Clay modelling and glass sculptures...

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SO, I have been absent from this forum for abosolutely ages and, upon realising this, have decided to get stuck back into the communtiy and the challenges etc. etc.

I suppose I was given the extra kick up the arse to start posting and sharing again by being introduced to Paul Foxton's site, Learning to See (http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/) which is just amazing as a resource for artists just as CA here is and so I want to take part in all of that again... Enough talking - or at least typing - and on with the work.

These are some of my studies and models for final pieces (I am a glass artist so lots of my clay modelling forms the basis for cast glass works) and I want to share them with you all to get some feedback and - maybe - even provide some inspiration. My technique is not perfect and I will be the first to admit that there are faults in most of these pieces and, quite possibly, more that I have not picked-up yet: just like everyone else here I am still learning to sculpt every day, so I would be grateful for all your C&C and will try and reply to any questions anyone may have.

So, here we go...

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Some more views of the first piece. It is a life-sized bust modelled in crank (clay strengthened with grit and grog) and was meant to be an image of a "blind-rage", hence the lack of eyes and only creased sockets.

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Two views of a model used to make glass masks: the character is intended to representsome kind of miserable or corrupted figure, again blinded to thhe world but this time with huge cateracts that cover the eyes.

[dreamsorcerer]

Hey Master. Apocolpse Dude,

I remember seeing you a round a while ago so welcome back :) and you've certainly made an entrance with this piece. Normally with pictures that are dark and blurry, it can be difficult to make out the craftmanship of a sculpt. But in this case, it just adds to it! The first and third pictures look realistic and very well done. The lack of lighting in the pictures makes in creepy and natural looking. Thanks for sharing!

Best wishes,

Kenny.

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Hey, dreamsorcerer, thanks for the positive response; I definitely prefer the more atmospheric lighting myself too - I think you can do so much to add to a sculpt with the right lighting, especially for beauty shots. In this case, I think the model is a little wooden in terms of its exprssion and full lighting shows this up. Hopefully, with a few more practice runs I should have the expression down for the next piece.

I had a look on your site and the detail in your sculpey works is amazing; the metal armour on your minotaur was especially impressive and i was wondering how you went about fashioning the individual pieces.

In other news, here are the glass casts I made from the mask model above. As I said, it is meant to be a corrupted or miserable character, so I went for a slightly decayed look in the form and colour of the glass. I'd be interested to see what people think of the way the piece has changed by being recreated in glass.

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Time to get a bit more clay onto this thread, seeing as I have a title to live up to.

This is "Old Boots", a character who was described in a old issue of the Dalesman (a Yorkshire magazine) as being somewhat of a local hero in a small town called Rippon. Old Boots was a toothless old shoe-shiner who, due to his hooked nose and equally hooked chin, was reputed to have been able to grip a shilling between the two as his party trick. Whether or not any of this is true I don't know, but I heard the sotry and decided to sculpt my vision of the old boy.

Just standard grey water clay here and leaving the finish at the rough raked stage. I really enjoy the texture this gives but I want to move on to more finely detailed pieces in future to push that realism, at least where it is needed.

C&C all welcome.

[Bongsplat]

I love the Old Boots character, His expression is fantastic, I like the way you work the faces on all these pieces,they all look very natural and believable:)

Cant wait to see more

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Bongsplat; Thank you for the comments, I'm really glad that my work has given you some enjoyment. Old Boots was really fun to make for me too, as I do not do much fantastical / stylised character work and the change was refreshing.

[KingUnicorn]

Yeah, the Old Boots character is terrific. I love people with interesting faces. There are so many possibilities to explore and challenges to overcome with a portrait that's not the norm.

I'm interested in learning more about your process for creating the glass piece. I think that will help focus my response to the sculpture.

Cheers!

~KU

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KingUnicorn: Thanks for the kind words, it really means a lot that people enjoy some of my work. I definitely agree with you on the excitement of working with unusualty or slightly stylised portraits; there is a great challenge in exaggerating features to get the feeling you want whilst still creating pieces that feel believable and, most importantly, real. I would love to do more of this kind of thing in the future.

As you asked, I put together a quick guide to my process for these pieces. For anyone who has mouldmaking experience, there are a lot of similarities with the refractory moulds I use. This is quite a simple setup and doesn't involve any vents etc. in the moulds but hopefully it will be of some interest in showing how I arrive at the final pieces. If you want to know any more, please don't hesitate to ask.


All the best.

[Huraxdax]

Wow, you really need to fire these for A FEW DAYS?
Sounds a bit out of frame to me like, thats a whole tree you burn and such.
But would be just the same with clay, wouldn't it?
And on the other hand, i work in polymer-clay mostly and that's surely not ecological either.
Hm.
I stupid?

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First time anyone has ever pulled me up on the ecological side of all this Huraxdax: you're right, I have probably blasted the hell out of half the Amazon rainforests by now, but joking aside, the firings do consume a lot of energy so it's a matter of streamlining your process so everything is as fast as possible to save money and, of course, the environment. In answer to your question, it can take weeks, not just days, to fire some pieces (nothing I've every done though), so clay definitely works out as more eco-friendly in the long run.

[Huraxdax]

Really? Crazy stuff, interesting though technique-wise!

Work's great btw, thanks alot!

greets,

matthias