The first cast in the dirty bronze finish

Now I have this cast finished with the weathered terracotta finish.

The first cast with no finish applied to it yet  

Seeing how the lion head fits, the 11″ long backing form looks just right to show that nice classic double curve an inch or so on either side of the lion while keeping the whole thing small and compact . I have to see if the boxes of clay I have had sitting around are still useable, but once I start making the clay backing form in the template box it all has to be done quickly, including making the complete rubber mold before the clay starts to shrink, including making the plaster support shell since if the clay shrinks the rubber will move with it, so the shell has…

The template for the lion is done except for attaching the one side piece once I decided how wide the sculpture was going to be, after coming home and measuring the lions head and found it was 9″ wide, I decided on 11″ wide for the backing block, so just like they did the old plaster ceiling moldings this box and template is used the same way but on clay. I have the 1st section of the little mold made, after it hardens I can mold on the next section, it will take 3, maybe 4 pieces. Mold started of my lion mask The mold is done and I made…

Since I have most of the 2 gallon kit of mold rubber left over that needs to be used up, I decided to set up this clay model I did in 2008 after an original polychromed terracotta at the 14th st subway station in Manhattan. A volunteer back then took several photos and obtained measurements for me to work with. The model has been kicking around in the studio, the basement and elsewhere around the house while I decided on how I wanted to do the molds. Originally I was going to do 2 molds, as a one-piece panel, and as thinner tiles in terracotta. For now I’m going to…

Started on the positive mold of my beaver sculpture by bringing the negative mold up from the basement and applying the release agent to it, after I have dinner I’ll be applying the rubber compound. The mold in progress, and just after the 2nd application of rubber started to gel I poured the warm plaster in for the support shell. The heat from the setting plaster will help cure the rubber faster too. To-morrow I can take the negative mold apart and peel that rubber off the new and I’ll have a rubber positive with this plaster support inside it. After filling the cavity with plaster for support And here’s…

I haven’t posted anything here since last July, since there’s been very little happening sculpture wise, plenty of other non-sculpture stuff I’ve been very busy with though. I took a break from doing any further new models since I have a bunch of completed clay models sitting all over and not even one inquiry on any of those, so I have not  made rubber molds of them and have no plans to do so in the foreseeable future. There’s not a lot of point in continuing to create large, fragile clay models and having them sit stored around the house where they are in the way and easily damaged. We’ll…

I sold the bilding  and we close on the 28th, and here is a view winding down the last of what is left to vacate the building.  

I decided to put my gallery building up for sale and bring the contents back home. After being open for 3 years I’ve found absolutely no interest, participation or much of anything from the residents of the city for the arts, history and culture the gallery/museum brought in. Even the city’s “betterment’ group which for years has been yammering on and on about desperately wanting to bring new businesses into the town were completely and utterly silent the whole 3 years the gallery has been here, not even one line about it on their web site, not one resident of the town ever called or emailed asking to visit or…