I always begin with the Heart ... the Soul of the person.

  March 9, 2021

Today I started with the heart to my sculpture of the Patriot Woman. Then I added more foam to bring out the shapes of the piece. 

Yes, I will cover up the heart with more foam and a lot of clay. But she will always have a heart and soul. 

I learned about adding the heart to each sculpture from a Native American artist. She started with the heart and felt that each piece captured the soul of her ancestors inside and that made a contact with her people and their spirits. It made an impression with me and I also have always started with the heart and for me the soul of each piece. Then I work on the face which will set her character and attitude.

I paint the foam so that the clay sticks better.

 

 

Today I begin the Patriot Woman Life Size Sculpture

 

 

March 7, 2021

 

I decided last week that it was time to get started on creating the life sized clay sculpture of the Patriot Woman  for the ORWM. So today I went to my friendly Home Depot and picked up the wood and foam.

Tomorrow I will start the wood base construction and draw the figure on the wood to size. I think the lady will be 5' 2" ish and because I am limited to 18" width I will have to revise the figure a bit to fit the wall.

 

Filling the Orders

 

The Patina is Added

    

Here on the left of each sculpture is the casting fresh out of the mold. 

 

It cures for a day and then I apply the Patina, or color. 

 

I start by rubbing the piece with steel wool 0000. Then I apply the patina color, black, wait 102 minutes then rub off what I want as the highlights. It cures for a few days then I apply a sealing wax to set the color.

 

 

And The Results Are ... Tada

 

They are perfect. A little rough but this is what they look like fresh out of the molds. 

Tomorrow I will clean them up, then rough them up with steel wool to bring out the highlights and then work on the patina, or color to finish them off.

A good days work. Now to clean up the mess.

The First Casts

 

These are the first pours of the first castings. I don't usually do three at once, in case there is a problem with the chemicals or temperature I would loose three instead of one. But the chemicals are new and it is morning so I am confident. I did this once before pouring multiple molds at once some some chemicals that were previously opened, and I lost all three castings. The castings never hardened. After two years, I can still bend and twist them. 

The resin I am using is Easy-Flo Clear, equal parts of A & B. I mix a brown dye to part B, stir, add 1lb. of Bronze powder, stir until mixed together, add A to it, stir for 30 secs., I then have max two minutes to paint on the first coat and pour in and slush around the balance of the solution before it sets up. I then mix another batch and fill up the balance of the mold. 

Each mold takes 32oz of resin and 2 lbs. of bronze powder. Then I wait for about 30 mins before I can demold and see if the casting is good. I want to make sure every minute detail is in the final.

Once the casting is out of the mold, it cures for 24 hours and then I do the patina to make it look finished.

Ghosts ... the Test Subjects

 

These are the product of the final tests to check the molds. 

I have only poured the areas of the molds where I have a concern and to make sure the details are all there. 

Success.

They do look a bit like ghosts, only partially there and whispy.

After they hardened and I checked them over, it is time to clean up the molds and make sure they are super clean with no clay or resin residue in the folds and cracks. That will take the rest of the day. 

I will make the  first casts on Monday. Happy weekend.