Sculpture Process

Progress as of Tuesday night. It was about 8 p.m. when I was ready to slice off the horns, so I asked one of the moped guys next door to catch them. With horns out of the way, I sculpted regular human ears underneath…but then covered them mostly back up with hair. Sculpting phase is over, let the hollowing out begin.

Partially done — hope to finish the sculpting phase on Sunday. About 12″ high. Noodling around for something to put over the door to my new studio space…originally intended for this to be a small maquette, but it grew along the way, so maybe if it turns out OK it can serve as the final, at least for awhile.

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“Gratitude 2”

43 h x 12 w x 22 d

I did finish this piece in time for Art in the Pearl. Watch the slideshow to the very last image to see the completed piece.

Some of the photos I’ve shot in the past two days of finished pieces. “Gratitude” above.

“Balance of Power”

“Aristophanes”

I’ll add details such as size and a blurb about each piece when I “officially” add them to the Portfolio section.

Set up the scoop background in our photo room and did the above test shot of “Reprieve” tonight. May tweak it further, but it’s in the ballpark of what I’m after.

Over the weekend I built lightweight crates I’ll need to transport my larger works via truck to two summer shows coming up. They will do double duty as pedestals at the shows.

I’ve been getting a lot done since my last post…finished patinas on all pieces, waxed some of them  — all pieces are pretty much ready to display. Now need to photograph all the pieces, get my booth figured out, make signage, decide pricing, reserve a truck, and so on and on…

finished hollowing out. not sure there’s time to make any more big pieces and complete them in time for BAM show…

sculpting phase complete — will start chopping it up tomorrow for hollowing phase.

tail on, ear armatures in place, ear slabs made and setting up preparatory to adding the ears tomorrow.

pretty much done except for ears and tail.

here’s where i ended up tonight. but before i did, i had some fun with eye experiments (below)

getting “bigger is better” out of my system

and a couple more variations

Initial thumbnail sketch, which I then enlarged to make a full size luan profile pattern and wood armature.

Masses roughed in, left uncovered overnight to set up before further sculpting.

The weeks are flying by! BAM is looming!

Probably the last photo of this one for a month or two — next steps involve cutting it up into a couple dozen sections, hollowing each section out till there’s just a 1/4 to 3/8″ wall of clay, then re-assembling prior to firing. I’ll continue to refine various parts, especially the legs, tail, and belly. I’ll scrape and shape the ears to make them lighter/thinner.

Sort of a centaur on left, except he will only have two large feet instead of the usual four. Note pencil between feet for scale. And yes, he will have rabbit ears. Aristophanes, in bisque form, in background. Sculpture on right will be a “ginger jar” rabbit, unweird.

Thought about making this guy several feet tall to put by the entrance to my booth(s) to invite people in to look at my work, but couldn’t make a sketch I liked, so just made a maquette to work out the kinks. Now that I see it, I think a large version would too easily get knocked over by the frenzied crowds … so IF I make a bigger version, I’ll build him on an integral ceramic base/pedestal and maybe beef him up a bit so he can survive thwacking backpacks.

Completed the sculpting phase of a medium sized sculpture tonight. Started assembly stage of fired Aristophanes. Three months from today I’ll be in my booth at BAM if all goes according to plan. We finished a big marketing project for our tile biz yesterday, so I’m hoping I’ll have more uninterrupted time to sculpt now. Three months will fly by!

Top one larger than life size, middle considerably smaller, other three approximately life size. All patinas are oil paint.

The following are IN PROCESS — NOT COMPLETED!

Gorgeous spring day; perfect for making an armature outside. The dowel will support a big head; a skinny neck and little body will go underneath.

I finished hollowing out six masks, will bisque fire them in a few days.

Sculpted “off the hump” intending to cut it off the hump as a mask, but now not sure if I’ll cut it off or leave the “hump” as a base.

Quick clay sketch by Steve Eichenberger

I may put pupils in the eyes, not sure yet. If so, it will be easier to do after the clay firms up in a few days. I kind of like the way the eye orbs relate to the other roundish shapes and volumes: the dome of the head, the shape of the mouth, the volume inside the mouth cavity.