Thursday, May 13, 2010

Lucy in the sky with diamonds




Well, once again months have gone by with no post. My excuses are varied and full of pathos. this has been a very challenging semester.

Ganesha is yet to be glaze fired, and he was the victim of an assault which left him without a trunk, left hand, and smashed left foot. Yikes. Plan B includes casting the missing elements from their shards in bronze. Hmmm, we'll see.

Anyway, I focused much more on acquiring foundry skills this semester. These pictures are of a maquette I am working on of Lucy surrounded by a flock of birds. Right now she is half size. At her full size she stands 42 inches tall.

Another disaster hit in the form of misinformation regarding kiln firing tolerances of the clay she is constructed from. What was once vertical ended up after the glaze firing to be horizontal.

To top it all off, my Dad died on Palm Sunday.




Anyway. The pictures I hope capture some of the charm of the planned piece. I think the glaze is spectacular. The stand and the birds are wax at this point. I'll be taking a foundry intensive in June and should have the stand and the birds cast in bronze by the end of it.












































These sculptures will be one of a kind. I am using the lost wax technique.

Here's a pic of the wax maquette stand sans Lucy.
























So, many more birds to make. I will post progress as I can.
Ganesha update once he makes it through the glaze fire.

Cheers!