Introduction

[Roy]

Hello Everyone,

My Name is Roy & this is my first post Ever on anything involving the Internet. So as you can see I'm a late bloomer. With that I also had a late introduction into the world of Sculpture.
I've had no Training in sculpture, except for books, home projects in clay, & an Evening class in Ceramic Shell Casting @ "The Minneapolis College of Art & Design". I really enjoyed the process & the people I met.

I can already see from my few days of "lurking" that this is an intresting group that I would like to get to know better.

[fritchie]

Roy - Welcome! One of the nice things about the Internet is that people from all over can get together like this and exchange views. We all learn through that.

Please let us hear more about what you are doing. Best!

[Roy]

I finally learned how to post a picture so here is my sculpture that I would like to show. Its about 19" tall & is a representation of vertigo. I feel I didn't succeed at my attempt, so I decided to have the looks of wind blowing her toward the cliff edge.
The figure is supposely of her leaning on a dead tree trunk with the wind blowing against her & the shallow roots against the rock. I did this to heighten the observers sense of danger for her.

[fritchie]

Roy - This is a very nice piece. If you don't mind my asking, what is the medium, and if it is bronze, how did you have it cast? It would be very unusual to do ceramic shell casting on your own, after just one course. That involves quite a bit of equipment and materials cost. From the appearance, I would say it is a resin or plaster medium of some sort, though bronze can look like that.

Keep us up with your progress.

[Roy]

Hi fritchie,

The medium is bronze, though the original picture was too dark to show much detail. The peice was done in 3 pieces by ceramic shell casting. I did this piece at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.
In my first class I did a bust & a pair of hands. The hands I later turned into a representational image of a football attempting to be caught in a frozen moment in time. Its for the eye of the beholder to decide if its a catch or not.

Currently I can do everything at home now from plasticine, Rubber mold, & wax. I have to take the class to have the shell casting & pour.
I also get the guidence from the instructor on how to do the spruing correctly.


Below is the picture before I lighten it through photo shop.

[jwebb]

Very nice piece, and a first rate casting. Welcome! We've had a lot of discussion about bronze casting on this site, and based on this result you can surely contribute some insights on that. If you haven't seen fritchie's very fine work on the "portfolio" section of this site, I'll recommend you check it out, since he's way too modest to do so.

[sculptorsam]

Hi Roy, I do get a strong feeling of vertigo from this piece. Nice job.

Do you still live in the Twin Cities area? If so, there is a good resource for MN artists at www.mnartists.org (I'm a moderator at their forums over there.) You can meet people from all over the world online, yet occasionally you meet someone from your own backyard as well.

Sam

[Araich]

Hi Roy, that piece is very strong, and speaks clearly of vertigo and distress. Welcome.

I took the liberty of adjusting your image, email me a large file if you'd like one altered or private message me if you want any PS tips.

Fritchie - your portfolio 'rocks dude'. You really ought to have that as your website link :)

[Roy]

I want to thank each of you for your kind words of welcome. and: jwebb - for the tip on Portiolio's.
fritchie - nice work! So much body expression that a closeup of facial expression is not needed.
sculpturesam - thanks for directing me to the Mn Web Site. It's now on my "Favorities List"
Araich - thanks for doing that magic with the picture! It shows just enough favorable detail to look good without showing the flaws.

[fritchie]

Roy - Many apologies for taking so much liberty with your image, but here is my attempt to get closer to what I would expect the color to be, after Araich’s go. I used the darker image you said was the original, and mainly tried to get a warmer color in the red to yellow range.

Photographing bronzes is not easy, and of course there is the problem that people’s monitors may be adjusted differently. You are never sure what someone will see on a different machine.

As I said in my first message, it’s a fine piece. As far as a cast, I’m most impressed with the hair. Did you touch this up, or even add it, in the wax? It’s quite detailed.

And with all the nice comments above about my work, I can’t resist the opportunity to put up a link to my New Orleans gallery (http://www.docsgallery.com/artists/fritchie.htm). These are somewhat formalized contemporary torso’s, an attempt to deal with the ever present conundrum of nudity in art.

P.S. - Roy and everyone - Roy added his latest post while I was offline doing this. Isn't interactivity wonderful!

[Roy]

Hi fritchie - You are right. I did add some sweeps of hair when it was in wax. I know Ceramic Shell breaths a little, but I add some small joining sprues to make sure. Thanks for the re-touch. It looks great in a light patina. I used "gun blueing" for the patina so it looks a little too green. Araich's adjustment really looks like it on my monitor. The "d.o.c.s." site is very impressive. I may be in New Orleans this coming year, and I would love to visit the Gallery to see your work first hand.

[fritchie]

Roy - I'm not sure what’s in gun blueing, but that color is about what you might get with a medium application of “liver of sulfur” or potassium sulfide. I made my first pieces totally black, over a green underpatina, in imitation of museum pieces from about 1900. After about 2 - 3 pieces like that, I went to the light to medium brown patina I now use.

The browns mostly are from the same patina material - liver of sulfur, but applied more lightly. I had decided that the black museum pieces were designed for exhibit either outdoors or in a large, brightly lighted space, as with marble walls. I found them too dark for the contemporary spaces where my work typically is exhibited.

Your piece looks fine in either presentation.

[Roy]

Hi fritchie - I really don't know much about patina's yet. The only thing I have tried on my three bronze peices is a chemical that is used to put a blue matalic color to guns. I got it from a sports shop here. I had heard that liver of sulfur is commonly used, but there are dangerous fumes, and the process requires skill at heating and application. I would like to use a lighter, tanner patina on the piece I have in wax now. It is a mask like bust of my father that is supported by a left arm and hand. the elbow will rest on a bronze paper, with the heel of the thumb holding the face up.just below the left ear. The right hand, with forearm, will rest in a writing position on that same paper. It holds a short pencil, sharpened with his pocket knife. (that was part of his personality) The over all affect of the floating, down turned, face is of a seated person drawing in consentration. The suggestion of an invisible body will only work if I can orient things just right. I think a lighter patina might help to make it work.

[fritchie]

Roy - I think those fears about dangerous fumes are exaggerated. I have been using liver of sulfur - potassium sulfide - for my full time with sculpting, about 14 - 15 years, and have had no problem. In fact, my background is in university chemistry (research and teaching). The chemical is applied as an aqueous solution with an ordinary, old, cheap paintbrush, and is heated immediately to dryness.

I use a small propane torch of the type available in hardware stores (small tank about 12 inches tall and 3 inches diameter, with a bronze nozzle about 6 - 7 inches long. This gives a narrow flame from about 1 to 4 inches long, clear blue. To save propane, I preheat the bronze in front of a regular gas heater until it is fairly warm to the touch. As you already have applied patina, you probably are familiar with the technique.

In patining, I use 3 solutions, in 2 concentrations each - liver of sulfur, cupric nitrate, and ferric nitrate. Liver of sulfur alone is fine, to start. The copper sulfides it produces on the bronze are sort of transparent, in these thin layers, and they let the bronze color shine through. The copper nitrate is opaque, and adds subtlety to the browns and blacks of the sulfide with traces of blue or green if lightly applied. I use very little of the iron (ferric), as it can remove the sulfide in irregular patches when applied carelessly. The iron compound will add reds.

Fumes given off with liver of sulfur include hydrogen sulfide, a gas more toxic than the hydrogen cyanide formerly been in prison executions, but the gas smells so bad that it can be avoided in concentrations far too low to be toxic. In fact, I never have smelled it when patining, the concentrations are so low.

For safety sake, I discard all sulfide solutions directly into the ground, in an out-of-the way place, though the danger is small. The copper and iron I dump into the drain, after diluting. Total quantities are small for each use - maybe 3 - 6 tablespoons of solution each.

[Roy]

Hi fritchie - Thank you for the tips on patina's. The explaination for the purpose of each patina is great. What do you mean by "2 concentrations of each"? Is that 2 applications of each concentration or 2 degrees of concentration for each, like one heavy and one light? Also is a "bronze nozzle" a special type for bronze only? I'm sorry to be so dense, but I do want to learn.

If I ever get this project into bronze, I will diffinitly use your three patina method. I will first experiment with some bronze sprues I cut off my last castings.

[fritchie]

Roy - Great idea on using old sprues to experiment with patinas. I meant to add that and forgot. That's just what I did. My founder is very flexible, and let me take a few scraps which he normally recycles. The pieces can be scrubbed back to pure bronze for recycling, with a brief treatment in muriatic acid (hydrochloric).

In regard to the bronze nozzle of a propane tank, that’s just the way they are sold. The nozzle and valve are purchased separately from the tank, and are moved to a new tank when the old one is exhausted. It generates a flame from about ½ inch to 4 inches. Typically I use a 3 inch flame, but I don’t think it is critical. Professional foundries use natural gas, butane, or some other source, with a much larger flame, but I find this works well.

On “concentrations”, I mean two different strengths, adjusted roughly by eye. For the copper and iron materials, the concentrated version is saturated. Cupric sulfate comes as blue crystals, and addition of some to a jar of distilled water produces a deep blue solution. For the diluted solution, I add about ten parts of distilled water, but not measured.

Similarly with the iron. I believe the ferric nitrate actually is ferric ammonium nitrate, which lasts indefinitely as pale green crystals. I keep a saturated solution of this in a plastic jar. This is made by adding crystals to distilled water. This gives a deep brown solution, which also is stable. The diluted version also is about ten to one.

The liver of sulfur solution must be made fresh for each use, as it quickly is destroyed by air. I crush a small lump of solid potassium sulfide - a cloudy yellow solid - about 1/4 inch across, by hitting it with hammer while folded in a piece of cloth, and I drop this into about 3 - 4ounces of distilled water. This dissolves quickly, and I make the dilute solution by adding about ten more volumes of distilled water. In all these cases, distilled water probably is not necessary, but I can get it cheaply at drugstores, and it minimizes contamination.

For the sulfide solutions, the concentrated is a light to medium orange-yellow and the dilute is a pale yellow.

Also, I forgot - I keep a large cup of pure water handy, and brush the whole surface repeatedly with this in between additions of solution. This spreads the color and makes it more uniform. You want the bronze basically hot and dry. It gets damp with the solutions, but keep flaming it back to dryness between additions of solution. Use separate brushes for sulfide, but cupric and ferric can be applied with the same brush. I use both a large brush - about ½ inch width - and a smaller one for each solution.

You have to be careful with sulfide. The stronger concentration can go black almost immediately, so it is best to work slowly with the diluted solution. This will give patinas from straw yellow through rich leathery browns and finally pure black.

One advantage to all these patinas is that they are very stable, unlike many of the exotic things like silver or bismuth. Various acetate and chloride salts probably are stable as well, but I keep things simple with just these three.

[Roy]

Hi fritchie - Thanks for the quick course on patina's. I'm anxious to start experimenting. I have not been able to do anything related to sculpture for the last 9 months. Because of this community, I'm becoming excited with the prospect of doing something creative again. I hope my circumstances allow me to get involved again, but in the mean time, I can experiment with things that won't need large blocks of time like experimenting with the patina's.

Thanks again for your help.

[Roy]

Are there any thoughts on this vision? To work, I think it would have to be life size. People that have suffered a lose could relate to it better that way.

INTO NOTHINGNESS

This sculpture can represent the passage from earthly life back to the source.

The barrier to this passage is a section of wall 5 feet wide and 8 feet high. The wall is the standard 4 ½ inches thick. One side of the wall has a standard plaster surface complete with mopboard. Offset to the left hangs an old picture of a young child. The picture is centered within an oval matting. To the right, and horizontally balanced with the picture is a 1 ½ foot wide, and 4 ½ foot tall oval mirror that rest just a couple inches above the mopboard.

Just to the left of the mirror is an old cane leaning where the mirror touches the wall. On the floor, just to the left of the mirrors center, is a slipper lying obliquely to the wall as if dropped.

An emaciated bronze right leg and foot leans out of a slipper and disappears at the knee into the lower right quarter of the mirror. Above the vanishing leg is the disappearing buttock and back of a wasted old man. An old, arthritic right hand grips the wall at the upper right edge of the mirror. The thin wrist too melts into the mirror.

All bronze surfaces actually enter properly cut holes in the glass so they submerge and not just butt against the mirror.

The other side of the wall is flat black so that no light can reflect off it. Many small round mirrors are scattered like stars round the dark, void like surface. The mirrors vary in size, but never larger than a dental mirror.

Emerging from this starry space is the chrome body of a strong young man. The body twists slightly to its right from an emerging waist. A strong left arm extends up with searching fingers into the darkness, which is being pierced by a bright, halogen spotlight mounted high off site.

With eyes still closed, the upturned face and neck strain against the invisible clinging curtains of earthly memory.

Here I see a face like that found in Frederick Hart’s ExNihilo . at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington D.C..



The light shins on the emerging chrome body, causing many stray reflections. The mirrors on the dark wall reflect a slanting pattern on a dark floor beneath a left leg and foot that has no need to touch a solid floor.

[fritchie]

Are there any thoughts on this vision? To work, I think it would have to be life size. People that have suffered a lose could relate to it better that way.

INTO NOTHINGNESS

This sculpture can represent the passage from earthly life back to the source. .. deletions ..



Very clear and great ideas, Roy. As usual, the trick is to get funding so you can bring it into being. I have no suggestions here. Maybe a maquette to demonstrate the concept. You might discover problems with the basic idea there, or even improve it. That is not uncommon.

[Roy]

[QUOTE=fritchie]Very clear and great ideas, Roy. As usual, the trick is to get funding so you can bring it into being. I have no suggestions here. Maybe a maquette to demonstrate the concept. You might discover problems with the basic idea there, or even improve it. That is not uncommon.[/QUOTE
]
Thanks fritchie. I tried to attach a picture of one of Frederick Harts images, but I lost the attachment. A maquette might be a good idea, but I doubt I will ever have the time or talent to do it. I have to take care of my wife now, so I don't even have time for a crude maquette.

If it's possible to give the idea to someone out there with the desire, time, talant and money to do it, feel free.

[dollhaven]

Hello Roy. Welcome. I too am a new sculptor and just started posting last week. There are a lot of helpful people on this site. I've gotten some great cristism and compliments on my work.
Your piece is great. It shows so much emotion. I'm starting to do some full body pieces. I love the sculpting and I hope to see more of your work.
Tammy

[Roy]

Hi Tammy!

Thank you for that nice compliment. I saw your work when you first joined us, and I tried to respond, but I seem to be PC challanged. I can only respond out of this thread! I did get out a few weeks ago, but things seemed to have changed. Probably my memory is worse.

I tried to tell you that you are very talanted and I wish you a long and happy career following your bless.