Thursday, March 8, 2012

Hens!! AND Hershey's progress



Hello !!!*grin*
I want to talk about chickens today but I thought that would be nice to share my progress with Hershey. when I made Pearl, I learned that it was very difficult to sculpt one part and continue sculpting by adding clay and smoothing, when I kept touching a side where was already done. I kept going back and smoothing and shaping but this allows the sculpture to change. One way that I have done in the past is pre-baking parts but I truly don't like that. It is not the same to me.I like to see the entire sculpture before I bake it so I can twit if i need to, but for smaller animals I am fine baking the head first.
Soo... I went "hunting' online for a stand... a horse stand would be great .Didn't fine any. I found that the majority of artists that sculpts prototype horses uses one . These artists are amazing. I learned a LOT as I did my research. I looked on you tube too . If you are planing to make horses, I tell you... go to you tube and visits sites where professional artist shares pictures and you will learn a lot. Many will share steps, armature formation and such but none had the info that I need for the stand.

One other thing is that my work is in 1:12 . These artists that I mentioned makes 1:16 scale horses in which are a LOT bigger so their stands would not work for Linkme.

I had to make one.

I used metal and welded my parts together. I did not want to use wood because I want to take the stand to the oven. Wood tends to warp with heat.
The stand I made is adjustable . I think I can make just about any large dollhouse animal with my new stand. ohhh ...I love it!*grin*

One thing I may add later is a lazysusan . Next time I make a horse , I will show you progress pictures and how using the stand makes it much easier for my work .*grin*

I am showing you my Hershey in clay prior baking. As I said , I choose to work with her totally in raw clay and I think the final results will show a much better animals sculpt. The reason is that I can smooth her completely before I finally bake her.
One may ask about her belly clay ...well... she has a aluminum armature and believe me or not a 17gauge wire with it. Cow legs are thin compare to the body weight so I want to make sure that her support was strong enough and adding the thicker wire help to do the job.

Chickens!!!

You all know by now that I can't sit still,*grin*, and I can not work on one project only. I truly like to take breaks between sculpting and finishing a project.Opposite of one could think, I give my all in all to each project but the way I work best is if I let each project to "rest' for a little while. This makes me excited when I finally get back to work on.


I have made few chickens this past month... one of my fav is a pepper barred rock hen. I will show you more of that breed later on. I want to make different breeds and different colors most definitely challenges me. I am thankful for all my years as hand-spinner that I learned to dye my fibers... it comes in handy now.*grin*
Anyhow.... I have this plump white spotted chicken available on my ebay if you are interested on her, follow the link on the upper left tab!
wishing you a lovely and blessed day!
It is so beautiful here in Peachland!!Smiles~












6 comments:

miniacollection said...

Your hens are fantastic.
Geneviève

Christel said...

Pat! Hello my sweet friend, Hershey looks GREAT already!! The muscle tone, the udder, everything looks just great! And the chickens! I love the tiny coop, and walk way! Wonderful as always! Can't wait to see more of Hershey, and baby penelope too. Love the baking stand idea..it was great of you to post about it. I think many others will find it very helpful. have a great day! XOXOX Christel

Ilona said...

Hi Patricia!! Amazing these chickens, wow!! I like the henhouse very much ;) About the cow: OMGoodness, what a job and so realistic, I admire your skills very much. Thank you also for your comment on my blog ;). Hugs, Ilona

BlacknickSculpture said...

Interesting wip photos Patricia! I like your new armature stand! I'm looking forward to seeing your cow completed.

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Good morning most beautiful and WONDERFUL TITA!!!! Well, what can I say, but I think I have said it before and every body already knows this, but

YOU ARE SO GIFTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO can get such a small but PERFECTLY life-like representation of a cow or chicken?????? There are many fabulous artists out there who capture the WHIMSY and beauty of an animal in so many assorted ways that I APPRECIATE SO MUCH. But your realism is breathtaking.

Ahhhh.....I bet you are seeing signs of spring at the farm, aren't you? We are as well, with an expected forecast of 70 for the weekend!!! We are going OUT to celebrate our anniversary that fell on Tuesday ( a terribly busy school day) on Saturday with some antique shops to peruse and dinner to be had!

THINKING OF YOU TITA! Nita

Ascension said...

Me encantan esas gallinas quedarian genial en una escena de granja.
besitos ascension