Mystery Sculpt #2 revealed: Eleanor Roosevelt portrait bust

 Mystery Clay Sketch Sculpt #2 Finished.

This clay sketch is about 5.5-6" tall and is a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt. The clay is a ceramic paperclay called Max's Clay. The paperclay has interesting properties but it doesn't tool very well in a subtractive manner - the paper drags, clumps and clogs your tools - especially rake tools.

It does additive work much better and is very versatile.

This sketch has been hollowed and is drying for firing later - then I will use the sketch as the basis for a larger sculpture - possibly in a porcelain clay.

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.

Wax off to foundry for bronze

Murphy's Law strikes again. When I started "Loss" (working title) in waterbased clay over an armature I was planning on sculpting quickly and getting her to the moldmaker quickly before the clay dried. Then my publisher called with illustration work and deadline after deadline meant that the clay sat for long periods without work and parts dried and cracked before I could get her to the moldmaker.

Consequently, the mold isn't the best and required copious amount of sculpting in wax to repair. Naturally that is when my thermostat regulator that I use to dial down the heat (on my wood-burning tool that I use for wax chasing) died.

That meant that the tool now had two settings: Off and Vaporize. I do mean *POOF!* - touch that hot tip to wax and it disappears into a noxious cloud. So I spent many hours warming metal tools against the hot tool and then trying to sculpt the wax. Not the best system, but what I had available.

So - the chased wax has been delivered to the foundry and appointments set for the Metal Chaser and Patina Artist to follow - next up is taking he base template into the base shop to have the cut while I'm waiting for the bronze to be made.

Sculpting Loss - off to moldmaker

Been crazy busy - lots of illustration work, daughter graduating and folks visiting!
I finished up sculpting the emotion of 'loss' and got her to the moldmaker. It was an experiment in sculpting water-based clay over armature for bronze. I really enjoy sculpting in waterclay - but with the extended time that took, it dried out several times, which is quite problematic.

Also, there was some cracking in thinner areas that will all have to be fixed each and every time in wax.....so that will be a chore.

So, if I do waterclay again, it will need to be done on a faster time schedule to keep those problems at bay.

 The photos are quite awful, but I didn't have time to get better ones.Currently the sculpt is now at the mold-makers so we can get the first wax poured and off to the foundry.
15" tall x 4" wide x 15" long.

This sculpture represents the emotion of loss and pain. The base is the shadow of the woman - depicting the feeling of despair stretching ahead of us, darkening our path. The small hole in the base is her heart...

Refining the emotion of Loss

 Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Haven't been able to post as regularly as I'd like. So - back to the sculpt of "Loss". I did some extra work and ultimately wasn't needed and wasn't diligent enough of photo. For instance I fully sculpted both ears - which are completely covered by the blowing hair. But sometimes you change direction with work and the ears may have shown - at the very least they are a form that takes up space under the hair, so their presence is still felt.

I also sculpted the hands and arms several times - trying to get just the right pose. The tendrils of blowing hair are tricky - casting shadows upon the face, which is fine with me, however may be a problem in casting in bronze - I'll be checking with the foundry. The costs of casting increase dramatically with extra work, so it's a delicate balance.

You'll see in the full length images that she is standing on a long base, which is her shadow. This is how the emotion of loss feels to me - engulfing and swallowing (shown by the hair and dress swirling about her) with nothing but darkness ahead - represented by the long shadow.

The shadow has a hole it in - the feeling of a hole in your heart.

Now that the forms are in place and proportions set  I will take some time to refine the entire piece and then take some photos with better lighting.

15" high by 16" long in waterbased clay.

Sculpting emotion of Loss continued

 I've been inundated with publishing deadlines, so haven't had much time for sculpting. I've finished with blocking in the forms and establishing the figure. Before I go too much further, I need to determine the flow of the hair and dress.

When I work on a sculpt, it is very important to me that all the parts work in agreement. In my tiny maquette of this, the dress was fairly still and the hair was blowing away from the face, however as I work on this I'm leaning more towards the hair and dress blowing forward and whipping around and past her face. This will cast some shadows and obscure her face a bit however I think the effect will be one of loneliness and a feeling of being enveloped and overwhelmed - which, to me, is how loss feels.

So - I will refine her forms and her face before putting on the dress and hair, but this gives me a better idea of things. Next I will cut off the hair, dress and arms. The hands are next on the agenda and will be difficult to do. Once I've finished the arms and hands and re-attached, it will be time to sculpt the hair, dress and sandals - the zen icing on the cake in terms of working and I'm really looking forward to that part. I'm sure I'll be playing a lot of quiet cello music on my Pandora when getting to those nuances - the mood must all match...

CT3 Water-based clay over a wire armature to be made into bronze.

Beginning a new figure sculpture - "Loss"

Taking a break from the ecorche piece and trying something a bit different. I am sculpting from a tiny, quick maquette that I made a couple of months ago depicting the emotion of "loss". The was before the indescribable day of Sandy Hook....but since then this sculpt has prayed on my mind. So I decided to table my work for the moment to give some attention to this.

Usually I work in either water based clay for firing or oil-based clay for mold-making and then bronze. But for this piece, I'm working with a metal armature like I would with oil-based clay, but I'm sculpting with water-based clay instead. I just really love the feel of waterbased clay and wanted to give this a go.

The tiny sketch is a oil-based clay and the enlargement that I started is a metal armature with water-based clay on it. It can't be fired -as you can't dry and fire waterbased clay with a metal armature in it. In fact, I really can't let it dry out at all, because the clay with shrink and crack and become terribly brittle. What I plan to do is have the mold-maker take a mold directly from the leather-hard clay before it dries. Then cast in bronze.


I've  not done this before - my bust of Harriet Tubman was a fired clay piece, so not fragile when making the mold. But it's good to experiment.

"Loss" as I'm doing her now stands about 15" tall and has a long shadow being cast before her - symbolic of the darkness that she's feeling. I've blocked in some of the basic forms and shapes of the anatomy and look forward to beginning the refining stage next.