feedback apreciated

[Paul.V]

hi, just signed up and knew to the world of sculpture , im at the begining of a seemingly long and daunting launch of my career and now have some finished pieces and would love some feedback (good or bad!) as this is the first time people will see them , thanks

[Paul.V]

sorry, the photo seems too large i'll have to reduce it somehow, i''l hopefully post it shortly.......

[Paul.V]

try this.........

[Baraka]

Tell us more about them. What metal, their size, etc. They look like nice pieces. Also tell us more about the message behind them. Every sculpture has a story.

[Paul.V]

They are cast in bronze and then nickle-plated and aproximately 18 inches high. my work is never really planned or thought about . i just let go and do it it's hard to explain. but because of the way they come about they are manifested emotions they are expressions of my innerself. if i try and think of an idea and try to do it its a limited expression because i fear making a mistake. the pieces mean a great deal to me and i learn a great deal about myself through my work but i always keep them to myself thats why i dont give them names because i like to give the viewer the freedom to explore there own emotions and feelings without limitations such as a name . a name is a fixed point an ending my work is fluid and un-ending i believe everybody should have the freedom and the right to see what they want to see the storey is theirs ,what the sculptures actually are and represent is infinate. not only from which angle you see them your perception can dramaticaly change. but the indivdual can almost create with them aswell by chaning the enviroment they are in such as lighting ,they are receptors and emiters.........thanks for your interest

[jOe~]

Feed back: excellent. I look forward to seeing more and larger. Also I'd enjoy larger photos. You've found your path. Enjoy it so others can too.

jOe~

[dilida]

I like the finish on them, different. And I like your approach to art, something I'd like to get back in touch with. -just let it flow.

lisa

[Julianna]

Very elegant work, Paul. Keep the pictures coming.

[Paul.V]

thank you all for your comments , here are a couple more in colour. i have photos of other works but they are not finished yet as the process is very expensive. im in that "catch 22" situation : how can you exhibit your work and sell it, if you havn't the funds to get it finished?!! my answer is to try to find a sponser or even an investor and offer a very attractive return, or im thinking of auctioning all my 1/of's as i've kept hold of them this would allow me to finish enough to have an entire exhibition to myself- my dream!
i'll try and dig out some more photos but you must imagine the finish they will have!

[cmustard]

Paul,

The second photo in you're last post makes the pieces look monumental. They really take on a whole new presence.

Maybe that's a way to entice sponsor's...present them as models for larger scale works. Build to scale environments or photographed so that they look larger than life.

[Paul.V]

ok...here are some more images. thanks cmustard its true how different they can look it never seizes to surprise me.........ive spent hours in a dark room with a spot light and just watching the shadows take shape you can see so many different things. they would look good 30 feet tall!!

[evaldart]

Very nice, but remember your forms...it will be very easy to be seduced by that finish.

[Paul.V]

thank you.....i believe the finish compliments the forms . but you do have to think about where you place them and the lighting as they reflect everything and can make them very busy so to speak, but this would be done to personal taste

[Baraka]

I really love these new photographs, and they do show a lot of emotion. I liked your explanation.

Input from others more experienced in selling castings can advise you better, but I wondered if, since you are nickle plating them, maybe casting them in a cheaper metal before plating might help you with the cost? Cost was the reason I didn't continue to sculpt 10+ years ago when I did a few.

I don't know about England, but in America we have a number of opportunities to set up our work in booths where we show many of our own pieces in one place. Look for something like this. Don't give up, you are very talented.

[marblecutter]

The reflection on chromed sculptures are sometimes very interesting!

[Paul.V]

thanks again for your input ..........i have questioned about casting them in a different metal but as they are relativly small pieces , the difference is quite small its the whole process and man hours really which is costly the oieces need to be highly polished before the plating to get a mirror finished though someone recently told me that if they are copper plated first the finish could be even better. the first one i had done i sent back because there didnt seem to be enough nickle there and so in places it wasnt trully mirror like so they tried leaving them in longer which worked as an overall effect , but there are a few pimples in places which i dont know the cause maybe the solution was slightly dirty , if anyone has any knowledge on the process please let me know.
as far as exhibiting i dont know where to start partly because i feel idont have enough finished pieces, but if anyone reading this is interested in my work and has gallery space or they feel the can help in some way you can e-mail me : paulvermette@hotmail.com

[Paul.V]

thankyou for the pics.............its true ..to me it opens up another world entirely....

[Aaron Schroeder]

A way to make more faster and cheaper is to skip the bronze and go directly to electroplating. A little research on the net is all you need to do to educate yourself on the process. An off the shelf electroplating kit might cost a bit but the method is pretty simple and I'm sure you could rig up a 123 that would work. In graduate school I witness Martha Crosdale (sp?) make all kinds of stuff. She would take stuff (The large millipeed was cool ), paint it with silver paint and throw it in a vat of copper sulfate ( I think ) with some electric current and walk away. The longer she left it in the thicker and stronger the plating. You could even make some extra money selling electroplated baby shoes ( some thing that people used to do all the time ). After that nickel plate. Electroplating is such a cool process, I don't know why I'm not doing it. I really should take my own advice and look into it more.

[Paul.V]

thanks.......not sure if its possible to skip the bronze because with electro-plating the object needs to be conductive ie. metal of some kind. have thought about getting a set up and doing it my self but i have no workspace unfortunately, effectively i think the only way to reduce cost at present is to do the polishing myself. but does anyone know of some kind of metal paint which would be conductive? because i could then cast them in a hard plaster beforehand that would really reduce costs! not sure if it would be the same though....

[Aaron Schroeder]

I did a google search on electroplating and found that you can buy a paint called Silvaspray, sold through Caswell Electroplating a british company. According to them you can use it even on plastics. You should be able to sculpt a piece up in wax, spray with silvaspray and eltroplate away with nickel, copper, etc. Caswell sells alot of kits including gold plating. Think of you work plated in gold. After plating melt the wax out and it's done. Considering the scale of your work you should be able to do all the above in your bathroom though I expect you may need some extra ventalation.The possibilities with electroplating can be mind blowing. You basically can electroplate anything, makes me think of projects involving 3-D collage. The initial investment in time and money may test your patiences but considering the quality of your work I can see healthy profits. A process many on this forum should consider adding to ones bag of tricks. I am.

[Paul.V]

thanks aaron....thats very interesting .. but i still have a doubt , that is if i were to do a piece in wax as you say when i melt it down surely i would be left with a very thin shell? nickle-plate i believe is very thin maybe a mil or two thick even if it was three millstill very thin , then i would loose substantial detail on the eyes ect... what do you think? thats why i thought of a very hard plaster to at least keep it thick if not solid. or pehaps resin? .very interesting though and after the initial outlay i would save a lot of money and the pieces would be available to a wider clientel being substantialy cheaper. thanks for your input.
this is a great site and gives me inspiration to keep creating... seems easy to get stuck in rut trying to make a living out of this ..

[RWJR]

look into pewter, low melting point

[Aaron Schroeder]

I've seen very thick electroplated items. There are two ways to plate, brush and vat. Brushing on electroplate solution gives you a thin plate where as you can leave a detailed item in the vat till it becomes a lumpy ball. Also by using resists such as wax,tape, paint etc. you can plate different metals on one piece, a section of copper and bronze then nickel, silver, gold etc. I suggested wax, for ease of sculpting but plaster sounds good to. Once emptied you could fill the plated sculpture with any thing, plaster, plastic,jelly beans, pewter, whatever. Also think about the process in reverse. You could make a mother mold, paint the inside with silvaspray, immerse in vat, walk away for a day or more, remove from vat, remove rubber mother mold and have a perfect casting which you could then fill with you name it. After a few years of experimentation you could charge less but more importantly you could charge more !!!! I know it may seem to good to be true but electroplating really could be the Solution for you. Even at it's most expensive, it's still cheaper than a foundry, it certainly would be more immediate.

[_Misty]

Hello Paul V,

I really liked looking at your work. It is very attractive to the eye and must be so lovely to look at for hours.

It seems like a fairly new sculpting concept or should I say material ?

How much would you sell one of those pieces ?

Misty

[Paul.V]

get the jist of what your saying, the reverse mother mold would be even more efficient however i feel that as you have to spray silvaspray first and then nickle the inside so to speak then that means the coating of silverspray would effectively be on the outside of the sculpture and the perfect finish on the inside ........ but i get what your saying its all about trial and error until you acheive the correct formula. ive often thought about using various metals on one piece theres plenty of scope there . im going to have to get the kit when i can and experiment i cant wait. if its true that theres a way round all this without having to go to the foundry this is fantastic news for me!! i'd much rather do the whole thing myself then you can get it just right.

[Aaron Schroeder]

I liked the mother mold idea and I have to thank this forum and you for giving me the context to think of it. After you take the piece out of the mold, back into the vat for the next layer of plating but for the outside. The virtue of a mother mold would be greater detail and of course being able to produce limited additions. The internet can be such a powerful tool, the small amount of research that I've done on electroplating has shown me that the process is huge in the world of industry. Lots of people involved. many resources. Answers to almost any question you can think of. Next thing you know, you'll be the expert.

[Paul.V]

thats great.........the process would be as follows do the piece in clay make a very strong and good quality mother mould with silicon take out clay , clean, dry ..paint with silvaspray ....wack it in the vat then fill it with plaster or slip so its hollow if its a big piece take it out give it a gentle rub over with wet and dry and then back in the vat!! but .....why not just do it in plaster then use silverspray then vat .......im not convinced nickle plate alone will be strong u could and will certainly try copperplate first but this is great if "silverspray" lives up to what they say! if this all works i shall try mixing metals i'd have to cover up the places neccessary in wax were i dont want that paticuler metal plating i think but very neatly. do you think you'd get a crisp clean line? its great this site makes a huge difference conversing with like minded people it seems esier to work things out!

[desertrock]

I like this stuff alot. I would like to see an abstract without the face. I think it would appear equally impressive.
Reminds me of the movie "The Abyss" when the extra-terrestrial entered the ocean floor habitat in the form of water and changed shapes as it interacted with the humans on board. Really cool!

mark

[Aaron Schroeder]

The trick with the silvaspray is getting a good even coat. Basically Silvaspray is just very fine silver particals in a very thin evaporative medium. A sloppy application results in uneven plating. If and when you start experimenting with the process you'll learn what works, The great thing about plating is that you can have numerous approaches plating in the vat at any given time. You'll feel ( and look )just like a scientist/chemist as you go through the trial and error learning curve. If you're lucky you'll notice that you'll learn alot from the errors and that they will suggest all sorts of creative possibilities. If you're like me it will probably take a couple dozen botched attempts and alot of wasted material and money before you get it right. No pain, no gain. How else can you become an expert/authority. There will be issues, most of the plating solutions are toxic, Plating is an exacting process, cross contamination must be avoided and like comedy, timing is every thing. In a way it's alot like developing photographs but in 3-D and luckily you can keep the lights on. I'd keep it simple to begin with and accept the humiliation of the learning curve, then as you pick up clues, get more complex. I can easily see a decade of back room meth lab like experimentation before you see the big money. Like any craft it's not so much what you're willing to give to your art, it's what you're willing to have it take from you. You've been at a while, you know what I mean.

[Paul.V]

thanks aaron.....i totaly agree with your statement....its how much you can let your art take from you...its taken everything but my sanity!! i did a bit of research on the net on plating and its seems you can add hints of colour aswell do you know anything about this?

[_Misty]

Good Morning Paul,

I wanted to know, what was going threw your mind, what kind of feelings you were having when you made those sculptures ?

Or was it mainly intuivity (sp!?) ?

I feel when looking at the pictures, that all my unsolved emotions or not quite sure how I can put it out, will come to a end, be resolved, in time, Makes me feel positive about everything, restfull.

Misty

[Paul.V]

hi misty.........when i make them its difficult to describe the feelings its more aftwards when i step back and look at what i have just done and then i spend hours and hours normaly over several weeks going over them and getting them as smooth as possible. i never seem to stop discovering new things about them, i also like to see the shadows they cast wih a spot light on them..

[Paul.V]

here is a piece almost finished and waiting to be bronzed and nickle-plated......

[_Misty]

Evening Paul,


WOW! Looks great plain... can't wait to see the final result!

How long did it take you to create ?

Misty

[Paul.V]

hi misty!

that one took a morning, and then about three weeks to finish!
i have it ready in the foundry and it looks fantastic!

[Aaron Schroeder]

Glad to see you post an image of a piece before it reaches " shiny ". I'm looking forward to seeing it done. It'll be interesting to see the difference. I'd also like to see what it looks like after it's plated, fresh out the vat. How much polishing do you do before you consider it done ?

[Paul.V]

hi aaron....well as my workshop is my bedroom! and i have no space at present all the work is done in the foundry the work is bronzed then polished considerably before plating which i was told about 15 hours or so. the piece looks fantastic and totaly different i'll post a photo shortly......

[Tired Iron]

Can't wait to see it , myself. I like all the pictures you've posted so far of this piece and the others. They remind me of "Worry Stones". If you made them palm size , one could carry them around in your pocket and just keep feeling/rubbing them. And on that note....you stated that your work shop is your bedroom? I think all sculptors probably feel that we do our best /most creative in that room ;)

[Paul.V]

high tired ion ...thanks for your comments...thought you might like to see these........

[Tired Iron]

Fantastic Paul! So which came first? The small pieces or the larger ones? Or did you find these on an archeological dig :D , they do look like something that could have been made by earlier homo sapiens on the steppes. They kind of remind me of arrow heads. I have been lucky enough to find several arrow heads and even had a chance to knap some at a Knap -In down in Florida. That was interesting. People from all over this continent gather together to buy sell and trade their stone ,bone, and wood tools and the raw products to make said tools. Wish I could make it there every year.

[Paul.V]

i discovered the stone in the north of spain and couldnt believe it when i found how easy it was to carve and the variousness of the colour you cant appreciate them so well in the photo, i made 400 of them! and still have 300 still for sale...