Getting back on the… elephant
Feb. 22nd, 2016 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrSpent all morning doing dishes, checking email, running fiddly little errands. Procrastinating, in a word. I remember this feeling from when I was sculpting regularly, all the way back to grad school. An itchy combination of desire and avoidance, with a bit of fear. What if I can't do this anymore? It's been over two years, maybe my skills are gone. Where do I even start?
Well, that's easy. I start at the bottom.
I have a kind of idiosyncratic sculptural method. Instead of slapping around a lump of clay until it looks like art and hollowing out later, I start out hollow and just build the skin. This has some advantages: less clay wasted, faster drying, less likelihood of cracking or, worse, exploding in the kiln. The disadvantage: I have to build in sections, and somehow keep the proportions correct as the pieces come together. Back in grad school, I'd start with life-size reference sketches, pinned to the wall in my studio. Since I'm not sure how big I want to make this piece, I prop up my not-to-scale sketch and dive in.
Slabs are a little wetter than I expect, stickier. I had a torn bag of clay getting stiff during the two weeks we were gone, and thought it was dryer than this. Also, new clay body. I'm not using the same stoneware I used to sculpt with. Still, seems to work out okay. I begin with legs, from feets up to shoulders/hips. Just roughing out forms right now, details like toes and wrinkles will wait until leather hard. (Note to self: Google how many toes an elephant has)
The last time I sculpted an elephant, I used a slab cylinder for the torso, and never got the body to look quite right. This time I make a couple of bowl shapes, one close off and divided for the start of the hindquarters, the other still open for the neck. I cover a board with plastic and set the torso bits waist-down on it, so the edges that need to join together tomorrow will be a little soft. Legs are on a slab of foam rubber. Everything is uncovered; I need to get them leather-hard overnight.
I find myself moving things around before bedtime, turning over the leg quarters, looking for the perfect spot in the studio where everything will dry just enough. Roll out a couple of slabs for the morning. And so to bed.
Well, that's easy. I start at the bottom.
I have a kind of idiosyncratic sculptural method. Instead of slapping around a lump of clay until it looks like art and hollowing out later, I start out hollow and just build the skin. This has some advantages: less clay wasted, faster drying, less likelihood of cracking or, worse, exploding in the kiln. The disadvantage: I have to build in sections, and somehow keep the proportions correct as the pieces come together. Back in grad school, I'd start with life-size reference sketches, pinned to the wall in my studio. Since I'm not sure how big I want to make this piece, I prop up my not-to-scale sketch and dive in.
Slabs are a little wetter than I expect, stickier. I had a torn bag of clay getting stiff during the two weeks we were gone, and thought it was dryer than this. Also, new clay body. I'm not using the same stoneware I used to sculpt with. Still, seems to work out okay. I begin with legs, from feets up to shoulders/hips. Just roughing out forms right now, details like toes and wrinkles will wait until leather hard. (Note to self: Google how many toes an elephant has)
The last time I sculpted an elephant, I used a slab cylinder for the torso, and never got the body to look quite right. This time I make a couple of bowl shapes, one close off and divided for the start of the hindquarters, the other still open for the neck. I cover a board with plastic and set the torso bits waist-down on it, so the edges that need to join together tomorrow will be a little soft. Legs are on a slab of foam rubber. Everything is uncovered; I need to get them leather-hard overnight.
I find myself moving things around before bedtime, turning over the leg quarters, looking for the perfect spot in the studio where everything will dry just enough. Roll out a couple of slabs for the morning. And so to bed.