How to Sculpt a Man with No Head

 I'll just jump right into the how to.  I always start by making my clay opaque (super sculpey is inherently translucent) SO I mix in some other colors so that I can see the flaws in the sculpt more easily.  In this case, I had some yellow lying around.

Next I make a basic armature skeleton marking major joints

then I wrap that in more wire so that the clay or aluminum foil doesn't slide off. . .

I really recommend working on your ipad. It adds a touch of class.

I usually wrap in aluminum foil so that I don't have to go too thick with the clay.  if you go more than 3/8ths of an inch on either side of the armature you might run into some cracking issues

clay

layout of basic muscle groupings

No hands or feet yet, but we're almost there.

No head either... but this guy doesn't get a head.

Next week, I'll try to finish this guy's sculpt.

The Absolute Dumbest Way to Duplicate Your Head

 So, this week I wanted to make a cast of my head... I don't have money or resources so I went about it very stupidly, but it worked.  So, for some time now I've had a rapid prototype of  my face lying around.  I made it a few years back with the help of people more skilled than I.  I eyeballed the scale for the printout so it ended up being about 4% larger than my already massive face.  Fortunately the materials I'll be casting in tend to shrink around 3% so it all works out.  Anyway here's what I did next:

Took pictures of myself from the front and side with a measuring tape in front and scaled the images in illustrator.  I created a grid, traced the silhouettes with the pen tool and printed them out.

I transferred them to mdf I had laying around and cut that out with the scroll saw.

I slotted them to make them 3-D

 I cut out where the existing face should go

inside or outside?

Filling in the back of the head

Probably weighs less than my real head.

TGIF (thank god it's fall)

We bought a lamp for maya and painted it orange

Now it matches the Marco Rosichelli print we have on her wall and the cloud I made for her.

Next week:

 I show you how to sculpt a figure out of polymer clay.

Gobs and Gardning

 So this weekend was a weekend of excess.  We ate too many sweets and drank too much beer.  My sister and her boyfriend came to visit and we had a very nice time.  They are somewhat joined at the face still, but this drawing was actually her idea.  I think I mentioned in a previous blog that I leave the front page of new sketchbooks empty until I have the right drawing.  This drawing now proudly occupies the front page.

We went to the ICA and saw the Os Gemeos show at the ICA.  It was probably the most refreshing show I've seen there in the last 2 years.

Then I took my sister to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which, if you aren't familiar is an Italian villa plunked in the middle of the Fenway by an eccentric art collector of the same name around the turn of the century.  She left her house to the city on the condition that it be left exactly as she left it. She was a friend (and collector) of John Singer Sargent . It's also the scene of the most costly art heist in history. They just recent built a wonderful looking addition with a library, a children's center and a gallery.  However much the addition looked like any other new contemporary museum, it was especially great juxtaposed with the antiquity and opulence of the original Gardner.  I was a little disappointed with the fairly lame show in the new gallery.  I also was a little disappointed that the top two floors were offices and not more galleries.  So, besides the original museum, the architecture was the star of the new wing.  This is my 5th or 6th time going.  If you haven't been, check it out!  It's a whole day's worth of coolness.

Fun times

Face Huggers

Fun with faces

Pretty sweet, Maya knocked out as soon as we got there

Stock Photos (with Rembrandt)

Topped off the day with Georgetown Cupcakes!

Where do we go from here?

I've been doing a lot of thinking on where and when to do a show featuring these pieces.  I know I haven't shared the full vision of the show yet, but the show space will be incredibly importation.

Initially, I was thinking December, but honestly December is such a risky month for a solo show, especially an important show.  I have, however considered the idea of a group show for December.  I'll talk more about that in coming posts.

As for right now, I'm thinking about doing a giveaway to help spread the readership of my blog.  Any thoughts or suggestions?  Let me know what you think.

Don't look a gift monster in the mouth

 I finished stitching and smoothing the seams on the purple head.  Now (S)he's got some pearly choppers

Despite my best efforts, I'm still running into bubble/seaming issues with hot dog man mark II

Took some time to take maya to the frog pond

Valued Experience?

I have to admit, this one is a bit daunting.  The seams are super long and are taking forever.  I will say, as you can see in the above picture, I'm getting much better at the initial laying of the fabric.

I have been thinking a lot about making art lately and I was curious what other people's thoughts are regarding the making of art and what I think of as valuable experiences:

1. Passive: Going to art shows, reading books, watching TV and other vicarious experiences

2. Interactive: Traveling, meeting people, talking to people, playing sports

3. Active: Making art, music, theater, and other forms of creativity

Which do you value most? Of course there is crossover between all of these ideas, but we all tend to do one more than the other.  It seems Interactive should be a no-brainer, but Passive/vicarious experiences help you to understand worlds and points of view that you could never experience.  Making art is a way of sharing your own thoughts and understandings with others, but is selfish and is often at the expense of the other two.  Not revolutionary thinking, just something that occurred to me the other day while I was being Interactive and all I could think of was all the books and movies I wanted to see and all the art I wanted to make.  I understand balance and moderation and so on, but I'm curious what other people value and why. . . . Enough talk.

Nice Smooth Layout 

Unfinished, but lookin good.

Maya was really jazzed when she found the first season of Wonder Woman at the discount store (I mean, she was actually singing her praises the whole time we were in the store and waiting in line).

Sew it Seams....

 So this week I smoothed out the foam head like crazy and covered it in fleece.  Then I Henson Stitched the seams and put the teeth in.  It's actually more of an orangie/elmo red, not so much the bright orange you see here.  I also had some rather good luck this week with garbage (see below)

sew it seams....

 mmmm, so pretty

 Smile, though your heart is breaking.

I found two oak drawers from a old danish desk that I turned into cabinet shelves for the work station.

Not too shabby.  Needs some shelves and maybe some doors.

Put this one in the crap the rich kids in my building throw away pile.  A  mint condition $400, leather Sater Sofa.  no scuffs or tears, only the slightest smell of pomade that will be easily remedied with some leather cleaner.

Next week: I will start a new head and finish the tongue for the first head.

A Winning Smile

This week I got to work on the choppers for one of the heads.  I used a process similar to my past pieces, but rather than using Dental acrylic (Very stinky stuff & stinky = death).  So I took some translucent primo and mixed it with a variety of different sculpeys to get something akin to teeth and I did the same with the gums (while adding red felting for veins in the gums).  The primo was so old I was going to revitalize it only to discover I was out of vasiline.  Stranded, I went looking for petroleum products and found some lotion.  After a few trips through the pasta maker and it came out pretty nice (smelled nice too).
The Final result is looking pretty good.  I still need to put a few coats of clear down, but you get the idea.

 Mixing up colors

I spent a very long time smoothing out this head by hand to avoid the lumpiness of the last head.  Next week, he's ready for fleece!