Architectural Sculptures

Now that I’m done with the winged lion for the time being, it’s time to turn towards finishing the mold for the lioness roundel which I intend to complete today. The rubber portion has already been done, next comes the plaster shell.

The first public cast is already pre-sold and paid for by a previous client who purchased the wolf head roundel some time back.
I’m inclined now to start a lion model facing the opposite direction so there will be a pair. As I remember i have about 150# of the red clay, and about half a ton of the raku clay on hand. It would be a good one to use up that last 150# of the red clay on.
I’ll have to get a carbide or diamond sawzall blade to cut the winged lion, for the time being I’m only going to remove the head to hollow it out more and insert a steel pipe or the like down inside thru the top of the table so the body will have no place to go.
If I make a mold of this at some point, the wings would need to be cut off horizontally at their bottoms, the shield will also probably have to be removed with the front paws being cut at the wrists.
That way the wings, body, head and shield would each have a mold, and if this was ever cast in something like concrete it would be easier.

The original pieces could be fired in a kiln and re-assembled with mortar joints after a mold is made.

I had no plans to do more with the model past just creating it for my own amusement, but it would be nice to cast it in something permanent.
This would be an estate sized piece with a comparable pricetag, but in today’s economy I don’t believe the demand would be there for something like this.
The model ran me about $600 to make- clay, shipping and constructing the stand it needed.
Still, I’m now wanting to make something else large. I was for a time, a while back thinking of a model of this winged lion in Savannah GA that was made out of terra cotta in 1886 and which was completely destroyed by a drunk driver whose car smashed into it at high speed, went airborn and crashed into the entry of the building across the street from this which was built at the same time.

The photo doesn’t show the scale very well, but the base portion above that ring is around 4 feet long, and the lion is about 4 feet tall or more according to other photos Ive seen of it with people nearby.

Now that the lion is finally mostly dry except for the base which gave me a bit of trouble all along, I hoisted him up carefully to insert a couple of blocks to rest it on so the bottom of the base can dry out better.

The base was originally built up on top of a sheet of safety glass on top of the plywood to keep the moisture from warping the plywood. But unfortunately the glass prevented moisture from drying out of the bottom, which resulted in it drying mostly from the top and sides, and that started causing the slab to want to warp upwards and crack.
As it warped up a bit I broke the glass and was able to get some of it out but the model at 825# was too heavy and too fragle to attempt to lift till now.
But it’s no big deal I can re-contour the bottom of the slab to a flatness, having already done that to the top and side a while back to remove most of the warp. With the bottom flattened out by shaving it down, it will stand on it much better.
The cracks in the base however are a concern for structural stability
so I am keeping the hoisting straps on it for the time being, that’s a lot of weight now supported on less base and the base has cracks across it that I’ve cosmetically filled.
I waited just a little too long to cut the head off while the clay was soft enough to do so, that may need a carbide sawzall blade to do now as trying with ordinary blades dulled them in a few seconds!
I wanted to remove the head and hollow it and the body a bit more and evenly, and then attach something inside to the table for stability just in case so the body can’t fall over should those base cracks weaken further.

I didn’t want to do too much along that line earlier due to the instability and softness, but I waited just a wee bit too long.

I estimate he weighs around 600-650 pounds right now.

This is a good one, a client last summer purchased a quantity of sculptures for their store at wholesale, it took 3 large crates on skids, 1,900# worth. As they were buying garden statues from Continental Craft, Continental arranged to have my 3 skids picked up, added to their shipment, and sent in one load to our mutual client in NYC.
Looks like Continental was paid for their garden junk plus the shipping, and now 6 months later the trucking co send ME an invoice for the shipping charges and telling me they have collections after Continental.
Well, that’s too bad, but it’s their ball of wax and not my problem if they can’t afford to pay their shipping charges on stuff that’s not in my hands any more.

Due to this hassle I have decided that without proof of pre-payment to the trucking firm or their agent or a deposit equal to the estimated shipping cost- I will no longer accept wholesale orders from any store that involves truck shipments.

The modelling of this is pretty much finished, at least what would be visible in photos like this. That
leaves the surface cleanup and refining the small details as to what is left to do.

I may still add the lettering the originals had, i.e “MERCHANTS NATIONAL BANK 1914″ to the face of the shield, but this would have to be done with incized lettering rather than raised as the originals had.
I believe the original master models’ lettering may have been metal, wax or wood founders’ letters applied onto the surface of the clay, and while the model was still damp they made the mold of him.

After a few changes and tweeks to the face I’m a lot happier with it, I also started the wings.
I hope to have this substantially finished this weekend for the majority of the add-on and subtractive work, leaving the finishing detailing and surface detailing as the bulk of what is left to do.
This tops out right about 825 pounds and the photo just doesn’t give the sense of just how big this is.

This shows the scale of the model, I did quite a bit more work on this today, and also pressed out the shield which is laying on my work bench now uncovered to firm up a bit before I mess with it further.

And adding 2 more pics tonight, with the shield now in place and the forearms and paws started.

I left the model most of the week to get firmer so it won’t need as much if any external support soon, it is much more stable tonight so I added more clay to the head and neck, now the nose and the top-knot are very close to where they should be, that leaves the rest of the head to model according to the position of those.
The chest top is where that should be, and the top of the shield will extend about 3″ above that.

The shoulder does not yet have the leg modelled on as I want to avoid putting on any relatively thin attachments for now as those will tend to get firm and start drying out rapidly in comparison to the rest.
I believe now I will work on modelling the shield as this will need a little time to firm up before it could be stood up on it’s bottom and be attached to the lion’s chest, at which point the legs and paws could be added.

There is nearly 600# of clay in this model now, the shield, front legs and wings will probably use around 200# more, so as it stands now it appears I estimated the amount of clay required astonishingly close.

Progress for today on this model consisted of adding more height to and closing the top of the head which is now approx 4′ 2″ from the top of the modelling stand. There is now 525# of clay and I’ve added a second support strap for additional stability.
I may, actually, will likely need to come up with a different method and location of support as I need to fill in around the neck now and the face and with the straps there I can’t just yet.
Supports also cannot be rigid as clay begins to shrink and a support doesnt “give” a little to allow it, the clay can crack.
Of course simply waiting a bit for the clay to firm up more will help a lot and at some point supports won’t be needed, right now as I work on the top the model has some “give.”

Also, lately I am leaning towards making the head of this closer to the original concept sketch Mr Sullivan drew for the terra cotta company sculptors, and this sketch clearly shows the lions were to have OPEN mouths;

I actually prefer that kind of lion depiction, so this would work out well and I would also have the only model done to his original concept.
I have to assume the bank’s original owners ordered the change in the lion’s mouth design from open/fierce to closed/platonic out of some concern with the climate fierce/threatening sculptures directly by the entrance might have on customers.

I have not worked on the lion this week till tonight, but that’s good because it allows the clay to “set” a little and firm up slightly.

I added more clay tonight, for a total of 475#, what looks like a muzzle is approximately the lower jaw’s location, the head still needs to be built up and that “muzzle” is about half of the jaw, but now I will be adding clay more slowly to the top and allowing the clay to firm up a bit more.
The back of the head needs to be built up a few more inches as well.

Rapidly now to the neck area of the lion and the need to give the upper body some temporary support. I needed to move things around in the studio so I could roll the model under my chain hoist so as to suspend a strap from that for support.

My hand for scale reference

I wouldn’t normally post this kind of thing, but this one is a real dandy.
I have been getting several emails from this guy in Madrid, I don’t know how he can even see my web site since I have almost every foreign country BLOCKED at the server level by country code since I do not sell overseas, someone in Madrid should get a “forbidden” error when hitting my url.
This guy totally did not read the page for the sculpture as it clearly states I do not ship overseas, it clearly has the size and weight too, yet he asks for both more than once.

Here’s the conversation from oldest at the top to the newest, bold is part of my reply;

Hi Randall,
I like so much your work, congratulations!
I’m interesting in Art Deco Spandrel Panel Nr.D4 Dirty copper
I live in Madrid SPAIN (EUROPE)
Can you tell me the finall price to send one panel to the Madrid addres.
I would give you my address if we reach an agreement
sorry but my American language is not very good
thanks a lot
Pedro Puerto

Hello,
I am sorry, I do not ship to Europe and will not, it states this on almost every one of my web pages.
Randall

Hi Randall,
I will go to new york soon, I can buy in your studio?
can you tell me price, weight and dimensions of the panel,
if possible bring him to Madrid with me on the plane.
thank you very much

Pedro, I don’t live in New York, I live in Western Iowa, not sure where New York was confused.

Hi Randall,
please can you tell me, price, weight, and dimensions of the panel?
and your address and hours of collection in Western Iowa
I`ll send DHL transport (www.dhl.es) from Madrid to Iowa to pick up the panel,
thanks again

Pedro, I DO NOT SHIP to Europe, US customs, paperwork and all the rest are too much trouble, if it gets broken during customs inspection insurance will not pay for the damage, that means *I* pay for the damage. Last time I checked it was over $600 USD to ship this, it is over 70#.

Randall Please can you tell me size and weight packaging and prices contained in your workshop, thank you very much