over the course of my time in Syracuse's BFA: Sculpture program, i found myself enthralled with the practice of figure sculpture. i took it all four semesters i was in the program, and the work i produced there remains some of my favorite. i have not had much opportunity to do this type of work since, but stay tuned!
NSFW, depending on your work.
here you may observe the process of mold-making for a full 18-inch figure sculpture. The plasticine (oil clay) peice is embedded in regular water-based clay, in the shape of one half of the mold that will eventually surround it. This happens to be a somewhat complicated mother-daughter mold, so what is depicted here is actually the process of making a plaster outer mold, in which a smaller, flexible mold of the object (made out of high-detail rubber) is held together.
eventually, the entire mold is used to create a wax replica of the original figure, which is then used in yet another mold-making process, eventually producing a bronze final sculpture. unfortunately, this mold was never used for that purpose, but perhaps one day i will be able to complete the project.
you can also see the original face for the figure of a woman that is shown here. i think the final face was an improvement!
