Sculpture Moulds: 2013

Friday 25 October 2013

Hyper Realistic Sculpture "Mystery Bust" Part 1

Over the past two weeks I've been working on a hyper realistic sculpture bust in clay which was commissioned about a month ago. For now I can't divulge the story about this sculpture until the end of November.
Until then I will refer to it as my "mystery bust".

Sunday 6 October 2013

Staying Ahead Part 3 Final

The subject of today's post is the final images of the clay portrait I've been working on since the spring.
This is of course a real departure from my hyper realistic sculpture that has dominated most of the past images on this blog. I'm glad this bit is done and I will move on to moulding and casting. Looking forward to it.
In the meantime,have a great week.

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Shaman's Dream Abraham Anghik Rueben

I've been recently going through my collection of images of different projects over the past few months. The above photographs show a wax cast of a sculpture by Abraham Anghik Rueben. The mould which I made back in 2009 was off a soapstone original. Abraham's works are often extremely complex from a technical standpoint and require sophisticated moulding and wax working techniques.
The wax sculpture cast that is shown was produced back in July 2013 and is in the process of being cast in bronze by the Crucible Foundry. You can see more of Abraham's work at Kipling Galleries, Toronto.

At present, I've been making changes to the clay portrait that I'm working on as well catching up on other casting projects.
I'll be back soon. Cheers.

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Staying Ahead Part 2

I just wanted to do a quick post on this portrait head. I've been busy on several fronts so some projects like this commissioned clay portrait are taking more time but it does give me an opportunity to be a little more thorough. I'm still working out the hair and still evaluating the facial forms at this point of the process. It still a ways to go but I feel it's getting closer.
I'll be back soon. Have a great week.
Cheers.

Saturday 20 July 2013

Skin Texture for Hyper/Photo Realistic Figure Sculpture

This is the early stages of skin texture being applied to the figure. The texture process as I've described in earlier posts is multistaged with layer upon layer of different sometimes extremely subtle tooling applied to the surface. I've found this approach best because it gives depth to the skin itself. It's been an up and down process so far but I feel I'm closer to completing the clay model than at any other time.
In the meantime, the studio continues to be busy with some major projects coming up in the Fall as well. I'll announce that in September.
I wish all my visitors,a great weekend. Cheers.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Portraits,Skulls and Figures

Sculpture Copyright Gino Cavecchioli 2013 Photo credit Art Di Lella 2013

Today's post focuses on some of the artists that I have worked with over the past few months.

The first picture is a portrait of Lincoln Alexander by the sculptor Gino Cavecchioli. Lincoln Alexander was a prominent politician from Hamilton Ontario who served in the federal cabinet as minister of labour in the Joe Clark government back in 1979.

Image Copyright Art Di Lella 2013

These are urethane casts of Bat and Parakeet skulls which I moulded and cast in a bone colour for Nan'Darach Designs in Calgary Alberta.

Image Copyright Art Di Lella 2013

Close up of the Parakeet skulls.

Image Copyright Art Di Lella 2013

A trio of sculptures by Taline Iskedjian which were being moulded in silicone and was later cast in bronze by MST Bronze.

Sculpture Copyright Bernice Schwartz 2013 Photo credit Art Di Lella 2013

A bonded or cold cast bronze cast which I made for the for the artist Bernice Schwartz.

Sculpture Copyright Bernice Schwartz 2013 Photo credit Art Di Lella 2013

Moulding the back of the juvenile Pan. The original is made in Terra Cotta

Sculpture Copyright Sid Golden 2013 Photo Credit Art Di Lella 2013

Another sculpture that was recently moulded and cast in bonded bronze. The sculptor is Sid Golden.

I'll be back soon. Have a great week.

Friday 28 June 2013

Staying a Head, Portrait Sculpture

I'm finally back to blogging after a month long break. It's been busy in the studio so I have a back log of pictures to publish.
Today's post is about a different version of a portrait I had started back in the winter. This first version of this head was done in Monster Clay but I found this material very similar to wax so it was a bit slow to work up.
Instead I decided to use traditional water based clay for the bust. I find clay so much easier and faster to use.
Although the bust appears to be near the finishing stage, it isn't. There is much to do in regards to not only the hair but also the face as well.
For privacy reasons I can't show an image of the model herself to compare but I can say that the likeness is getting close.
I will be back after the weekend. Happy Canada Day!

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Head Transplant and Comparison Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Final

Hello again.
I've just completed the "head transplant" of my Homo Erectus figure. The face is definitely different from the first as you can see from the above image. It's difficult for me at this point as to why there are differences. The skull used on the first head (head on the left) was produced by BoneClones. It's a carefully crafted model which is very close to the original but not an actual cast of the fossil skull whereas the new head was built over a cast of the actual fossil and so my question is: Are the differences between the skulls that significant or is it simply me having another attempt at essentially the same skull?
In the meantime, I will be starting final contouring and applying the skin texture to the new head as well as the rest of the body so there will be more posts on that too.

I'll be back soon. Have a great week.

Friday 17 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster Part 3

A short post today, I just wanted to show the process and progress of building the new head for my figure sculpture. I'm still sketching out the muscles and making connections so my "head transplant" will appear seamless. As you can see a face is starting to emerge but there's still a long way to go.
I'll be back soon. Have a great weekend.

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Part 2

Just a quick post on my figure. The surgery to connect his new head is still in progress. I just wanted to show the neck muscles as they are the first part in connecting the original body with the new head.

You'll notice that the nasal bones and brow ridge have been repaired with clay. The next stage I'll sketch out the muscles, start building the facial features and by then a face should start to emerge. We'll see how it differs from the original.
I'll be back soon. Have a great week!

Friday 10 May 2013

Head Transplant for Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster

Bone Clones Replica made from fossil cast

Recently,I came across an authentic casting of the skull of Turkana Boy, a 1.5 million year old fossil skeleton from Kenya. I found this casting on ebay of all places. The cast that I purchased was made in plaster with a resin jaw. The cast appears to have been moulded once before with some loss of surface detail and some distortion especially with the mandible. So I repaired this new cast and then made a resin copy to compare with the skull cast used as the armature for the head of my figure. The original skull that was in the sculpture before was by Bone Clones.
It's a decent replica which is a carefully crafted model and is close to the original but not as accurate as the new cast. But after comparing the two skulls with photos I had of both I decided to ditch the first head.
The differences are mainly with the facial details such as the nasal bones and eye sockets where there is a noticeable difference between the two skulls although not very discernible with the above image. The other issue was authenticity, I wanted to base this figure on an actual cast but found obtaining one before difficult so that's why the Bone Clones version was used in the first place

Now that the original head has been removed and the new skull installed,it remains to be seen if this move was wise or foolish. We'll see how this head transplant works out. I feel bit like Dr. Frankenstein.

On other news, I'm still working #8 and that Monster Clay portrait plus moulds and casts of other artists' works.
I'll be back soon. Have a great weekend.

Saturday 27 April 2013

Hyper/Photo Realistic Reconstructed Figure #1 Adjustments

Over the past several weeks I've been reassessing this natural size clay model of Homo Erectus/Ergaster.
The main concern has been that the figure was too thin and the modelling lacked sufficient force. The subject is based upon the fossil remains KNM-WT-15000. The descriptions by researchers has been that this individual was a juvenile although not quite like a modern one, had a very slim muscular build with narrow shoulders and hips. The challenge for me is the proportions of this figure are not natural when you compare him with modern adolescents.
For example the shoulders are extremely narrow for someone 163cm(5'4") tall which is further enhanced by the very wide neck muscles. Additionally, the upper thorax apparently tapers more severely than a modern one which has made the modelling for me at times a bit awkward. Other challenges include the very narrow hips with thigh bones that have unusually long necks which has a direct influence on the shape of his buttocks as well as the muscle groups immediately above and below his hip bones.

In the end it still comes down to believability.
I'm hoping to finish these adjustments over the next couple of weeks. I feel it's going in the right direction. We'll see.

I'll be back next week. Cheers.

Pages

Friday 25 October 2013

Hyper Realistic Sculpture "Mystery Bust" Part 1

Sunday 6 October 2013

Staying Ahead Part 3 Final

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Shaman's Dream Abraham Anghik Rueben

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Staying Ahead Part 2

Saturday 20 July 2013

Skin Texture for Hyper/Photo Realistic Figure Sculpture

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Portraits,Skulls and Figures

Friday 28 June 2013

Staying a Head, Portrait Sculpture

Tuesday 21 May 2013

Head Transplant and Comparison Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Final

Friday 17 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster Part 3

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Head Transplant Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Part 2

Friday 10 May 2013

Head Transplant for Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Figure Sculpture Homo Erectus/Ergaster

Saturday 27 April 2013

Hyper/Photo Realistic Reconstructed Figure #1 Adjustments

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