New panel

[Landseer]

Pegasus or griffon panel, textured background, 16x24x4 mostly finished, needing final cleanup and minor detailing when the clay is firmer.







Reduced scale to 24" wide from 32", proportioned and based on a compilation of an original mirrored pair;

[MountainSong]

It looks really great Lanseer, I think it’s really great your keeping this art form alive and saving so many of these old historical pieces.

[GlennT]

Lanseer:

I hope that besides restoration work you are also doing orginal commissions for architectural sculpture. Growing up in Chicago I was exposed to a lot of that wonderful bas-relief ornamentaion in buildings, which I considered normal until seeing such a lack of it elsewhere. It does so much to add character and a personal note to what could be an otherwise uninteresting building.

In my local small town, population 10,000, I had an opportunity to create some bas-reliefs for a new firestation / maintenance building. I made two cast concrete panels 3' x 9' depicting firemen and maintenance workers in action. They were cast from rubber molds taken from the work sculpted in Klean Klay. ( I improvised an attempt to reduce a scanned photo to an acceptable file size with marginal results, included here )

Despite the fact that I charged about 1/3 of a normal price so that it would get done rather than be dismissed as too extravagant for the city, I had to fight in particular one city council member who thought it was a waste of money. Fortunately, the head of maintenance was a man of vision, and the otherwise dull looking building has some artwork that helps to give the building a personal identity.

Doing work like this which ends up being rather anonymous as far as artist recognition is concerned, is still in my mind a very important thing to do to help make our visual culture one to be proud of instead of feeling somewhat oppressed by an over-bearing technology devoid of spirit.

Keep up the great work!

Glenn

[Landseer]

I've done only one restoration- in St Louis, that Victorian townhouse. Not an easy field to break into, so I just sell the casts and if something restorationish comes along great!
A new client just ordered 3 of my Art deco panels to use in the header wall for her new built-in pool going in, so these will form part of that Art Deco wall.

some bas-reliefs for a new firestation / maintenance building. I made two cast concrete panels 3' x 9' depicting firemen and maintenance workers in

Hard to see thw photo but it looks real interesting, if you can figure out a way to show us a larger image I'm sure everyone would like to see it.

Despite the fact that I charged about 1/3 of a normal price so that it would

Gee, and that lady probably fumes about the cost even then at 1/3rd, glad the head prevailed! Firehouses , at least in NYC traditionally were always VERY ornamented, new ones look more like parking garages.

Doing work like this which ends up being rather anonymous as far as artist recognition is concerned, is still in my mind a very important thing to do to

I agree thanks Glenn, and thanks Mountainsong too.

I haven't decided on the next one to do, a client wants a double griffin panel I have the photo of from years ago, about the same size as the one I just did



San the border it wouldn't be too big and heavy, but lately it seems all my models are panels! still, having the first one pre-sold would cover the mold cost which is attractive to consider.

[Merlion]

Just curious. Have you done works that require enlarging or reducing existing relief panels? There may be some demand for panels that are of different size.

If you have not done this before, I have a good suggestion for doing the enlargement or reduction to the sizes of the artwork shapes.

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by Merlion

Just curious. Have you done works that require enlarging or reducing existing relief panels? There may be some demand for panels that are of different size.

If you have not done this before, I have a good suggestion for doing the enlargement or reduction to the sizes of the artwork shapes.

Mostly 1:1 size or reduction as was the case here, the other two panels were full size.
I did the reduction using CAD software and taking the photo and scaling it down proportions locked- from 32" wide to I figured 24" would be a reasonable size- enough area but not so much it would make it hard to ship.
Also had to allow for the clay shrinkage- about 1-1/2", so the form is about 25-1/2" wide.
Once I had the photo scaled, I just printed it out full size, but 8-1/2x11 sheets have to be laid out on the table and taped together to get thatsize an image without a large format printer.
Works pretty well for me, and minor inevitable paralax issues with the printed sheets not lining up perfectly are easy enough to deal with.

With that I can directly measure with calipers and compare to the model.

[Merlion]

CAD software? I'd just use a low technology machine, an overhead projector, projecting on to a large piece of paper taped on a wall.

[desertrock]

The more I see these panels and how they're done, the more I like and appreciate them. I find the reproductions your doing from the deteriorating models more appealing than the originals.
Nice work.

Mark

[ajoysisk]

Landseer:

What you are doing interests me. I'd like to know how you got into restoration undertakings...do cities put out calls for sculptors, or is it a case of knowing someone? Thank you for any light you can shed on this. I know of some individuals who might be interested in your skills, if you are interested in further panels...

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by Merlion

CAD software? I'd just use a low technology machine, an overhead projector, projecting on to a large piece of paper taped on a wall.

I use Vectorworks, here's a little screen shot of part of it, the small grey box left of center is the regular size letter paper print area. Directly above it is the full sized panel 25" wide 17" high and by placing that image object over the print area I printed out sheets to tape together to create a full sized image on paper.
The obj info window gives detailed info on any object in any measurement and any angles, it also accept input and as you can see, it is possible to rotate objects in 0.01º increments.
The scale objects window is great- infinite enlarge or reductions are possible. I last used it to compensate for clay shrinkage. Great software for experimenting with different things with.

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by desertrock

The more I see these panels and how they're done, the more I like and appreciate them. I find the reproductions your doing from the deteriorating models more appealing than the originals.
Nice work.

Mark

Thank you Mark,
I agree, the originals are somewhat damaged, and their surfaces are a bit "rocky"

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by ajoysisk

Landseer:

What you are doing interests me. I'd like to know how you got into restoration undertakings...do cities put out calls for sculptors, or is it a case of knowing someone? Thank you for any light you can shed on this. I know of some individuals who might be interested in your skills, if you are interested in further panels...

Hi,
I think you have not understood fully what I'm doing, this is not for restoration or replacements, no one has hired me to make these, I'm 1500 miles away from New York. I make the models to make molds from to sell the casts on my website and some through a couple of interior decorators and stores- that's it, people buy them to decorate their homes or gardens with.
I've only done ONE restoration project and it was because the homeowner contacted me about a corbel I have and I suggested making a custom model that fits better.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't do restorations or custom work, it's just that selling the reproductions is 99.9% of it.

From that same building is this terra cotta frieze, but it's over 12 feet long, and albout 2 feet high. I might replicate a 25% to 50% reduced scale version of the center 1/3 of it with the griffins and lyre, sans the border;

[Landseer]

Originally Posted by GlennT

In my local small town, population 10,000, I had an opportunity to create some bas-reliefs for a new firestation
Glenn

Glenn, check out this on an old firehouse;


http://flickr.com/photos/moocat/2331...7594252679495/

[GlennT]

Thanks Landseer:

Talk about adding personality to a building!

I wonder if the sculptor was re-using a work done for a church...were it not for the number on the helmet, the shape looks like it could be a bishop's hat.

Nice how a small work of art can entirely change the character of a building.

GlennT

[Landseer]

First time I've ever had a dog delete my post- no joke, I had it ready to go and poof, gone.
Sure thing Glenn, glad you liked it.

I believe that is carved stone, if it was terra cotta I'd say they might have had a mold on hand and used it to cast that fireman pair and then hand inserted the numbers.

Now I have a lady who wants that BIG panel above- the 12 foot wide jobbie. I suggested I might make a reduced scale version of it 25 to 50% smaller, but at 50% it would be kind of "dinky" as the height might only be 11" sans the border. 25% would be 9' wide but about 16" high- much better but still damn long, so I could either go with 30 or 35% and in 4 sections, or I could photoshop manipulate the height to width ratio and see how it might look at 6' wide but stretched to 15-16" high.
I just tried a little of that now, 16" x 8' looks like it might work, and 4 sections would divide in good locations on the design.

Would be a hell of an undertaking, plus I've never modelled a person or face yet, though a couple of chunky cherubs shouldn't be that hard.

I already have the first cast of that Griffin panel sold and just hollowed out the clay model last night, I'd like to find an easier way to do these other than a solid slab of clay- that was 150# worth and trying to get it off the easel and on edge to hollow out is a major task by myself, and it can't be rolled over on it's edge to do that. But I need the depth as well as all sides being nice straight and flat, perfectly square etc and that's not easy to get adding them on later.
I guess an open back board might work that allows access from the back on the easel, especially if it had an inset that can be unscrewed and removed...

[Landseer]

I also found this photo and asked the lady who shot it if she would take more for me- there's others like this around the door, she said sure!

When I saw this I thought this is pretty cool and would be a pretty easy model to do and could be done quickly. Might be a good warm up for the big one since it does have a mostly human figure;



And this is also interesting though the face is horrible;

[Landseer]

Over Sat/Sun I started and finished two big silicone molds with mother mold shells and cast 6 of these;




And the first one of these;



They used the 2 gallons of silicone I bought, 3,100 and about 6,000 gms respectively but I wanted them thick.
It sure is nice being about to start and finish and then cast two large molds in a day and a half, with the silicone being able to be removed from the model and be put into use in just 20 hours.

The hydrocal casts are about 30 and 50# respectively