Some of my sculpture
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Thankyou 
In this case , I made the mold and cast the wax, did the gating etc and made the
ceramic shell. The foundry allowed me to use their facilities. Then they poured the bronze
After which, I did some chasing and chose the patina.
But they do the whole process usually. I was lucky that they let me do most of it
-it was much cheaper !!
Currently ,with "Starseeker" , I'm refining the design in wax, then I'll make a mold.
I'm doing this at home- I've set up a sculpture area in our basement
Cheers,
Patricia
In this case , I made the mold and cast the wax, did the gating etc and made the
ceramic shell. The foundry allowed me to use their facilities. Then they poured the bronze
After which, I did some chasing and chose the patina.
But they do the whole process usually. I was lucky that they let me do most of it
-it was much cheaper !!
Currently ,with "Starseeker" , I'm refining the design in wax, then I'll make a mold.
I'm doing this at home- I've set up a sculpture area in our basement
Cheers,
Patricia
Last edited:
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No , I use silicone. I use plaster for the 'mother mold'. I've done
some quick castings using hydrocal, when I wanted a tough casting that
I could experiment with using various finishes. I also
have some very old 'Forton MG for casting and the bronze powder
that goes with it. I've got a shelf full of experiments that I've done with that !
All the molding, casting and wax and epoxy materials are improving every day !
some quick castings using hydrocal, when I wanted a tough casting that
I could experiment with using various finishes. I also
have some very old 'Forton MG for casting and the bronze powder
that goes with it. I've got a shelf full of experiments that I've done with that !
All the molding, casting and wax and epoxy materials are improving every day !
Hermes2020
Well-known member
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Thank you for sharing the technical details. Bronze casting is on my list of things to do when I stop mucking about with concrete.
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I use water-based earthenware clay. I find it much easier to work with
than oil based clay . Many different techniques can be used eg: brushing with water,
adding 'grog' to give it strength to hold it's shape etc. The downside is - it must be
kept wet or it will dry out and crack .
I usually spray the sculpture with a fine mist of water and wrap it in plastic kitchen wrap
when I've finished working on it for the day and I always have a layer of plastic under the
sculpture.
It comes in 2 colours , white and terra cotta. For sculpture, I prefer the white - it is
much easier to see the details than with the terra cotta.
If I was going to fire the sculpture, then I would use terra cotta - it's lovely to look at.
But I don't fire it - I make the sculpture then make a mold of it and cast it [hopefully in bronze]
but I've also used 'ciment fondu -high alumina cement , Forton MG etc
I did actually fire one of my sculptures years ago, it went off with an almighty bang in the
kiln and I was left with hundreds of little pieces !!
Cheers,
Patricia
musket
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My sweetie does relief work in clay, and has cast a few pieces in hydrocal (urethane mold). But she hasn't had much luck with water-based clay so far. She uses Chavant professional plastilina. It creates extra probs for her because it's not sulphur free, but she likes the way it handles.
I occasionally made clay macquettes just to work out problems before going to the wood. I did a life-size head of the otter that way, and also a rough of the little kingfisher. But always oil based, and very hard. Chavant J525 industrial styling clay, or Roma #4 plastilina. Really the same thing as carving. Additive work like my sweetie does baffles me. She's getting better at subtractive, but I'm a total klutz with additive, especially in soft clay. Get one thing okay and invariably I smush something else.
If you're thinking about using gold leaf on clay, it'll certainly work with porcelain. Anything else, no clue, but it will have to be very fine grained.
Anyway, truly fine work.
I occasionally made clay macquettes just to work out problems before going to the wood. I did a life-size head of the otter that way, and also a rough of the little kingfisher. But always oil based, and very hard. Chavant J525 industrial styling clay, or Roma #4 plastilina. Really the same thing as carving. Additive work like my sweetie does baffles me. She's getting better at subtractive, but I'm a total klutz with additive, especially in soft clay. Get one thing okay and invariably I smush something else.
If you're thinking about using gold leaf on clay, it'll certainly work with porcelain. Anything else, no clue, but it will have to be very fine grained.
Anyway, truly fine work.
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Musket
I've found relief work to be the most difficult.
I've just started working with wood [ all my previous work is either clay
[to be cast in bronze etc not fired] or stone [alabaster]
Anyway, I thought I'd try a wood relief - definitely more difficult than working
in the round. I kept on reducing the background until there was almost nothing
left. With subtractive work, once it's gone, it's gone !!
I'm now on my 2nd attempt. I've also done a maquette in clay to work out
the details.
I didn't have much luck with Chavant clay, the one I tried was too hard - I couldn't
push it around with my hands the way I do with water-based clay.
I think there is a sulphur free clay available.
No , I'm I wasn't thinking of putting gold leaf on clay [ I don't fire the clay] - I was
thinking of trying it on the wood relief.
Cheers,
Patricia
I've found relief work to be the most difficult.
I've just started working with wood [ all my previous work is either clay
[to be cast in bronze etc not fired] or stone [alabaster]
Anyway, I thought I'd try a wood relief - definitely more difficult than working
in the round. I kept on reducing the background until there was almost nothing
left. With subtractive work, once it's gone, it's gone !!
I'm now on my 2nd attempt. I've also done a maquette in clay to work out
the details.
I didn't have much luck with Chavant clay, the one I tried was too hard - I couldn't
push it around with my hands the way I do with water-based clay.
I think there is a sulphur free clay available.
No , I'm I wasn't thinking of putting gold leaf on clay [ I don't fire the clay] - I was
thinking of trying it on the wood relief.
Cheers,
Patricia
musket
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Absolutely right on about the difficulty of relief, especially bas-relief. In the round is much easier. I never tried a relief in wood, though I did do a little sort of medallion of a hawk's head in clay--actually, one of the samples Chavant sent me, which happened to be a disc. One of their very hard industrial styling clays. But I wimped out and just did a profile. A three quarter or full front would have been too much for me.
When I look at Saint Gaudens's reliefs, I'm baffled. Even my sweetie's work baffles me, and she doesn't deal with foreshortening.
What kind of wood are you using?
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I'm using basswood. I figure that's a good wood to start with .
Working with wood is completely different from the clay and stone
that I'm used to ! More difficult - what with grain direction , tearing,
chips unexpectedly flying off etc !!
Here's the start of relief attempt #2 !
This is a coyote that was running through our land one day. I took
a ref photo from our kitchen window.
Cheers,
Patricia
musket
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Basswood is indeed best, as long as wear and tear isn't a problem; it being a fairly soft wood. The majority of super fancy woodcarvings by masters like Grinling Gibbons were done in linden, which is essentially the same. It would be helpful if you could get basswood quartersawn, but that's not likely.
Another possibility is shina plywood. Shina is also a variety of linden and is used in Japanese woodblock printing. I have a few small blocks, from back when I was toying with the possibility that my hands would be able to deal with it if I worked small scale and very slowly. It's very fine grained, and a little harder than bass, on average. However, I don't know how it would do for relief, what with the ply separated by very thin glue. If you intend to gild, it will make no diff.
https://www.imcclains.com/catalog/blocks/shina.html
McClain's is a reliable company. Nice people. They'll send you a free sample. Get the 3/8" if you can.
It can take awhile to learn how to deal with cross-grain work. But one thing for sure--your edges must be razor sharp, and you must keep them that way throughout the project.
Another possibility is shina plywood. Shina is also a variety of linden and is used in Japanese woodblock printing. I have a few small blocks, from back when I was toying with the possibility that my hands would be able to deal with it if I worked small scale and very slowly. It's very fine grained, and a little harder than bass, on average. However, I don't know how it would do for relief, what with the ply separated by very thin glue. If you intend to gild, it will make no diff.
https://www.imcclains.com/catalog/blocks/shina.html
McClain's is a reliable company. Nice people. They'll send you a free sample. Get the 3/8" if you can.
It can take awhile to learn how to deal with cross-grain work. But one thing for sure--your edges must be razor sharp, and you must keep them that way throughout the project.
CindyMoonMcKee
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Simply wow!
