Randall's Urban Architectural Sculptures

Spent 1-1/4 hours on this newest model to get to this point.

And now after another 1-1/4 hours;

Three quick shots of the modelling studio between models after some cleanup!

A couple of short video clips from today, finishing up this model by removing and hollowing out the head and then the body. There are now 9 clips on YouTube, there is no audio on any of them as my camera does not record sound.

one

two

three

9 hours total modelling time on this, with probably another hour or two of final clean up and refining to do yet as the clay firms up during the drying process, the back wing also needs to be finished as well.

Another 1-1/2 hours tonight off work and we now have him at this stage, rapidly progressing;

I started the third one tonight, the slab base took a half hour, and at this point in the photo a total of 1-3/4 hours before calling it a night.

Must be getting faster!

Mostly worked on the back end and hind leg, also be back side, it will probably be ready to hollow out and call finished this weekend.

A video clip rotating this model 360º to view all sides;

Rotate

Removing the head for hollowing it and the neck;
Removing the head

Hollowing the neck out;

Hollowing the neck

Progress for tonight.

I didn’t work on this for a day but last night I did some work on the head.

I started the second in this series, today (12/15/07) and after 2 hours of setup and hand building I was at this point;

An hour later I stopped here with the basic form roughed out. The head is temporarily supported while the work progresses since the clay will remain quite soft for a while and will not be able to support itself.

Once modelling progresses to the point where I have most of the additive clay on, and it firms up a bit I can cut the head off at that time and hollow it out, then with it much lighter as well as stiffer I can re-attach it.

I haven’t decided yet how many models this series will eventually become, there were originally 4 different designs on the Public School these are inspired by, and each of the 4 designs were made in opposite left/right pairs for a total of 8.
One of the 4 designs I didn’t like as well as the other 3 and I’m not sure if I will create left/right pairs of each though it would be a good idea and I’m sure casts will be more versatile in matched (within reason) pairs.

These two gargoyles and the sitting griffin used up a considerable amount of the 1,000# of clay I had delivered! Seems like I’m going through the 50# boxes like it’s going out of style since I have right now 450# left.

So it looks like I’ll just be making more models over the winter and come spring and the clay used up before then, I’ll start work on the molds. Right now I have 2 Nortown theater panels, the 90 West st griffin and these two gargoyles to make molds of- 5 new sculptures.

As always, while the model is done, it will still be touched up and worked on as the clay dries

Hollowing the body out today sort of felt like I was unstuffing a Thanksgiving Turkey, now about 25# lighter he is mostly done except removing the temp ball of support clay under the head and surface cleanup, also texturing the top of the base. I have about 12 to 13 hours of work into this model so far.

I did about 4 hours on it today, so far about 10 total.
I cut the head off, hollowed it and the neck out, and now it needs only a small piece of styrofoam to support it while it sets more.

I decided the back portion of the wings made the body there look “fat” so I cut back the long feather layers further in an it’s much better. I also removed the extra row of round tip feathers and lengthened the long feathers.
The backside paw was also angled outward and detailed and the feathering on the backside wing about half done- to be finished up next session.
I also trimmed another 2″ off the width and 1″ off the length of the base that was excess.

The fun part is going to be hollowing out the body and base which means I’ll need to work out how to access the underside of at least the center 1/3 of it from underneath- probably supported on the rest on two pieces of ply instead of the one it’s on now. It is resting on a sheet of poly plastic so it won’t stick to the plywood, so it should be slideable.