God I love Winter. This is when I get all the best designs done. Here are the ones I’m starting with for this project, titled “Splash”.

The goal is to get these graphics to viable fully modeled 3D sculptures.

So, it’s out to the shop to get some work done. Another unglamorous picture of how sculpture gets made. The sun is shining and that’s nice.

Since these are going to be bronze castings from wax models, I make some wax sheets, use the design as a template to cutout the figure, stack them up like a relief map, and add soft wax to flesh out the forms and emphasize the third dimension. Dip the whole thing in warm water and bend and shape it. Working outside in the barn with the wood stove going is actually very helpful; the cold air keeps the wax firm and holding it’s shape. Moving it nearer to the stove warms up the surface of the wax so you can smooth it, without warming the core so much that it starts moving where you don’t want it to. Take it outside for a few minutes to really get hard. When working with wax in the summertime it is all the time too soft to get decent results. It gets too soft to hold it’s shape right and you end up putting it in the icebox to chill and firm up. Of course you are sitting in the sun in a T shirt and shorts instead of long underwear and Carharts. On the other hand, Winter, you are not tempted to go skateboarding or swimming at the lake.

Second Splash: