seams. Last of all they'll apply the patina, giving her the final colors and attach to her stone base. Each an every bronze sculpture will require this process:  from pouring the wax to attaching the base!

She measures approximately 10" tall (without base) by 15" long and 6" wide. She will be supported only by the fabric that drapes from her hips. The fabric will pool onto the base, flow over the edge of the base and onto the table."Ascension" will be an edition of 33 plus several Artist's Proofs. Number 1 of 33 has been pre-sold already!

If you would like to see the entire actual process of developing a bronze from mold-making to final patina, you can view the short video from Art Castings here.

 The entire casting process will take about 10-12 weeks. I have to study some patina choices but I have something very specific in mind and will post that soon.

I must say that I am very excited to finally have her at the foundry. Being somewhat OCD about my work, I have a hard time letting go ;-)

But I must say, I loved, loved, loved, sculpting her! Even when a mishap came along to destroy
her hand or her face, I had just as much fun sculpting her again as I did the first time. In fact, the sculpting itself was very rewarding and relaxing. The hardest part of this sculpture was learning about armatures and the ways of working with this particular medium, Jmac Classic Clay.

I learned so much from working on this sculpture and am looking forward to using that hard-won experience on the next piece.

Once the sculpture is final, I will release the retail price along with the new photos.