Madsculptor

Sculpting Ears

2012-01-03T16:37:00.000-05:00

This is a post for Jo who requested info on doing ears.

Great illustration of the outer ear parts from: virtualmedicalcentre.com

I made these large enough to show the detailing better.
Form a wedge shaped oval of clay.

Attach the clay to the head by ramping the clay toward the front of the face.

Undercut and seam the rest of the ear to the side of the head.

The ear tapers toward the front of the face.

The outer helix of the ear is created by pressing a tool down and under the outer ear to form the scapha.

The complete first step.

Continue the outer arc of the ear into the inner ear while pushing the extra clay back toward the back of the head forming the concha.

A ramp runs from the front of the ear down into the inner ear canal forming the external auditory meatus.

Place a tool in the ear canal and pull down and turn out to establish the depression of the canal and the flap, tragus, in front of the ear opening (part 1).

Keep pulling forward to raise the front of the ear from the earlobe and ear canal (part 2). This also establishes the antitragus.

Shape the bottom of the lobe. (Lobule)

Press an indentation or fossa into the antihelix area.

Deepen the folds and fossa as desired and do the general clean up.

Notice how the ear blends into the face area. There is no ridge in front of the ear.

Hope this helps.
Have a great day!
Mark

Making Fabric Flow

2011-12-31T11:40:00.002-05:00

I thought I would post a little something on how to make fabric more interesting for our clients.
Fabric on small figures should be treated as if it was in scale with the figure. Too often artists will simply let the fabric hang on the figure without adding motion to the material. The result is that we have great sculpts with big, puffy clothing or a figure with no motion to the sculpture.
Here are some simple things which an be done to the fabric to add motion:

STARCH- many artists starch or otherwise treat the fabric. This works well but you run the risk of losing the form during shipping or using a much larger box to ship the "frozen" fabric. Larger box= more money!
HEAT- This is a very simple way to make minor adjustments in clothing. I like to use the heat gun to make clothing sag on the body as real clothing does on our frames.
WIRE- I like this technique because you can get more dramatic looks to cloth and they can still be shipped in a small space without worry of damaging the form of the cloth.

I am adding material to the piece to add another layer of color and texture to try and make her more interesting.

I cut a piece of blue material for the draping.

Using glue, I turn a hem in the edges. Into this I insert a 20 gauge jewelry wire. For those who can sew a small seam, I always recommend sewing over gluing.

Three sides of the cloth have wire. The top edge is left without.

The cloth is draped over the body so a wind-blown, flowing motion is created.

The fabric is tacked to the body with Fabri-tac in a few spots where it will not be seen if the cloth shifts.

Extra folds are pinned in place then the fabric is heated with the heat gun to relax the fabric.

Feathers can be treated like cloth if you are careful. Support the feather with a rounded form (in this case I use the handle of my sculpting knife) and apply heat from a heat gun. Keep the gun about 12" away from the feathers and heat them gradually so they will curve away from the heat.

Here is the finished piece with the fabric and the feathers curved to add some wind to the piece. The hair was also heated from the same direction (your right) so it has tendrils which are blowing in the wind as well.
Thanks for looking and have a great New Year!
Mark

Applying clay

2011-12-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

I was asked to do a little on applying clay to the armature. we all have our methods but here is what I have found works for me:

Clay needs to be softened and conditioned before applying. I have found this easy approach. Place the clay on a heating pad. The clay needs to be unopened or in a clean plastic bag to keep it clean.

Fold it over to sandwich the clay in the heating pad and let it warm up on "high" for about 15 minutes. The heating pad will not get the clay hot enough to start curing but will heat all the way through with out making the outside sticky.

After 15 minutes, the clay will cut like soft butter. Slice off the largest piece you can work with.

This is the first squeeze of this warmed clay. You will see how soft it gets this way.

The clay needs to be rolled and squeezed until it is conditioned for use.

The clay is ready when you can fold it over and it does not crack. You should be able to flatten the clay into a pancake and the edge will not crack either. If the edge cracks, keep rolling the clay between your hands.

Apply the clay as a large sheet or mass of clay. Compress the clay from all sides at once to work out air bubbles and fuse the soft clay together.

Do a general rough shaping with your hands.

Take a sharp knife and shape the clay in a series of planes to the rough shape of your design.

Use your tools are fingers to smooth the final surface of the clay.
Hope this helps someone!
Have a great day!
Mark

WELCOME

2011-12-13T08:28:00.000-05:00

We have a bunch of new folks with us these days. Feel free to drop a line and let me know what kind of information you may be looking for in the future. For those who already asked, I will post a leather shoe tutorial again in the near future.
Thanks, Mark

Rose Red on Ebay

2011-12-13T08:21:00.006-05:00

Hi there, my son just posted this for sale on our Ebay storefront:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RED-ROSE-Female-Polymer-Sculpt-ooak-Mark-A-Dennis-/290645860751?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43abd7e18f

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

Break Time!

2011-12-11T09:17:00.000-05:00

Hi all, taking a break to work on Christmas gifts! A finished sculpt a day. Here are the ones to date:

Have a Merry Christmas!

Hair Tut

2011-12-07T10:25:00.000-05:00

I was asked to run a hair tutorial so here it is.

For this piece, I am using a section of Tibetan Lamb's wool which was dyed on the hide.

A layer of Fabri-Tac glue is applied to the back of the head at the nape of the neck. This layer is about 3/4" high and runs from ear to ear.

A row of hair is separated from the rest of the hide, held with my thumb and forefinger then cut off the hide.

This is pressed into the lower 1/2 " of wet glue from ear to ear.

Holding the hair against the back of the doll with one hand, I use my thumb of the other hand to drag the loose hairs on top of the row up into the last 1/4" of glue.

Hair is applied on the sides of the head in the same manner.

The hair is worked around the head with the hair radiating out from the crown of the head.

The front rows of hair are applied in smaller sections with the hair radiating toward the front of the face.

Continuing toward the crown of the head.

All filled in.

The hair is allowed to dry then styled with hair spray and a heat gun.

Hope this helps for those who asked. have a great day!
Mark

Red Update

2011-11-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

Thinking hard about leaving the wolf off this.

Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

More activity on the three ladies.

2011-11-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

Well, even with a trip to the in-laws and a morning of refocusing lights, I was able to get some work done on a few of these folks.

Here is the cape on Red. Wanted to keep it simple so I did a little fancy sticking on the edges with red thread so it does not stand out.

The face ended up looking like a relative of mine.

The bodice and grieve are leather with patterns burnt into the surface with my "stitching tool". The aging is done with he barrel of the tool. For those of you who may have missed this earlier post, the tool is a wood burner which has the tip filed down to make a set of holes and a burn which looks like thread going from hole to hole.

She has red leather boots with stitching as well. Need to weather all the leather now.
Now I like her without the wolf so I need to decide if this will be a single piece or if I am adding the second figure to her.

Added hair to the Alice figure.

And for the last one... did a bit of work on Dorothy. I will post a step by step on applying her hair next time. (This is a request from a Facebook friend.)
Details on her next time- have a great day!
Mark

Quick updates

2011-11-27T09:08:00.000-05:00

With the holidays and IDEX just around the corner, I decided I need to finish a few older sculpts which have been sitting around. Once I get caught up, I will go back to posting step by step tutorials for those of you who are interested.

Alice got her boots and stockings added.

Dorothy is close to being completed in the costuming.

I even went back to Red and the Wolf and added some clothing.

I will return to these for more detailed photos in the near future. Off to focus lights for A Christmas Carole, Have a great day!

Dorothy Gale

2011-11-23T14:14:00.000-05:00

A day of sculpting results. Off to the oven. Have a great day!

Dorothy Gale

2011-11-22T12:48:00.000-05:00

Hi all, Sorry to be away for so long. We have just finished Dracula at the theater and I have a few days until we pack up the set, lights, sound, etc and head off to the state theater conference to do one more show. I decided to take the next few days to work on a new piece. I will return to the Alice piece after this but I decided I needed a fresh start on something.
Meet "Dorothy Gale; Tornado Aviatrix". She will be part of my take on the Wizard of Oz. She is actually a witch hunter for hire.
I start with a design idea and rough sketch for the piece.

The armature starts with a 14 gauge wire covered with brass tubing.

The upper part of the armature does not need the brass support tubes.

A 3/16" tube is added to the spine for the support rod to insert.

The upper, lower, and support tube are foil taped together.

The other side of the armature.

The armature with the support rod inserted.

Foil is packed onto the frame to pad out the thicker parts of the figure to use less clay.

The armature is wrapped with tape to keep the oxidation from transferring to the clay. A polymer clay skull with open mouth is fit to the body.

Another view.

She is now ready to sculpt. More in the days to come. Have a great day!
Mark

Alice Update

2011-10-23T09:42:00.000-04:00

Hi there. Last night I had a chance to set aside all the Dracula set design, props, etc and get back to sculpting for a few hours. Ah, therapy!

The clay is conditioned and applied to the armature so it will be about 3/8" thick.

The major topography of the torso is laid in with a sculpting tool.
These features include establishing an anterior and posterior center line which follows the twist of the body. Markings for the pectoral muscles, the ribcage, and the pelvis.

The same markings are laid out on the back.

The armpit and other features are marked.

The muscles are laid out and the final smoothing is done. A few odds and ends like arms, hands, and feet are started. More to follow as I am able to get back to her. Thanks for looking, have a great day!

Alice Down the Rabbit hole Armature

2011-10-17T10:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I posted but the set and directing of Dracula is taking much of my free time. Here is what has happened since last we spoke (well, I wrote, you read).

I started by enlarging the sketch of my figure to the actual size of the finished piece based on the size head I will be using.

I have decided to build up my support rod with steel and brass (so I can solder to the brass later if needed) rather than using a larger diameter steel rod. I am using a 5/32" steel rod which is covered by a 3/16" brass tube which, in turn, is covered with a 7/32" brass tube. If you look at the picture you can see how the rod and tubes will align inside the leg. The rod will stop about 1" short of the brass tubing at the socket in the thigh. This way the upper armature can slip into the brass sockets of the leg.

I slip them together and bend the support assembly following my pattern.

I keep bending and shaping the support assembly.

Next I draw the size of the finished rabbit so I can get my support assembly bent and cut to fit the final sculpture.

The same process is used to create the support assembly for the upper body with the exception that the steel rod is 1" longer on the bottom than the brass so it will insert into the lower assembly.
A 14 gauge wire armature is bent and cut as if I was making a simple wire body armature. The free hanging leg gets a brass tube slipped over it for strength while the supported side is cut to the length of the separation point of the armature.

The body armature is bent to the pattern.

The armature is foil taped together.

The final structure of the armature is ready for padding. Please note the assorted dog toys on the floor. Can you say "spoiled dog"?

The body is padded with foil so the clay will be about 3/8" think when finished.

The armature is wrapped in masking tape to keep the clay cleaner while the body is being created.
That's it for today! Have a great day!
Mark

Armature layout

2011-10-10T19:06:00.000-04:00

Had the opportunity to work up the armature layout. Here it is.

The figure will separate at the thigh under her dress. the rest is a basic armature of wire and tubing. The main support is going to be a steel rod which will run through the rabbit and up the leg.

Had a moment to work on these guys as well.

I added her hair and a sheer white wrap with gold glitter in the weave.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!
Mark

Alice work starts

2011-10-08T10:14:00.002-04:00

I like to start each piece with the head. If the face does not work for me, the rest just won't happen.

I start with a polymer clay skull into which I have set 6MM white mountain jade beads.

The skull is cured and then the lower jaw is attached in the position for an open mouth. This is cured as well then the tongue is inserted. Be sure that the jaw opens in an arc rather than just dropping straight down to recreate the natural hinge pattern of the skull/jaw structure.

I use a sharp knife to bevel the front of the upper and lower jaw area so I can attach teeth. Note the two slices of clay under the skull.

The bevel is coated with Translucent Liquid Sculpy so the new clay will stick to it better.

Teeth are sculpted onto the front of the bevel.

*** I am using an old step by step of a previous face for this demo. We will return to the open mouth head later. For those who have come to a class here, or who have my DVD, this will look very familiar.

A 1/4" thick layer of clay is added to the forehead and seamed to the skull on all sides.

The lower part of the face is bulked out. Keep the clay over the nose thinner than the clay on the sides of the face. Seam the clay to the skull and the forehead clay. Seam around the eyes so there are no air pockets.

First layer complete.

The nose is added. The sides of the nose clay will sweep onto the planes of the cheeks. Do not make sharp angels where the planes of the nose and the cheeks meet.

The upper lip is laid in and seamed to the face. The lip is formed by cutting a parabola of a cone (see figure 88) the section sliced off becomes the upper lip. It is tapered from the top to the bottom, also gets wider as we travel from top to bottom, and arcs from side to side.

The lower lip is added.

The side view of what we did so far.

Extra meat is attached to the cheeks as needed.

Lower lids are attached. They should be the same thickness the entire way across the eye. The lid follows the arc of the eyeball or "wraps" itself around the eyeball. The lower lid will start and stop about halfway up the eyeball..

The upper lid will start at the nose by butting up against the lower lid. Once again, it wraps itself over the orb of the eyeball to where it meets the outer edge of the lower lid. I prefer to have the upper lid overlap the lower lid slightly on the outside when I am done. The thickness will be consistent the entire way across the eyeball.

The area between the upper lid and the brow line is filled and seamed to the face

Nostrils are shaped as are the lips.

From the side. Notice that the eye has roundness to the side. You can see the white of the eye from the side. If not, you have too much clay on the lids.

Now the detailing gets done.

The ear is attached behind the jaw.

The outer crease of the ear is pressed in place.

The clay in front of the ear is pressed into the ear canal forming a ramp from the side of the head into the ear.

The ear canal is formed with the tip of a tool. The final shaping is done on the ears. (Our black lab, Jack, decided to sit under the sculpture for this shot)

The ear should be tight against the head in the front.
In this shot you can see the final details of the face.

The ears stick out in the back like a wedge. (Jack got bored and went to bark at the harvesters outside)

Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day!
Mark

Let's play with clay (again)

2011-10-06T07:33:00.003-04:00

Hi there. thought I would do a new piece while finishing some of the others still sitting around here. I will try to include as many steps as I can remember to photograph along the way.

Here is the design;

She is to be Alice following the white rabbit down the hole. Simple design and armature but I hope she will have some movement.

We will look at the armature when next we meet. Hope you will join us.

Have a great day!
Thanks, Mark

Female sculpted

2011-10-04T08:29:00.002-04:00

Took an evening off from directing (Carol's turn) and worked on the female figure of this set.
Here she is. Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

Shifted her balance a bit. Also tiled him back a bit to counter balance her a bit more.

Don't you just love the curves and planes of the human form?!

A little hint: he will have wings.

TA TA!

The first layer of paint is on her. More in the next few days.

Second figure

2011-10-03T14:21:00.000-04:00

After a great deal of thought I have chosen a direction for this figure. I am adding a second figure to him. Here is the start of the rough in:

The male will need to have his eyes repainted to change his focus. More in the days to come.
Thanks for looking. Have a great day!
Mark

Hair

2011-09-28T12:22:00.000-04:00

Have a few minutes this morning while it is raining (again) to do the hair on this piece.

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

Mark

New sculpture painted.

2011-09-27T12:29:00.000-04:00

Got the chance to paint him this morning. Here he is:

Thanks for taking a look. Have a great day!

Sculpture from Class

2011-09-24T10:38:00.000-04:00

Hi there,
As promised, I have been away for awhile. We held our September class with a wonderful group of artists who were not only a joy to have with us but also very talented.
Dracula rehearsals have begun. I am training the new tech crew and assisting with the directing so my spare time is at a premium.
In addition, we had a bit of an accident here which has required me to do more household duties than normal. Five class members kept me on my toes so I was not able to finish a figure in the class but I have done some work since then in my spare time.
Here is the newest piece which is ready to bake;

Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

TWEEDLES DONE!

2011-09-09T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hi all, a quick note to show the newest members of the Wonderland family.
The Tweedle Brothers:
Have a great day!
Mark

Scarecrow of OZ

2011-09-07T11:02:00.000-04:00

Just finished a new piece. Part of the Wicked set. Working on the Tweedle twin with the walrus as well. Thanks for looking,
Have a great day!
Mark

Heads UP!

2011-09-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

Wanted to take a moment to give you a heads up about the near future on this blog.
I will be backing off from the writing for a bit. This is due to a number of factors as follows:

CLASS

Next week is a class week for us here so lots of prep to be done to get ready for the class, then a
week of sculpting class, then crashing after the class. I will attempt to take pictures during the class and post as we go.

DOLL MAKING

Lots of orders for sculpture to get filled so I will be posting as they are getting finished but not a lot of the process.
GIVE AWAY
Looking into the "how" of giving away a few dolls. Perhaps a raffle? We are connected to a few local non-profits who have experienced funding cuts from the government as well as lower donations due to the economy. I was thinking of offering a doll as an online raffle to aid one of these groups. Most raffles are one item so only one person has a chance to win. I am thinking of one item for every twenty people who enter so you have a one in twenty chance to win. Perhaps even smaller items as well like study models or practice heads etc... to increase the odds of winning something. Things to consider are which non-profit group to help, how much is a spot in the raffle, and would anyone out there participate. Drop a line and let me know your feelings on this. Thanks!
DRACULA!
For those of you who do not know, for the past eight years I have been teaching technical theater after school at the local high school (GO PENN MANOR!) for fun. My degree is actually in Tech Theatre We have been planning our fall play all summer. This year it will be Dracula. This production is tech heavy, our first real drama in years, and we are taking it on tour to the State Thespian Conference after showing it at the high school. This means a lot of transportable sets, lighting, and sound which translates into a lot of me working at the school. On top of all that, we have been without power in the theatre all summer so there is the usual lighting and sound maintenance to deal with which I usually complete before school starts. Just got word that the power is on so I will be living in the theatre for awhile!

Here is the latest of three new pieces I am working on:

I hope you will keep checking in from time to time, and have a great day!
Mark

GIVE AWAY!

2011-09-01T10:06:00.002-04:00

Hi there loyal followers! I just did a head count and I have way too many figures in the Barn (50ish) so I have decided to give one away. Keep an eye here and once I figure out some catchy way to do so, I shall post the details.
Thanks for your support, Mark

ELPHABA

2011-08-29T10:54:00.001-04:00

Good old Irene kept us a bit busy but while we awaited her arrival, I had a full day to just work on the rest of this piece. A big "sorry" to the folks who were coming to sculpt all day with me in the studio but better safe than driving home in that mess! Here are some of the hilights;

Started the day by giving her skin a wash of Adobe Red Acrylic mixed with extender to add just a bit of color and depth to her green skin.

Took a stroll up stairs to my fabric storage area and pulled a bunch of textured black fabrics which I may use for the dress. Spread then out over the table so I can pick and choose as I go.

Changed the length of the support rod and added a base before I started layering fabrics.

SLEEVES

This entire outfit will be glued to her using parts of old clothing from the local thrift shop. To start, I choose a thin fabric with a black-on-black pattern for the sleeves. These are taken from the sleeve of a blouse so the bottom hem is already sewn for me. They are cut to fit around the widest part of the upper arm and are long enough to give me some puffiness at the shoulder.

The sleeve is glued in place on the underside of the arm.

It wraps around and is folded under and glued down to make the seam up the underside of the arm.

Tada!

A black leather upper arm brace is laid in place and stitched on the arm using waxed cotton cord and a large leather needle. It is tied off and a drop of super glue is used to secure the bow so it does not come undone.

A ruffle of lace is added under the edge of the leather brace at the elbow. This is ripped off the larger piece and the raw edge is torched to give it a "witchy, worn look".

A bodice is glued onto the torso. The top edge is already seamed and the bottom is left as a raw edge.
The first layer of shirting is a textured black satin which is wrapped around the hips and glued in place with a little leg showing. It is long enough to hide the support rod. The second layer is a front piece of lace which is gathered between the legs to obscure the crotch. it is treated with a flame like the smaller pieces at the elbows of the sleeves.
I have added the first section of the leather vest as well. It is a standing collar of leather which is turned under and secured to her neck.

This is the material from which the bodice was cut. It will be used for the shirt as well. It is a multi-layered piece from a woman's vest.

Decided I should take a moment to finish some of the broom before I lay the skirts in place. The broom is a layer of raffia which is glued onto the brass support rod and wrapped and tied in place with another piece of raffia.

The final layer of the skirt is attached and the skirt is glued to itself so it sweeps up and back to give a look of movement.

Sorry for the bad shot! Wanted to show the vest. It is made of three parts. The collar - as noted above. The body - which covers the back and wraps around over the shoulders to the armpits and wraps around the sides to the front. And lastly, the straps which are attached across the front and secured with decorative tacks.

I included this shot to show the finished dress and the translucent quality of the monkey's wings. The monkey has had his fur attached at this point.
The base and support rod have been painted black and the broomstick has been wood-grained.
Next her hair is applied and a leather hat is crafted for her head.
Her boots are also added.

I added these photos so you can see the layers of different black fabric The high camera settings burn out the face but show the dress well.

Here you can see the hat.

The front layers of fabric.

This is the finished piece in a large format "moody" photo.
Thanks for watching.
Have a great day!
Mark

RED RIDING UPDATE

2011-08-23T08:14:00.000-04:00

Hi! As a general rule about myself, if I do not keep working on a piece until it is done it never gets finished. I stopped work on Red and the Wolf and started a few other pieces over the last few weeks. Not really sure where I am going with them. Decided to paint them and perhaps it would inspire me to work on the. So, here is the finished painting (except eyebrows).

Both figures were wiped-down with acetone to remove finger prints and open the pore of the clay for painting. Red was painted with a wash of extender/retarder and Adobe Red acrylic paint which was brushed on the wiped off. An other layer of red was dry-brushed onto the cheeks, chin, forehead, and nose. I also do the same to the high spots of the body.
The wolf is painted with a wash of Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, and extender/retarder which was wiped off. The same mix was then used to darken the lupine parts of the wolf while the human parts are left slightly stained.

Bad shot, sorry! lips are done with the same red wash but left a little thicker. Eye makeup is done just like street make up but done with paint rather than powders. You can use powders if you wish. I prefer to paint since my training is in theatre make up which acts more like paint than powder make up does.

They are ready to have their hair attached. Perhaps this weekend. Now back to Elphaba!
Have a great day!
Mark

ELPHABA (Day 2: Bat Wings and clay sculpting)

2011-08-22T05:26:00.000-04:00

In the last post we worked on our design and soldered the armature together. Yesterday I was able to work on the barn then get some work done in the afternoon on the clay application. (OK- I got a lot of work done on the clay)

I started with the monkey so I had a finished piece to attach to her wrist. The monkey is sculpted completely then cured in the oven or with the heat gun. Once he is cured, I use the heat gun to superheat his entire body so the stress from the wing support wire will not crack him later.

The monkey from the side.

The wings for this guy are going to be made of Translucent Liquid Sculpy. First, I crinkle a piece of heavy foil to act as the support for the wing while it cures. The creases in the foil make the final product look like it has veins in the membrane.

The foil is shaped to the underside of the wing and tight against the body.

TLS is applied.

It is then smoothed out with a brush so the struts are covered and the membrane is uniform in thickness.

The first layer is cured with the heat gun.

I have then repeated the process until I have three layers of cured TLS on the wings. The wing is cooled and the foil peels of the back easily. In this photo the left wing has been trimmed with a pair of scissors.

The monkey in flight.

The translucent quality of the wings shows nicely this way. I will color them later.

The broom stick is covered with clay and cured with the heat gun.

The clay is conditioned. Clay is ready when you can flatten the clay and the edges do not crack. This clay is part Baby ProSculpt and part Green colored Bake and Bend Sculpy.

The armature is covered with the conditioned clay to a depth of about 3/8".

The details are then sculpted and cleaned up for curing. You will notice that the body is not very well detailed as I will be clothing her from head to toe.
The face is modeled after the daughter of a doll artist Kelly and I met at show.

Since she will have a tight bodice in her dress, her breasts need to be pressed together and up so they look more realistic before the dress is applied. the feet are shaped as supports for the stye of shoe I will add later in leather.

From the back. The sculpture is suspended above the broom so fabric can be inserted under her backside.

You may be able to see the depression as her thigh muscle and skin are pressed against the broom stick. Again, note the gap between the broom and the buttocks.

The final fit of the monkey into her wrist. The tube at the wrist is left exposed so he can be inserted and removed. Any misfit can be covered with the sleeve of her garment.

All ready to throw into the oven. Thanks for dropping by, have a great day!
Mark

ELPHBA (Day 1 Design/Armature)

2011-08-20T10:59:00.001-04:00

Hi,
The other day I got a message from Blogspot saying that I had enough views on the blog that they wanted to offer me a chance to make money by placing ads on the pages. Well, I looked into this; ya know, it would be great to collect money if I didn't have to sell anything. However, I have no control over the type of ad which they would place on my pages and I think it is nice to have one place in the world where you can come and look (and learn) without Viagra and car commercials being shoved in your face. Therefore, I shall resist the urge to make money off this blog. If you truely feel you are getting something of value here and want more details, then buy my book or the DVDs. Otherwise, just keep dropping by and enjoying a moment of fun!
Thanks, Mark

In the spirit of getting something for nothing, lets start a new piece.
I want to make a little something Halloweenish but also rooted in popular culture (easier to sell!) so I have decided to keep adding to my "Wicked" set by creating the Wicked Witch of the west with a flying monkey. In the book by Gregory Maguire, Elphaba is duped into creating the flying monkeys and decided to free them so they cannot be used for the Wizard's evil intent. (great books!) By the Way, the rest of the set has sold except for the Lion and the Wizard (Thanks to The Toy Shoppe and the great folks working with Barrie and Danny!) so I will be remaking different figures to restock the set.
So, here is the design:

The witch will be supported by a steel rod in her dress. The monkey will attach to her wrist as if he is flying beside her.

The armature looks something like this:
The base will need to be either large or heavy to keep the cantilevered piece from falling over.
The support rod is 7/32 steel with the end shaped to fit into a piece of square stock brass which is soldered to the broom.
The broom is 7/32 brass with two additional tubes inside for strength without being solid brass to reduce the weight.

The figure armature is 5/32 tubing with 14 gauge wire inside. The torso/legs are made as a unit and are attached to the broom with a small gap between the figure armature and the broom so there is room for the foil padding and clay.

The front arm (left) is soldered to the Torso/leg armature and to the broom.

The support arm (right) is attached to the torso/leg armature as well but also runs to the broom so the monkey's support runs from wrist to broom - not from wrist to torso so the load is transferred to the broom rather than her body.

The monkey armature is all 14 gauge wire which can be taped together with foil tape or soldered. I got lazy and taped them. The support wire for the monkey runs all the way from the elbow of the witch (inside the forearm tubing), across the wing, and down the spine of the monkey armature.

The armature looks like this from the side. I added a few extra tubes on the witch arm and spine to be sure the weight of the monkey would not break her arm. The base support rod will be shortened when the dress is made.

A shot from the back to show the motion of the monkey.

Once the supports are in place, the body is padded with foil.

And wrapped with tape to keep the clay clean.

This will give you a feel for how the piece will look in the end.
Hope this is helpful, have a great day!
Mark

Alice in Slumberland

2011-08-11T16:54:00.001-04:00

Hi, finished her today. Here are some shots.
Mark

(High resolution image)

Pose worked out!

2011-08-06T09:29:00.000-04:00

I took a few minutes to work with these guys and I think I have the pose worked out a little better. Now I should be able to get her finished and back to work on them, the new Alice piece, and the Mermaid and Sailor wrap up. Posting "The Chase" on Ebay this week , I hope!
Have a great day!

A Little bodywork

2011-08-02T15:12:00.001-04:00

I thought I would take a closer look at the steps I follow to make a full body sculpt. After completing the armature, I condition a batch of clay and pack it onto the armature so it is over-sized. I have found that ProSculpt clay works best for me if I add too much clay at the start then cut away the excess.

The back. You may want to run the clay onto the arms and legs so you can sculpt the torso without having to add or reduce clay to your finished work at the shoulder and hip joints.

Side

Use a tool to run a series of markers on the surfaces of the torso. This include the spine, hips, ribcage, and larger muscle masses.

The same is done to the front.

And the side.

A sharp knife is used to cut the planes of the torso.

The large planes are then knocked down a little at a time.

A smaller flat edged tool is used to begin smoothing the shapes of the muscles.

The finished rough-in is done and is ready for the final shape and smoothing.

This piece will have more defined muscle so before the final smoothing I mark the muscle groups by adding slight depressions with a sculpting tool.

The final smoothing is done on the right side of the figure. You can see the muscles showing slightly in the surface of the smoothed surface.

The front is smoothed down.

Back.

Side.

The arms and legs are sculpted in the same way. Final details are added including surface texture, creases, and skin tension.

The two figures are almost ready. Now is the time to make final adjustments to the pose.

Thanks for taking a look.
Have a great day!
Mark

Armature second figure

2011-07-31T08:53:00.000-04:00

These figures will be independent of each other so there is no special armature needed. I photographed these as a step by step so you can review the armature without going all the way back to another, older post.

The armature consists of three 14 gauge wires. The first of which is about 20" long and is bent at the half-way point for the legs. The second wire is about 18" long and bent at the middle as well. This is the arm wire. This figure will be about 12" tall when complete.

A 5/32 brass tube is slide up each leg wire to add rigidity to the sculpture.

45 degree bends are made in the lower armature at the waist. The upper armature is bent at the point where the neck will emerge.

Additional bends are made at the hip joint (not the hip bone) and at the shoulder.

An additional wire is added down the spine. This will support the head. The three parts are wrapped tightly with foil tape.

The wire and tube part of the armature is done. Note that the legs are bent for a digitgrade (animal which walks on its toes: wolf, dog, etc...) animal's joints.

The figure is padded out with foil. We want about 3/8" of clay over the foil as we sculpt so you need to bulk out enough to fill the torso.

Legs get bulked out to the knee joint.

Everything gets covered in tape to keep the oxidation from transferring to the clay.

The finished armature,

The figures are posed together so we can adjust the drama of the moment.

Next we will do a little face work.
Have a great day!
Mark

Red Riding Hood?

2011-07-28T10:57:00.000-04:00

Hi, starting a new piece which is mostly likely to become Red Riding hood.

Giving a slightly more menacing twist to it. Maybe change the feel (costuming) to more Gothic or middle earth? Who knows where it will end up? Decided to keep the armatures simple for awhile.

Flipped the pose to a mirror image for starters. But here is the armature. Basic wire with tubing on legs. Foil body and wrapped with tape.

I'll keep ya posted!
Mark

The Chase

2011-07-28T09:55:00.001-04:00

Hi there, Wanted to share this piece with those of you who do not get to Facebook. Really, there are those of you who haven't joined the Facebook craze? This piece is an experiment in making translucent wings. Not at all how the concept started but she turned out rather well, I think.

The project started as a test to make a textured, translucent bat wing. I have made these out of nylon before but wanted a different "look".
Recently as I was working on the roof I disturbed a bat and was able to watch it fly away from a great vantage point. I noticed that the wing membranes were not flat during the downward stroke but had a slight arc to them as they pushed against the air. I decided to recreate this and even exaggerate that arc. Here are the wings. The left one has not been colored while the right has a layer of coloring baked onto the surface.

I am pleased with the translucency of the wing. I guess I should tell you that it is made with Translucent Liquid Sculpy. I will do another sculpt with wings, maybe a dragon (?) and show the steps I used to make them if there is interest out there.

Once the wings were made, I had to back-engineer the armature for the figure. Once again, I decided to try something new and work more expression into the face.

This is the final form which these experiments have taken.

The tree is an actual tree branch to which I have added clay to change the shape of the base. I matched the bark of the real tree and then the colors as well.

Next I added the moth. It is again made of TLS for the wings. Maybe a tutorial there if anyone is interested?

the moth is supported by a wire running from the leading edge of the wing into the back for her hand. The body is clay with flocking and feathers for antennae.

The finished piece.Thanks for tuning in! Have a great day, Mark

CALL FOR ARTISTS

2011-07-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

I am looking for artists (sculptors,doll artists) who are interested in getting together now and then to sit and sculpt together. No classes, just a bunch of us making art and chatting. If you are in the PA, DE, MD area of the East Coast, USA and are interested, drop a line. I am willing to travel about two hours from my home in Central PA for a day of sculpting. (Two hours from me would be Washington DC, Allentown PA, Wilmington De) I am also willing to host in my studio if anyone wants to travel to PA.
Hope to hear from those close by!
Mark

Leather Boots

2011-07-24T08:06:00.000-04:00

Thanks for hanging around while I was gone. I am going to try to get back to posting a few times each week. I wanted to share the leather boot crafting with you, we've done this before but here it is again.

Start with a pattern made to fit your figure so you can play with the style and shape of the boot. I prefer to just jump in and work directly so here goes. The body of the boot or shoe will look best if made of a thinner grade of leather - in this case, I use glove grade leather which is thinner than "standard" sewing leather. The main parts of the boot are cut with an extra 1/8" allowance on the inner and outer edges so they can be turned under. The darker top is the same leather but with the suede side up.

The body of the boot is glued onto the leg with Fabri-tac. Each side is turned under and butted against each other as they are glued down. Once the fronts set, the same thing is done in the back of the boot.

The cuff of the boot has the allowances turned under and glued down with Fabric-tac. The cuff is then slipped under the top of the boot body and glued. Fabric-tac works well when gluing the rough side of leather to itself or to the clay. Super glue is better when gluing any smooth side of the leather

The cuff is turned down so the smooth side is now up. The back opening will be laced.

Small strips of leather are added to reenforce the sides, heel, and box of the toe, Thicker carving leather is used for the sole and heel of the boot. the sole is attached with super glue. After it has set, the sides of the sole leather are soaked with super glue to seal the edges. The soles can then be sanded and distressed because the leather will be very firm.

I have made myself a leather stitching tool using a cheap wood burner from the craft store.

The tip was a small round pin which I have ground into a sharp wedge and then shaped an inward curve into the edge with a file.

The tool is comfortable for my larger hands and works well to burn the stitching into the leather. If you look closely, you can see the stitching in the sole of the other boot at the top of the photo.

The stitching is complete and they are now ready for aging and distressing.
Thanks for dropping by. Have a great day!
Mark

Sailor pants

2011-07-22T11:00:00.001-04:00

Hi all! Have not been in the mood to sculpt lately so I have been working on the house and the long "honey do" list. However, I did sit down the other day and work on the sailor's pants so here is the step-by-step on them.

I have chosen a pair of old silk shorts for the material for my sailor pants.

I cut a chunk off the side of the shorts which is already seamed together. This will become my side seam on the pants so the wear patterns are already in the cloth.

**A little side note here. When I sculpted the mermaid's hand I slipped a thin wedge of powdered clay under the fingers so there would be room to put material between the hand and his torso.

This lets me insert the material without adding stress to the fingers.

The side of the shorts are cut to fit the front and back of the pants. The pants are slightly over-sized so they will be baggy on the figure. The leg seams, front seam, and back seams are stitched together before they go on the figure.

I use a piece of the hem from the shorts bottom to make my waistband of the pants since it is already pressed and has wear on the edge.

Okay, strange photo! I want the pants to have the look of clothing underwater. When clothes get wet and the body is in motion, the clothing sticks to the body more than it would out of water. To get that look I cover the skin with Fabri-tac then lay the cloth on the skin and form the wrinkles in the cloth as I work.

The same technique is used as I position the pants on the legs. Here you can see the left pant leg is glued to the figure whereas the right has not been glued yet.

The pants are "wrinkled" all over.

The bottom of the pant legs are glued in place. they will be covered by the bucket boots.

I run a very badly stitched seam along the waistband (want it to look like very cheap stitching) and glue the band around the figure to cover the top of the pants fabric. The material is kept away from the rod for the mermaid and is glued tightly so it cannot get caught in the tube as they come together.

A drop flap is attached over the front seam of the pants. Buttons will be added later.
Next time I will show the leather boot assembly.
Have a great day!
Mark

Scale painting

2011-07-06T15:04:00.001-04:00

Here is a quick step by step of how the scales on the mermaid are painted.

I used my scale tool to create a sample.

I will be using Perfect Pearls embossing powder to color the tail. (Got them at AC Moores)

I want a green/gold surface so I started with a covering of gold brushed onto the raw clay.

Completed gold on the surface.

The green is brushed from the bottom of the scales upward so the green is deposited in the cut under each scale.

I want the clay color to show so I wipe the scales from top to bottom forcing some powder into the clay surface and removing the excess. The amount of pressure applied will determine how much powder is left in each scale.

This image shows the wiped surface on the right side and the original powdered surface on the left.

I added and baked a layer of Translucent Liquid Sculpy on the right side to smooth the transition from scale to scale. This is not needed but I liked the look as it smooths the scales down to look more "fish-skinned"

Looking up from the bottom of the scales to compare the right side with TLS and the left without TLS.

The mermaid skin is washed in a mix of Adobe Red Acrylic and Extender then wiped down.

The sailor has a combination of two washes: Raw Umber/retarder and Adobe Red/retarder.

Thanks for taking a look. Have a great day!
Mark

Fins and Scales

2011-06-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

Many wonderful artists are making their fins out of products like Fantasy Film so I decided to try a different approach.

I will be using Translucent Liquid Sculpy for this so I can put the entire piece in the oven as often as I want.
It will take the heat and remain rather transparent and flexible
Squeeze out a puddle of TLS on a sheet of foil.

Shape and thin it out with a brush or your finger. this is thicker down the middle so I have more to insert into the clay figure.

Cure with the heat gun or in the oven.

Peel it off the tinfoil.

A slit is made in the lower torso (tail?) to insert the side fins. The sheet I made is cut down the center so I have two fins roughly the same size and shape.

They are inserted into the side slits and the clay is fused back over the fins. You can see the clay is slightly translucent (see my finger tips behind the fin)

The tail starts with a number of wires taped down to some foil. These will insert into the tubes sticking out the end of her tail. A layer of TLC is brushed over the wires and cured. The tape holds the wires down so the tail does not get too thick. Once the first part is cured, the tape comes off and the rest of the tail is done.

The tail is shaped.

To make scales, I have taken some brass sheeting and ground out two different sized semicircles with my Dremel Tool.

The brass scale tools are pressed into the raw clay to make deep scales.I am making them deep to hold more color before I cure them. The body of the tail is all large scales. the small scales are found at the base of the tail fin and along the side fins (these are shaped to match my Koi in the pond)
Next time we will look at how I colored these and finished the scales before curing.
Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

Sailor Armature

2011-06-28T11:19:00.000-04:00

This piece is not working well for me and I am ready to trash the whole thing. However, you can learn a lot about how to fix things from watching my mistakes so I will continue and we will see if we get anything remotely decent out of this adventure.
Since the last post, I have pretty well finished the sculpting of the mermaid. Since this is straightforward sculpting, I will not bother posting the steps but will move on to the male figure.

The first step in this is to make another wire armature and pose it to match my sketch.

I have decided to use a solid rod instead of a flat piece of bronze for the kelp support since most of you will not want to take time to learn brazing to work along. The rod in this case is 3/16" diameter and is from my local Lowe's Home Improvement Store. The rod is bent to follow the wire armature with the end turned up to accept the tube from the mermaid's hand. I have altered the position of the hand connection in my original drawing so she will be touching him on the abdomen rather than the chest.

The rod in place and ready to secure to the armature.

The rod is simply foil-taped onto the armature at a number of locations.

From the feet looking forward.

A tube of 7/16" brass is cut and slides over the end of the rod. this is the connector for the mermaid's arm which will be crimped onto the mermaid and will be free to slide off the support rod.

The arm of the mermaid slides into the extension tube we just placed on the support rod and is crimped onto the arm with a pair of pliers.

This will give you some idea of how the support system is working

I like the fact that she is so far off the support rod at the point of contact at his elbow. It makes them look like they are floating- I hope.

Here is the next fix that I came across as I worked. She was twisting around the support rod too much so I decided she needed to have the other hand attached to him as well. I bent a small 5/16" tube at an angle and foil-tapped it to the upper arm of the male. The female arm is bent at the same angle as the left (support) arm so they can just pull up and out of the sockets for removal.
This created a different issue. The mermaid now was pushing the sailor's arm down and adding stress to his shoulder so it would have cracked later. Onto the next change!

I fixed this issue by adding two 5/16 rods to the shoulder/ torso area. the first was run across the shoulder form elbow to elbow.

The second rod was run from the elbow to the hip along the side of the torso. They are foil-taped in place and covered with masking tape.

As you can see, these additions allow the mermaid to hang out in space very nicely.

Next time we will look at making fins and scales.
Have a great day!
Mark

Mermaid Armature

2011-06-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

Once we have a working design, the next step is to work out the structure needed to support the pieces. I do this on my sketch as follows:

Starting at the bottom of the piece, the kelp which will support the entire set will be made of a sheet of bronze. I chose bronze because it is easy to work with (braze, cut) since it is a copper alloy but it has more rigidity than copper and brass. I also happen to have sheets of it from my days as a bronze sculptor.
The support rod will be brazed onto the kelp at the sailor's elbow and run up the arm, through the shoulder,
and down the torso to the point where her hand will attach to his body. The only points of contact will be as follows: Kelp base to base, kelp to elbow, and her left hand to his body. In addition to these supports, I will add a basic wire armature in his body to support the legs and arms.

I will start with the mermaid armature since she is the easiest. The basic wire armature is made of 14 gauge wire. One long set for the torso/legs, one set for the torso/arms, and the spine/neck.

Brass tubes are slipped over the torso/leg wires and then bent at the bellybutton and angled down to the second bend at the hip joint.
The basic measurements I use can be found at:
http://madsculptor.blogspot.com/2011/02/proportions-simple-guide.html.

The upper torso is prepared in the same manner as the legs.
** Please notice I did not run the tube all the way down the spine. This was done yesterday after lunch. As I sculpted, I realized that this should be all the way down the spine for more support. Do it the right way and run your tube down the spine for more support!

The neck wire, upper torso wire, and lower torso wires are all foil taped together to create the spine area.

Finished armature is ready for padding out with foil.

There is no need for tubing on her right arm since it will not be attached to the male and is not needed for support.

The body is filled out with foil so the outer layer of clay is about 3/8" thick.

All metal is covered with tape to keep the oxidation from getting into your clay.

The final step before adding clay.
**Here is the fix for my mistake of not extending the arm tube down the spine. If you look closely at the supporting arm you can see a second tube has been added which runs along the upper arm and follows the torso to the hip. this is foil taped on and then covered with masking tape.
Thanks for tuning in. Have a great day!

BTW, here is a preview of what we will do next.

NEXT- Mermaid and Sailor

2011-06-23T10:24:00.000-04:00

Here is the next one we will do. See ya soon!

Sorry, fast, bad sketch (Darn it Jim, I'm a sculptor not an illustrator!)

SUPER HEATING

2011-06-23T10:18:00.002-04:00

I promised this to Betty Lou and I finally got around to doing it so here goes.
Polymer clay is wonderful stuff. It has a good deal of strength on its own but we can increase the strength of the final product by doing two things; cold bath and super heat.
We have touched on these two procedures before in past postings but it never hurts to do it again.
COLD BATH is simply taking the figure out of the oven while it is hot (just as the curing cycle ends) and placing it in the freezer, refrigerator, snow bank, etc. The idea is to drop the temperature as fast as you can. This will help stop cracks from the cooling process. It works, I have done over 70 pieces this way by now. I used to use a cold water bath but no longer do as it is hard to get the water out of these small figures and polymer clay grows mold very well.
SUPER HEATING adds additional flexibility and strength to the clay.

STEP 1: Sculpt your piece. Here I have done a fast sculpt of a male hand to demonstrate. You need to pay attention to the sheen on the surface of the clay as we progress. This shiny clay is uncured at this point; notice the sheen to the surface.
Be sure all sharp ridges are smoothed down before curing. These ridges will scorch when you hit them with the heat gun.

STEP 2: Bake at the clay manufacturers recommendations. This is the same hand after curing in the oven. Baked clay will have a "flat" appearance. There is a little shine to the clay but not as much as the raw clay shows.

STEP 3; Super heat the clay. Use a standard heat gun (paint stripper) to super heat the clay. Stay about 4" away from the clay and keep the gun moving around. Focus the heat on the bulk of the hand, not the fingers. You need to alter the structure of the hand as well as the fingers or they will just snap at the base of the finger where they meet the "old"clay. Once the hand is heated you will move up the fingers to superheat them as well. This will take about 45 seconds to do a hand.

This is the super heated hand. Note the sheen to the surface. This is the end point you want to reach.
BE CAREFUL! The gun can reach temps of 1,000 degrees so it will scorch and burn if you are not careful! (see the little scorch mark on the back of the hand)

The images below show how much bend you can get when you super heat. This is done while still warm from the process. Once they cool, they will have less bend but still resist breaking .

WIP

2011-06-22T15:23:00.000-04:00

Here is a little update on somethings I had had sitting around for too long.
Finished the Raven by adding a set of glass beads on wire (so they can be posed) and some feathers to the temples.

New piece in progress awaiting the base and lantern.

Just finished this one. I think she is ready to cure. This one is 12" from top to bottom. May make a mold and cast her if she grows on me.
Have a great day!

NEW STUFF

2011-06-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

Hi, thought I should update anyone out there who is still paying attention. I have decided to go back to my sculpting roots and start working in larger sizes in addition to the 12" art dolls. Decided I need the freedom of a large piece to let me relax my old hands and eyes.
Here is a sample of one of my new works in progress. Thanks for taking time to have a look-see.

The face is seven inches high and will become a wall hanging.

Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day. ( I will still be posting art doll techniques but will add some new larger figure techniques as well.)

RAVEN - continued

2011-06-15T06:46:00.000-04:00

Worked a bit on him yesterday and here is the finished (?) piece. May add some beads in a few days after we live together for awhile.

Decided to do a white wash on the face with black shaded claw marks radiating from the hairline. Since this is not a portrait, I was able to use ideas from various face paints of Native Americans. The claw marks are carried into the chest region as well with a wash of black and extender.

The straight black hair is added and soaked with styling spray so it can be posed almost strait out the back of the head. It blends well into the feathers attached to the back of the head.

The base is simply a piece of an Arborvitae tree which I had trimmed earlier. It is soaked in sealer so the bark will not fall off.

The skin around the feathers is painted black and blended onto the torso a bit so the transition from skin to feather is a bit blurred.

Finished! The figure is 12" tall, the entire piece is 16" with the height of the base included. The wing is not removable but since the figure and the wing are in the same plane, they can lay flat in a long, narrow box for shipping.
Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

RAVEN - new work

2011-06-14T06:41:00.000-04:00

Hi all, thought I would show a little bit of one of two new pieces I am working on. This guy is being made just for Ebay so I went a little out of my normal style to test the waters.
The piece is based on two Native American beliefs: one is the many stories of the Raven in their culture, the other is the concept of Shape-shifting.
I have combined them into a figure of Raven shifting into his human form as he alits upon a branch.
The basic armature of wire and tubing remains the same as we have covered a number of times. The sculpting however includes on arm sculpted as a wing and one led sculpted as a claw.

The sculpting is finished and the base skin tones are applied. The "bird parts" are painted black so any gaps in the feathers will not be noticed.

Here you can see the holes in the wings which will anchor the calamus of each feather. They are set into the raw clay with a porcupine quill at the proper angle for the position of the finished wing.

The face is a portrait of a Native American model from the internet. You can see the same holes in the groin area for the base of the feather to insert.

The primary feathers are cut to length and the calamus is inserted into the hole and secured with super glue. The super glue will penetrate into the paint and get a better bond than other glues.

The second course of smaller cover feathers is applied over the primaries.

Additional layers of feathers are attached to recreate a facsimile of an actual raven wing. These are applied with Fabri-tac since they are applied to the surface and not inserted into the clay.

Additional feathers are used on the elbow of the right arm, the back of the head and nape of the neck, the tailbone, the groin and raven leg to carry the theme of the metamorphosis of the raven to the man.
More to follow as I get him done. Thanks for looking, have a great day!
Mark

WINNER

2011-06-13T17:00:00.001-04:00

Thank you to all who entered for the class. The winner was Laurie. Hope to see you all at an event in the future.
PS, I will get back to new posts shortly!
Mark

Wrapping up the Demon

2011-06-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

Well, we have taken quite a bit of time on this set of figures. Yesterday afternoon I was able to sit down and wrap up the wee ones.

If you have been with us along the journey, you have already met out demon.

I started the finish work on our child by putting on a pair of socks followed by canvas sneakers.

The base is pine with a layer of clay adhered to the top, sculpted to look like cobblestones and stippled in greys and greens.

I used the same coarse green duck cloth for the pants as I used for the robe on my William and Kate piece we did earlier this year (see past posts).

The shirt is yellow striped cotton and is constructed on the child.

A little note about going from design to finished piece. Those of you who have followed along may remember that this started as a little girl in a dress. Well, as the piece developed "she" then became a "he". After the shoes, pants, and shirt he was almost done. However, when I pulled this red hair out of the bin, all that changed - again. I decided that he would be better as a tomboy. The hair has a natural sweep and wave which mimic the sweep of the tentacles on the demon. I also added freckles to match the spots on the demon's face and arms.

So, here they are all done. The final steps were adding over sized buttons to the shirt to "girl it up" a bit and painting the canvas of the shoes in pink.

Thanks for joining us. I would love to see your creations on this theme if you sculpted along. Please check the "kiddies" out on our Ebay store this week: just look for "Mark Dennis" and they should pop up.
Have a great day!

MONSTER SKIN PAINTING - DETAILS

2011-06-03T09:47:00.000-04:00

Here is a simplified step by step of the skin painting for the demon as promised.

This is a flat piece of Baby ProSculpt clay all ready for painting.

The palette of Blush, Adobe Red, and Plum with puddles of retarder ready to be mixed.

Blush is mixed with retarder to make a semi-transparent glaze which is stippled onto the clay. You can see the stippling creates a texture of more and less transparent areas.

The Adobe Red and retarder mix goes on next leaving areas of the blush showing through. You do not want an even spaced layer of paint. This is all done wet on wet so the colors can blend. If you get too much red, just go back with the blush to lighten it in areas.

The plum color is done in the same manner. You want even fewer and more erratic splotches of the plum as you apply it.

Once the base color of the monster skin is done to your liking, a small brush is used to apply the random splotches of Plum using the same paint/retarder mix. Be sure to vary the size, shape, and placement of the splotches.

Once the paint has dried, I decided that I want my pigmentation to be under the top layer of the skin. This gives a more natural look to the skin and protects the paint from getting damaged in transit. A layer of Translucent Liquid Sculpy is smeared on with my finger.

In this photo I am trying to show that the Translucent Liquid Sculpy is a thicker coat. If you get too thick the TLS will become cloudy-white which works for some effects but not this one.

The TLS is cured with the heat gun.

In this close-up you can see the dividing line between the painted area covered with TLS ( it has a slightly more brown look to it than the painted area. The Blush base is also toned down a little as you look through the layer of TLS. In person, it has a very cool look to it as you can see the paint is under the top layer of skin.
This makes great monster skin as well as really old people.
Hope you have enjoyed the tutorial. Next time I will do a little lesson on superheating just for my good friend Betty Lou in Naperville.
Have a great day!

CELEBRATION!

2011-06-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

WHO IS THAT CRAZY MAN ON THE BARN ROOF?
Its Mark- he has totally lost it!
We have reached 1,000 "likes" on Facebook! To celebrate we are offering ONE reduced class fee to our July Class. Regular fee is $900.00 - this one spot will be offered for $400.00 as our way of saying "thank you " to our friends in the sculpting community.
The chosen recipient will need to be able to arrive at Baltimore/Washington International Airport by 5:00 PM on Tuesday July 12. A Limo will bring him or her to our studio in Lancaster County, PA. All housing, meals, materials, and instruction will be covered in this one time price offer.
He or she will be returned to BWI by 11:00 Am on Saturday, July 16 in time for an afternoon flight home.

Anyone interested in this offer can email Mark at www.madsculptor@verizon.net by 12 Midnight (Eastern Standard Time- US) on June 12, 2011. ONE student will be randomly selected (names in a hat sort of randomly selected) and notified on June 13, 2011 (MY 50th Birthday!)

Painting

2011-06-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

The tentacles are finished on the demon so last night I sat down and had a painting party. I wanted to have a mottled skin look so I used three washes: "Blush" which is the same color as the clay. "Adobe Red", and "Plum" which is purple. Each used a formula of 2 parts retarder to 1 part acrylic paint. They were applied with a mop brush.
1. The entire figure was wet-down with the blush wash.
2. The Red wash was stippled into the first wash.
3. I kept going back and forth with these stippling them until I had a mottled surface.
4. The plum color was stippled into the surface sparingly.
5. More layers of the blush wash were then added as needed to tone down the plumb.
6. Spots were added to the back, tentacles, and face using plum and blush.

The extender makes the plum colored spots more translucent so the underlying skin shows better.

Once the paint dried, the entire figure was covered with Translucent Liquid Sculpy and cured with the heat gun so the skin has a see-through layer on top of the painting. The final step is to cover the tentacles with Sculpy Glaze which is allowed to puddle and will harden as drips on the tentacles.
The child is done with an Adobe Red and retarder wash, drybrush accents of Adode Red on the cheeks, nose, etc., and some shadowing around the eyes.

They will dry the rest of the day then on to costuming.
I would be happy to recreate the paint job with pictures if anyone out there asks.
Have a great day!
Mark

Tentacles!

2011-05-25T09:52:00.001-04:00

Back to work now! When last we met, we had completed the child and the bulk of the demon. Let us join our sculpting project already in progress as we create tentacles for our critter.

First we need to find a clay mix which lets the tentacles flex but uses a small amount of Bake and Bend clay (B&B clay is in very small packets so I need more to sculpt all the tentacles) I start with the pure B&B clay; on the left, and mix different ratios of bendable clay and ProSculpt until I have the sample on the right which is a ratio of 12 parts ProSculpt to 1 part bendable.

You can see how flexible the pure B&B clay is.

This is the 12:1 ratio sample which is still very flexible. This is the mix I decide to use for the project so I mix up a big batch and leech some of the oil out by placing it between sheets of printer paper for an hour.

The armature is prepared by adding 18gauge aluminum wire to the support rod for each tentacle.

Cut a few strips of clay off the sheet of leeched clay and roll them into tapered tentacles. The tentacle is a round tube with a flattened bottom which will get suckers attached to the flat area. The tentacle slides onto the wire before attaching the suckers.

Another tube of clay is rolled out in a much smaller size which will become the suckers on the tentacles. Small pieces are cut off the tube for each sucker. the taper on the tube will let you start with small suckers at the tip of the tentacle and work your way to larger tentacles as you move to the thicker section of the tube.

The balls of clay are attached to the tentacle in two rows.

The sides of each sucker are seamed onto the tentacle.

The centers of the suckers need not be seamed to the tentacle. Here are the suckers ready to detail.

A ball stylus is used to indent the center of the sucker.

The left row of suckers has the centers indented. The lower tentacle shows the completed suckers.
Next time we will finish the tentacles and do the final fit to the demon body.
Have a great day!
Mark

Time Out

2011-05-23T09:26:00.000-04:00

Hi all! Taking a much needed break after getting dolls done for the show, the show in Philly, and a visit with two of the greatest artists out there. Taking a day or two to clean up the property after all the rain and high winds.
Here is a little "promise of good days to come". We will get back to the demon/child on Tuesday!

White Rabbit

2011-05-21T06:43:00.000-04:00

Hi there! Well, we all survived the show in Philly last week. Got to meet some great artists there: Sprite, and Linda to name two! Had a continuation of the party after that as Kelly and I got to host Maryanne Oldenburg and Diane Keeler at our home for a few days after the show. Love to rub elbows with the who's who of doll making! We had a great time sculpting in the studio for a few days and the three of us batted around ideas for this little guy while we worked on (of all things) dragons. Go figure!
So here is the White Rabbit to go with the Alice set. Look for the complete set at The Toy Shoppe!

A special thanks to Greg O. for being the inspiration for this!

I'll get back to the child and the demon this coming week. Have a great day!

Mark

Finished!

2011-05-11T17:14:00.000-04:00

Here is the finished set. Thanks for looking.

This is the other set I was able to work on. Did not get the white rabbit done. Oh well!
Have a great week! Hope to see some of you in Philly.
Mark

Scarecrow

2011-05-09T17:38:00.001-04:00

Finished this guy. Now to get a presentation ready for the show.

Last Big Push!

2011-05-09T07:56:00.000-04:00

Working as many hours as I can the past few days to get sculptures finished for the Philly show this week.

Finished the Lion yesterday.

Will post the Scarecrow tomorrow. Hope to post the completed set as well so you can see how they all get along. Have a great day!

TINNED MAN

2011-05-05T07:28:00.002-04:00

*** Special announcement, to all my friends from facebook: My login will no longer work so I have no access to Facebook. Therefore, I will no longer be posting there. If you find me and want to communicate, you will need to email me. Sorry!

Finished this guy last night. Hope he will be received well at the Philly show this month.

All the "metal' is sculpted polymer clay. The costume is silk with an applied trim and leather belt. His boot is leather as well. I will post images of the lion when he is completed. Hope to get on the Scarecrow this weekend.

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

SORRY!

2011-04-30T08:48:00.000-04:00

Hi, just a quick update to those following our "demon" sculpt. Had to take some time off to get sculptures finished for the Doll and Teddy Bear Artist & Collector Convention in Philly next month. Attempting to get two sets of figures finished: my OZ pieces and Alice in Wonderland set. Here is the Wizard from the oz set.

I am working off the Wicked book for my concept. Adding a touch of steam-punk, a bit of fantasy, and maybe something good will come out of the studio.

Yesterday's sculpt of the lion. Off to the oven for him.

Hope you all have a great day, and that some of us will meet in Philly on May 12-14.
Mark

Child Limbs

2011-04-21T10:12:00.000-04:00

Lets look at the proportions for the limbs before we go on.
LEGS- to get a simple measurement and location for the knee, use the head height from the crotch to the knee (number 4 on the drawing). Keep in mind that the upper leg extends past the crotch to the hip joint or a measurement of 1-1/4 heads in this case. The lower part of the leg is the same length of 1-1/4 heads to the ankle joint. The ankle to bottom of the foot is going to vary but should be about 1/8th of a head high.
ARMS- For most figures, the following rules apply: the shoulder joint is located at the end of the collarbone. This is the start of the upper arm. The shoulder muscle (deltoids) will make the shoulder slightly higher than the joint.
The elbow hits the space between the ribcage and the hipbone (pelvis) on the side of the body. On the drawing this is shown by the two faint lines on the side; the downward arching one is the bottom of the ribcage, the upward arc is the top of the pelvis. Use that same measurement from the shoulder joint to the elbow as the measurement from the elbow to the wrist.
!!!!NOW, take all the proportions and rules I have laid out and disregard them!!!!
Every person I have met has a slight variation to the length of the toros, legs, and arms. You must adjust the "rules" to create a body which pleases you. BE AN ARTIST! Experiment with the form and make art which is beautiful to you. I give you permission to ignore all the rules for the sake of your artwork!

Having said that, lets take a quick look at how to manipulate the clay into some kind of humanoid limbs.

Condition your clay and press it onto the armature. Add a little more clay than you need.

This is not the pretty stage, just get the warm clay on the wire without air bubbles under it.
Use a very sharp knife to cut the profiles of the limbs. A dull knife will rip the clay and leave white marks in your finished surface.

Let the clay cool before you do your final shaping and smoothing or you will be pushing hot clay off the armature as you attempt to finish the sculpture. Work back and forth from limb to limb to let the clay cool as you finish them.

Have a great day!
Mark

Sculpting the Wee child

2011-04-19T10:37:00.000-04:00

Back to our little creation now that anyone following along has had time to make an armature; I hope. Once again, I am sorry for the quality of the images. One camera won't focus all the time and the other stopped working. I am sending them one at a time for repairs as the funds allow.

When last we met on these pages we completed our armature for the child in our story of the psyche (not sure if it be human or monster psyche).

As you can tell, the little child is in motion- notice the figure is blurry...motion, get it?
What can I say, one of those days again. Meds time yet?
So, condition a ball of clay and apply it to the torso of the armature. We want as uniform a layer of clay (about 1/4- 3/8 inch thick) as we can get. Be sure to press out any air which may be trapped between the clay and the armature. Let the clay run onto the upper legs and arms as well so the transition from torso to limbs can be sculpted easier.

Once the torso has an even layer of clay, lay out the center line of the body from the neck to the crotch being sure to follow any slight twist of the body.
Keep in mind that my wee one is moving (skipping, running, whatever) so the hips will be tilted from side to side as the center of balance is shifted during the raising of the leg. The torso also twists slightly as the lifted leg is brought forward. Skipping and running use two different approaches to hip movement. While running, the hips should remain almost level to conserve energy as the trailing leg is brought forward. The result is that the hip drops slightly on the trailing leg. If you look at my skipping child, you notice the trailing hip is higher. Skipping requires that the person hop forward so the trailing hip is raised so the center of balance is positioned over the planted foot. The waist will then bend to shift the ribcage over the hips to attempt to keep the core of the torso centered so the body will not fall over.
The main body mass markers of collarbone, ribcage, and pelvis are laid in at this time as well. (1 head height from collarbone to bottom of sternum, 1 head height from sternum to bottom of crotch for our child)

The back gets laid out as well following the twist or tilt of the waist and hips.

Side view; just in case you had not figured this out yet.

Basic sculpting is done to the torso. Notice the smaller ribcage, swell of the tummy and rather straight sides from armpit to hip. If you are really observant, you will notice that I have added some clay to the neck and stuck the head on as well.At this time our child is neither male nor female so there is not genitalia.

Torso from the back.

And the side.
We will do a little on the arms, legs, and fitting the demon support rod into the support tube when next we meet. Okay, your turn. Catch up!
Have a splendid day!
Moi!

Head (or other parts)Cracking Issues

2011-04-17T10:26:00.000-04:00

In a previous posts, Fran asked about getting cracks in the finished head. After about 300 figures now, I have found that it is important to keep your clay covered with plastic after sculpting the face; or the rest of the figure for that matter. Polymer clay loses oils as it sits out in the open. The longer it sits around, the more crumbly and cracked the clay will become. I use a polymer clay skull under my faces which sucks even more oils out of the clay if it sits around too long.

This head was sculpted then sat in a sealed baggie for about a month before curing. The entire backside of the head is covered in a pattern of cracks. In most cases, I would throw this out but the piece I am working on is going to be a bit dirty and unusual (for me anyway) so I can use the head with a few repairs. In fact, I want to give his face a scar so this will be fine to repair and use.

The first step is to remove the square edges on the sides of the cracks by using a sharp blade to bevel each side.

A very thin coat of Liquid Sculpy is brushed into the crack and onto the surface of the head. This product puffs up as it cures so if you put too much in, the repair will rise above the surface of the skin and look like a raised scar. (Good to know if you want scars)

The cracks are filled with clay.

The surface of the repair is blended into the surface of the head. The finished repair is cured with a heat gun.

The repaired head is attached to the body I made last night and is ready to go into the oven to cure.
The repair will show but they can be covered well with washes of color. This head was sculpted out of ProSculpt Caucasian clay and repaired with ProSculpt Baby clay so there will always be a difference in the color. Again, for this piece it will only add to the feel of the finished piece but for a pretty lady, I would start from scratch.

Generally, I prefer to sculpt a piece on the first day then let it sit overnight under a plastic bag to keep the oils in and the dog hair out. The second day I make changes to the piece and cure in the oven. This way my clay does not start to dry out so I help to minimize the chance of cracks.
Hope this helps. Have a great day!
Mark

Child Armature

2011-04-14T08:07:00.000-04:00

Now that I have the two heads made in proper proportion to each other, I can made the armature.

We want start with a 5/32 brass tube which will be the outside of the support for the entire load-bearing portion of the sculpture. This tube runs from inside the base to the shoulder where the rod for the demon will insert into it.
Using my proportion chart with the armature drawn on it, I mark the bends on the tube and cut it off at the proper length on the bottom.

Inside this tube will be a brass support rod to stiffen the tubing and act as s top for the demon support rod. The support rod is cut about 3/4" shorter than the tube so the demon support rod can insert into the top of the tube by about 3/4".
This rod is a brass alloy welding rod which fits snugly inside the tube. Welding rods can be found at most home centers, or welding or farm supply stores.

The rod is inserted into the tube and together they are bent to match the profile of the drawn armature.

Here is the support tube/rod with another short length of 3/16 tubing over the bottom 1/2" so it will fit into my work base.

Using my demon drawing as my guide, I bend another length of the welding rod for the demon support.

This is the demon support placed into the tube/rod assembly.

For now I will cut a 5/32 tube to length which fits into the hole in the demon skull and slides down over the support rod so I can see the height of the finished piece as I sculpt.

This is the basic support system for the sculpture. The two body armatures will attach to the 5/32 tubing.

I now take a 14 gauge wire and bend it to create the torso and leg part of my child's body armature.

Another 14G wire is bent for the torso, shoulder, arm section of the armature.

The lower portion of the armature is attached with foil tape. You can solder these together to the tube if you want but the tape works just as well.

The torso portion of the upper body armature is overlapped on the lower section of armature and they are taped together as well. A short wire is inserted into the taped area to act as the neck.
Notice that the armature is attached in front of the demon support rod coming out of the shoulder so the rod can re pulled straight up and out of the tube.

The armature from the front shows how the child's body is tilted to give the feeling of movement to the figure.

The armature is padded slightly with foil to bulk out the figure. We want about 1/4" of clay at any point on the finished figure.

The entire armature is wrapped in masking tape to keep oxidation from the wire, foil, and tubing from getting into the clay.

The finished child armature is ready to add clay...next time.
Sorry for the bad photos lately but my good camera needs to be repaired and I am using my old camera with focus issues.
Have a great day!
Mark

Child face

2011-04-13T08:35:00.000-04:00

Before I work on the armature for the set of figures, I want to get my child's face roughed in as well to be sure my finished sizes of child and demon will work together.
Once again I will start with a smaller skull than my normal 12" figure uses and cut down the lower jaw to make it more child-like.

The child's skull is on the right. Notice the smaller lower jaw and increased cranium.

The child's face follows the same steps as the demon.
Add a layer of clay to the forehead.

Cover the sides of the face with conditioned clay keeping the nose area thinner than the cheeks.

Wrap any extra clay around the bottom of the jaw.

A small pyramid-shaped piece of clay is added to the nose area and seamed into the facial plane.
The mouth indent is made below the nose.

On the child's face, the eyes are located about halfway down the face from the top of the head. The nose and mouth separate the lower half of the face from the eyes to the chin into thirds.

This is all the detailing we need for now. More will follow as the figure progresses and tells me what the finished face should look like.
Have a great day!
Mark

Demon head

2011-04-11T13:37:00.001-04:00

Now that the rough layout work is done, I like to sculpt the faces next to get the proportion of one figure to the other correct and so I have the character of the sculpture established. The character is important because it will dictate the adjustments I make to the poses as they progress. I find it is helpful to have the finished size of the head before I build the armature.

I start with a ball of clay which I will condition by kneading and rolling in my palms until it is soft and ready to apply to the skull.

The clay ball is pressed into a pancake about 3/16" thick. The clay is properly conditioned if the sides of the pancake do not split as you are pressing the ball.

The clay is laid onto the forehead at the tops of the eyes.

Another pancake of clay is added to each side of the face being careful not to cover the upper lip/nose area with too much clay. The extra clay is worked around the eyeball. Applying the clay in sheets like this will let your final face follow the topography of the underlying skull so you have less work to do to make it look natural.

The clay is applied to the rest of the face. Notice how the covered face looks like the starting skull.

This critter is slightly on the larger side so I add a layer of clay around the outsides of the face. As we gain weight, the skull stays the same size but a layer of fat builds up under the skin on the extreme outsides and bottom of the face.

The nose is applied and rough shaping starts on the entire face.

The final character of the face is starting to show as folds and bulky areas are stressed in the face. Keep in mind that folds in skin are rounded on all edges. Do not use a sharp tool and just cut "V" shaped notches in your clay for a fold.

The mouth is opened slightly for his thumb. All rough sculpting is done now.

Final skin texture for an old face is done by first adding crisscrossing fine lines over the entire surface of the finished face. These cross in a diamond pattern just like your own skin. Sorry, these are hard to see on this image.

The next step in skin texture is to stipple the skin with a stiff brush. The long fibers of the brush can get into all the nooks and crannies to add pores to the skin. Some areas get stippled harder than others such as the tip of the nose and the beard area for the face since you are dealing with both pores and hair follicles.

The clay for the ears will need to have some more bend to it than my normal clay so I will use Sculpy Bake and Bend clay added to my ProSculpt. This will let the ears take a bit more abuse in shipping. The color match will be off slightly but since he will be stained with washes, I can adjust the final color just fine. I have used a mix of 15 parts white, 4 parts, yellow, and 1 part red. This is blended into a pinkish mix then mixed 1:1 with ProSculpt Baby clay. The mix will take repeated bending now.
The ears are roughed in before attaching to the head.

Ears are seamed into the head being sure that they are well attached.
Teeth are added using a 1:1 mix of white and translucent polymer clays.

The horns are just straight white Bake and Bend clay so they will not break in the future. They are shaped and detailed before securing into the head clay.

The finished head. You can see the crisscrossing and stippling in this image rather well. Also notice the slightly more pink coloring to the ears.
We will sculpt the child's head next time.
Have a great day!
Mark

"Demon" Prep Work

2011-04-09T09:54:00.001-04:00

** Please remember that you are welcome to sculpt along but please alter your sculture so we are all making something unique. Thank you!

Lets look at scale, proportion, and the armature layout today.

I want to use an eight year old child for this sculpture. the best way to find proportions for any age is to use an actual model. I have taken a photo of an eight year old child, and measured the lengths of the body parts then adjusted to a simple proportion chart which I can use for my own sculptures.
Using the head as my measurement, the torso is three heads high from crown to crotch. (1 head to chin, 2 heads to bottom of sternum, 3 heads to front of crotch - backside is slightly lower) The knee is one head down from the crotch however, keep in mind that the length of the upper leg is actually from the hip joint (see + sign) to the knee which is about 1.25 head height. The lower leg is also 1.25 head height from knee to ankle. Please note that this is a guide line I have established for myself from actual people. You may like a different set of proportions so go for it!

Now that I have a proportion chart for the child, I need to decide what size he will be. I draw a few different sized figures and come up with the one on the left as my choice. He or she will be about 6" tall. Smaller = cute. This sketch is the actual size of my finished piece.
I will start this sculpt with a face so first I need a skull. The skull on the left is my standard adult skull. The one on the right has been altered for a child's head. The upper part of the skull is made slightly larger so the eyes sit about halfway down the face.The sides and bottom of the jaw are cut down so the lower jaw is smaller. The eyes are the same size bead so they will look bigger in the small face. Big eyes =cute.

The changes to the adult skull from the side. Note the larger cranium and smaller jaw as you compare the two skulls.
For details on creating a skull, please see my earlier post on sculpting the skull.

Here I have drawn my demon to the relative size I want for my finished piece. I want him larger than my child but not too over-powering. Also keep in mind the weight of the finished demon needs to be supported by one thin rod.

Once I have the final size of the demon, I can make his skull as well.

His skull is simply a variation of the basic adult skull which I use for most of my sculptures. I have added more clay to the eyebrow, the cheeks, and the jaw.

The lower jaw has clay added to the front to create an under-bite. It also has two sockets created so his fangs will fit into the jaw when done.

The skull sized to the demon.

I use a very rough sketch to layout the load-bearing parts of the sculpture. This lets me simplify the sculpture into just the basics needed to support the weight of the demon and transfer the stress into the base.

Now I can transfer my rough armature ideas into an actual armature layout on my sketch.
The body of the figure will be supported by my simple 14gauge wire armature (blue). The body will separate at the waist with the Octopus part of the figure staying attached to the support rod (red) to make shipping easier. The tentacles will be made of flexible clay over 18 gauge aluminum wires which will be attached to the rod.
This rod will insert into a brass tubing socket in the child's armature and into a brass tubing socket in the waist of the figure.

The child will be built in a similar manner: the body is supported by a simple 14G wire armature (blue), the lower leg and spine will have a solid rod running from the shoulder to the base (red), and the shoulder will have a socket connected to the lower rod into which the demon's support rod will insert.

I hope I have explained the design well so far. Next time we will start making the armature. Please feel free to email me with photos and questions if you need help (madsculptor@verizon.net). I will post again on Monday so you have time to design and layout your armatures before we continue. If you need more time, let me know and we will attempt to adjust to the majority of those following along.

Have a great day!

Mark

HERE WE GO!

2011-04-08T09:00:00.002-04:00

Well, only got 19 responses from 300+ followers so we will use some of those ideas for the next sculpture. Thanks to those who suggested things; some a bit odd, some intriguing.
Here it is:

This is my design for a piece I like to call "Exercise Your Demon". It shows that most scary things seem silly when taken out into the open. (Homage to my wife the psychotherapist)
So here is what we will be addressing from your list of wants:
1. A small child in action (we will look at the proportions of the child). We will also cover putting clothes on a full figure sculpt.
2. An armature for a more complex set of figures where the largest figure seems to have little support.
3. More expressive faces.
4. A hybrid creature- in this case a sumo wrestler and an octopus.
5. Tentacles and how to get them to not break for shipping.
6. Sculpting a "nightmare".
7. Maybe we can add a tattoo to the critter just because you asked so nicely.

Sorry that we won't be getting to the Equine hybrid for those who asked. Good idea, maybe later this year.
This is the rough design. Hopefully the final piece will flow a little better. I definitely do better with sculpture than I do sketches.
We will start next time with laying out and creating the armature for this piece.
Have a great day!
Mark

Adding interest to the basic sculpt.

2011-03-30T10:40:00.001-04:00

As I look at these figures, I realize just how boring they are. So lets look at a few ways to make them a bit more interesting now that they are fully sculpted and the damage is done.

Here they are, the basic figures which looked so good to me as I was creating them now look so plain. As the dressing is finished, you will notice that the pictures make his neck and arm look longer. Part of this is the camera and part of this is just that I made him a little long.

Sorry, bad picture. To start the process of adding more interest, I want to age the clothing slightly. The right leg has been sanded to add wear spots to the folds of the leather pants and worn spots on the shoes. The left leg is still brand new.

A wash of Raw Umber and Retarder/Extender is used to add "dirt" to the pants and boots. this is only on the left side right now to show contrast. The Raw Umber mix is worked into the creases and folds to add shadow and accumulated dirt to the seams. Once they are dry, I will sand the high spots again and touch up with the wash in a series of layers until the clothing has a used look.

Before I proceed, let explain the thought process here. I want to add interest to the piece while shifting focus from the issues I see in the figures; namely the seemingly long neck and arm of the male. I thought about just adding a collar to the shirt but the piece was still boring so I came up with the idea of using a cape. I don't want to cover her with a cape as well so my thought is to use his cape to encircle her as a form of protection from a sudden spring rain. The cape flowing in the wind with a bit of rain or sleet would add some interest to the piece and allow me to shift the eye away from the issues I see.

The cape is made of a coarse cotton fabric from a pair of worn pants. I have sewn a hood onto the top and added a very roughly sewn hem with a pocket on the edge.

The cape is roughed up with a coarse sanding pad to add wear to the fold and hem.

The same Umber wash is used to dirty the hemline.

Finally, a wire is inserted into the pocket of the hem.

The finished cloak can now be posed around the figures.

The figures are separated and the robe is pinned in place so I can figure out how to get the figures back together with the robe on and so I can shape the folds as I want.

I work my way around the piece making adjustments as I go.

The female is put in place and the posing of the cloth continues.

Now, I have the pose so I start gluing parts of the cloak together and pinning and clamping them until the glue sets.

The finished pose of the cloak.

And from the rear.

The last step is to add some sleet/rain to the figures. I want the start of a spring shower so I used Gallery Glass and a tooth brush to spatter the figures from behind and above the male. This image shows the heavier deposit of "rain" on the cloak where his head and her arm (under the cloth) keep the cloak in place. This is where the rain will soak in first rather than the entire cloak. Her face and hair also get slightly spattered with the Gallery Glass so she ends up with beads of rain in her hair.

If you look closely, you can see the pattern of wet spots on the silk dress where it is not sheltered by his cloak.

The cloak hugs his figure as the wind whips it around them both.

Thanks for joining me today.
Have a great day.
Mark

Dressed male

2011-03-29T10:12:00.000-04:00

Took some time last night to dress the male figure.

He has a silk shirt, leather pants and shoes.
Last bit of work will be to age the materials a bit and add any accessories.
Thanks for looking, have a great day.

Two figure sculpt update

2011-03-28T09:30:00.001-04:00

Sorry for not getting to post as often as I would like. Hope to get back to sculpting and posting more in the near future. In the mean time, here is the ongoing work on the basic sculpts.

She has been dressed in a roman styled garment which is modeled after one from the movie King Arthur.
The dress is recycled silk with and edging that has small eyelets sewn into it.

The empire waist is accented with a length of ornamental trim which is slipped through a pewter buckle. The ends are finished in red wooden and white and blue mottled glass beads.

The back has a set of panels sewn in to add fullness. They are a little flattened right now but will be fluffed a bit once he is in place.

Here is a close up of the finished face and details.

The shoulder ties are made from two metal head pins which are interlocked and hooked through an eyelet at the shoulder seam of the dress.

More on the male next time. Have a great day!
Mark

Update: simple armaturen in use (contains artistic nudity)

2011-03-21T16:59:00.000-04:00

I had a few folks ask about seeing updates on this piece so here they are painted and with hair and eyes.

Enough about the simple armature already1

2011-03-20T09:09:00.000-04:00

Working on these two figures and decided that I would put them on the blog as an example of using the simple armature.

Each of these figures uses the simple wire armature laid out in previous blogs. The armatures have tubes on the wire in the legs only.

The wires in the arms stop just inside the palm of the hand so the figures can be separated from each other.

Once the figures were sculpted as separate pieces, they were lightly dusted with baby powder so they could be worked together without the clay fusing them to each other.

The hands were added after the figures were intertwined.

His arm has been raised to her elbow, I'll show you that later.

Have a great day!

Motion (physics), any movement or change in position or place

2011-03-14T10:58:00.000-04:00

Before we move onto more complex and time consuming armatures I though we should look at what we can do with the basic armature. Most of us will never need to use another more difficult armature than the basic armature we covered in past blogs.
Lets take a look then at how we can use that armature and still get some interesting results.
All of these design concepts come back to adding movement to our work in order to bring the piece to life for our viewers.

IDEA ONE: Contrapposto is an Italian term used to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This gives the figure a more dynamic pose and makes the viewer want to follow the spiral of the body to look around the piece. In this way you engage the viewer and encourage them to study the flow of the piece more closely. "Madonna of the Fields"
In this case the weight of the figure is shifted to one foot, the torso has a slight twist to it which is exaggerated by the flow of the clothing. The hips and shoulders are slightly twisted out of alignment with each other and the head is turned as if she is looking away. The general flow of the piece is a spiral which (I hope) makes the viewer want to follow the curve around the figure.The result is a relaxed, natural pose. In this way, we can add movement to a figure even if it is standing perfectly still.

IDEA TWO: Tension (physics), a force related to the stretching of an object (the opposite of compression)
This concept is exaggerated in the following example:
"Reaching for a Dream" uses the same principle of contrapposto but creates more drama and movement by adding tension to the form. Notice how the body twists in the fore-mentioned spiral by the slight shift of the shoulders and hips out of alignment with each other but adds the arch to the back and the off-centered stretching of the body. Again, this is a simple standing figure but adding contrapposto and tension to the form give us movement.

IDEA THREE: Push the figure off balance. Even a static figure like this one of "Sweeney" can be made more interesting by pushing him off balance. In this case the figure leans forward while his razor holding hand is pulled back as if he is getting ready to swing his arm in a forward arc.You will notice the contrapposto of the body and the outstretched arm adds tension.

These same ideas can be applied to kneeling figures.

And ultimately applied to the most complex figure groupings.
I hope you find this information helpful or at least thought provoking.
Have a great day!
Mark

Working with tubing and wire

2011-03-08T09:47:00.001-05:00

Some good questions have been asked about working with the brass tubing and wire so lets take a few moments to go over these before moving on.

I use 14 gauge galvanized wire; have done so for about 300 figures now with no issues of which I am aware. The 14g wire is rather sturdy on its own so smaller figures need no more support.
To bend the wire, it is best to use a pair of pliers. Grab the wire and turn your wrist to bend while pushing the wire against your free hand. If you have hand issues, grab the wire and bend while pushing against a firm surface.

This will give you a nice sharp bend.

For more support you can add a brass tube over the wire. the wire supports the tube's interior wall to help keep the tubing from folding and breaking.

For legs, the tubes are pushed all the way to the bend in the wire (this will end up in the upper chest).

The tubing is bent in the same manner as the wire being careful not to bend so far that you need to bend back to correct your bend. If you bend back, the tubing will likely crack and break.

Again, support the tube with your hand or a firm surface as you bend at the side of the pliers.

For the hip we want to bend at about a 45 degree angle from the upper wire.

The same process is used to bend the hip back to form the actual hip joint.

To bend beyond a 90 degree elbow, do a series of bends which are very close together. this will keep the tubing from folding and breaking.

In this manner, you can get tighter bends. The example shows the two bends with a space between then. As you bend, you can get them closer so you have a very tight bend for an elbow or knee.

The arch in the back can be bent in the same multi-bend manner. Use the pliers to support the point where you want to bend then push against a firm surface to bend the tubes and wires as needed.

Continue up the "spine" of the armature making a series of small bends to recreate the curve in the human spine.

The finished lower armature has the correct bend for a spine with the hips spread apart ready to add padding.

A former student and good friend asked about an armature for holding an object; in her case it was a guitar. I like to add a series of control joints to the clay before curing if I know that the figure may need slight adjustment or "give" after curing and the clothing will cover these joints. Here I have taken a knife and cut the clay down to the wire armature at the shoulders and on one elbow. This lets the arm be reposed slightly at the end of dressing the figure.

Cuts from the rear.

A finished piece with control joints cut into the clay so the musical instrument can be eased into his hands without looking odd.
hope to see you next time, keep the questions coming and have a great day!