Art Project: Help with Choice of Materials

[su*]

Hi all,

The base of my new art project is a big model of a sewing needle..
If you don't get what I mean, basically I want to sculpt a BIG sewing needle.

I'm not really sure what to work with at the moment though..
I've browsed around the forum, and I see that some people use wax, vinyl or polymer clay.
I don't have experience at all in any of the above.. so I'm hoping you can make some suggestions, and perhaps include a few tips ? :o

Also, I'm hoping that the material isn't extremely hard to work with, or hard to find as I live in Taipei and have access to only a few art shops.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks!

[furby]

do you mean big compared to a real needle or big compared to a semi-trailer?

[su*]

haha sorry
big compared to the real needle..
I'm thinking.. 5 feet in length?

[grommet]

Not sure what your intent is or your skill level... Have you considered papier -mache' or plaster? These are usually fairly available materials.

[GlennT]

How the needle will be used may help determine the best method. For example, will it be used to stitch giant clothes or...no actually, the important things are; will it need to be weather resistant, will it be stationary or moved around a lot, will it be suspended in the air, against a wall, or on the ground, be self-supporting? Does it need to look metallic or just suggest the shape, does it need to have a very smooth, finished surface? Carved foam with a painted spackle or plaster layer over it, paper mache over stucco lathe, wood carved from a large tree branch are some possibilities.

[su*]

interesting.
It doesn't really need to be weaher resistant, and it would probably end up being put on a block for display.. horizontally. I would like it to be smooth, and I was simply going to use perhaps gold/silver acrylic paint as the final layer.

Again, I've never done any sort of sculpture before, so offer your opinions!

Out of those 3 possibilities, carved foam and plaster/spackle seemed most relevant. If this was a possibility, how would I go about the plaster part?

[StevenW]

Again, I've never done any sort of sculpture before, so offer your opinions!


Glenn's idea of wood has some merit, when I think about a needle there are only two elements of interest, the eye and the point. The only other care would be in the material.. Since you wanted an opinion, I'll give you mine. Seeing as this is your first sculpture and you'll never ever have another chance to make a first sculpture again I suggest you focus on the material. The point and the eye I would keep simple. Do you want to look back 10 years from now and say my first sculpture was made from paper mache or something else? Wood would be a nice choice, but if you look at the history of the needle, the first primitive one's were made from bone, so I would gravitate toward that medium. Combs and needles and toothpicks and other items we take for granted these days played a significant role in early man's history and they were all made from bone. If it were my first sculpture and I decided to make a needle I would make it from whale bone, but first I'd have to go and kill myself a whale and before I could do that I'd have to build a ship and have one of the metal chaps forge me a harpoon. Once I had all that done and studied navigation and learned the constellations by heart I'd get busy with my needle.

Of course, you could always take the easy way out and just make a paper mache needle and spray paint it with some cheesy silver paint or wrap it in tin foil, but what fun would that be and what are you going to tell your grand kids when you had the chance to go whale hunting like ol Ahab?

Okay, did I say I liked Glenn's idea of the wood? At least the material will be interesting, but don't come back here in 10 or 20 years and say how could you let me do it with paper mache. Not after all that,.. nope,.. unhuh.. :)

[dskolberg]

Why not make it out of sewing needles. That way you have the consistency and quirkiness of form following form

[evaldart]

If its "sculpture" it should last a bit...but if you have no experience executing a sculpture then you will have to make be making sacrifices due to your unfamiliarness with a "permanent" material. If you really want to make a big sculpture on your first try...carve it outta wood or stone (or bone), sculpt it out of plaster or wax then cast it in a real material, or fabricate it out of metal. Bust your ass and take what you get. The latter options will require money for space, tools and will involve some learning and practice (time)...dive in if you care.

If its only going to be a prop or a fixture...paper mache or foam and some silver spray-paint will do just fine.

[dskolberg]

I agree with evaldart, if its just a prop take a look at theater prop web sites. They have a bunch of info on using Styrofoam and other material.