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Sculptures 2005

Posted 11 January 2005

sculptures 2005 Now these are larger figures, about double the height of the previous figures. This photo was taken just before baking, just after they had been put on their bases.	fairy 1 Now this is the fairy I started with, she ran into difficulties so was a slow finisher.	fairy 1 A side on view of the same fairy. She was not supposed to be at quite that acute an angle, her feet shifted during baking pushing her even more forwards.	fairy 3 A male fairy, wingless. This is the only angle where he is almost upright. Otherwise he leans off to one side and backwards.
Fairy 2 is waiting for new wings, I discarded the fist set. My first three fairies taught me that in baking they can't support their own weight, they need to be taken off and they and their bases baked seperately for the first time otherwise their feet collapse, or they sink into their props and come out all akilter. Plan their feet and hands otherwise the elbows and knees are in the wrong place. That when making the wire armatures for the hands weave the wire between the fingers so there are gaps or otherwise you can't cup the fingers. They will not get together. It also helps hold the fingers in the right order. Other than practice with sculpting and smoothing, these are the main points I can think of.

Posted 16 January 2005

Fairy No 2, I used the same sheet as fairy 1 to make her clothing. In the end I superglued her wings into her back. Her flowers are little pinch pots. A ball rolled into a cone then opened out with a needle. The male fairy's flowers are the same technique but cut though with a pair of scissors in a few places.

Goblin, I tried something different with the hands, making them seperately, the fingers are a LOT closer together. By the time it came to putting them on the armature I realised that they were hopelessly too big. Rather than discard them I deliberately distorted the rest of the features with extra large feet, big eyes, big ears. His hair comes to a point beacuse I didn't want to obscure the ears. He's got quite a swagger hasn't he!

Posted October 2007

First, some better photos of old work with a camera which does a GOOD job of macro settings.

This and the next one were quickie shots. This one just on the shelf it was on.	This was at least taken down onto the table. Am working on display. As I said earlier it tilts.
Better but needs to improve the surface and lighting.	Side View The lighter version is without photo adjustment. The lighting is too low and it triggered the flash which bleached out the details. It also cast a shadow on the background which sort of destroys the illusion.
Back View	The other side.
The Christmas weaths were made for this goblin but in the end he couldn't get a grip and they kept falling off.

Three sculptures that I am working on at the same time. When you compare these to the later photos you realise what a difference painting the features makes. Because clay is thicker than cloth you see that on the one the shirt hasn't been taken all the way to the waistband to reduce bulk. Most of my waistcoats don't have backs either, again to reduce bulk. The irises of the eyes were too big when they were placed so I added tiny triangles of white in the corners to have them look more natural. You can see the wires coming out of the feet where they are going to be attached to the base. I underestimated the thickness needed which resulted in problems later. NOTE: If your fairy is climbing a tree or suchlike you are going to need a wire coming out of their palm or wrist. If you don't you will have to tie them on and you won't be able to hide the wires. A possiblility would be to tie them down at their wrist and then add a cuff.

Dragonfly Elf

This little gentleman crashed and came loose from his base when almost complete. I had to rebuild his trousers as his leg snapped and came loose from the base. I had him all re-fired when I realised I had put him back on his base back to front so instead of stepping into the water he is walking away. SIGH!

Climbing Fairy

The dress on this fairy was painstkingly made from leaf cane. I am still working on faces & hands.

Green Dragon

This dragon was supposed to be supported by another figure but they came apart in the oven. It ripped the figure's fingers off. I decided to seperate them. His wings are wire and tissue paper that have been painted with TLS and fired. It is not aparent in this photo but they are translucent they are so thin. Still waiting for the decoration on the hook on the end.

I've got the surface taken care of but the lighting still needs to be worked on. Due to the low light the focal distance is really short.

Everything seemed to be very brittle and I was having deep suspicions on the temperature of the oven. Now there was a delay as life decided to get really hectic and then my oven died.

I had three sculptures partially finished so I waited and waited and eventually I could afford a toaster oven and a thermometer. I get two of them to the next stage and what happens, they get burnt.

Rose fairy

Her beautifully graded dress has singed tips and her flesh has had to be repainted totally as it became a very strange colour. I've got too much invested so one day her dress will get a repaint.

The rider

This elf was supposed to be with the dragon. He is also on a new base. Plaster of Paris is NOT a good idea for a base as nothing and I mean NOTHING sticks to it. His cape is also tissue paper over wire. First the one side was covered and fired and then the other side covered, attached and baked. He also got burnt but luckily only his hands. He is waiting for gloves as they were burnt black.

This tall gentleman was started at the same time as the goblin. Also a case of too large hands, so I just elongated all his limbs. He is propped up as his original base kept coming loose and he is not fully attached to his new one. He is waiting for his jacket and his jacket is waiting for my new embossing gun which has been on order for four weeks and counting.

All three of them were finally baked in a pot as recommended by Garie Sim http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/, just a little bigger than what he recommended, the pot is roughly 60cm across and the Plaster of Paris took a couple of weeks to dry. In the end I had to bake the water out of it.

While waiting for the embossing gun I tried a new style of base for some of the older fairies. I was trying for a more natural setting for the fairies.

This is fairy 2 from the top of the page. I can rotate her now and her is always upright. Her original base was glued to a polystrene framework. Two wire stays were put in so it didn't slide off while drying. I then applied very thick Plaster of Paris with a palette knife. I still had to scrape some of it back up the base when it was partially set. It was then painted and sealed and a little railroad scattering was glued on over the obvious seams. There! An upright fairy.

kathysig (1K)