Ahhh! I waited a long time for this moment.
Against all odds, the sculpture did fit into my car!! And it fits into my studio. Just about! Just enough space to put my hand between the top part of the sculpture and the ceiling. (I have to remember to calm my ardor for future sculptures. So far any new sculpture had gained 50 cm in height respective to the previous one. Or I have to start looking for a new studio space… any suggestions?)
This week was hard but satisfying work: putting the quadaxial fibreglass matting onto the figure with Jesmonite, which is waterbased and much less toxic then the classic lamination products. It is messy though and can create bigger lumps. Therefore I was ultra careful not to add any thickness where there should not be any to keep the finesse of the contours, all the while making a sturdy sculpture for outside conditions. It meant cutting the fabric to measure and couture positioning with needles.
Now the whole figure is covered and secured and I can progress to the part of work which I adore: putting on more Jesmonite material and working back into the hard surface with chisel and hammer and files and sanding paper to find the forms and lines. Pure bliss!
The black colour you see on the photos is not the colour you get in the end! It is a mixture of Jesmonite with blue, black and red oxide pigments. When poured it appears a deep rich black. But as soon as I touch it with a file or sanding paper it becomes an interesting blue verdigris. I love this phase as it allows to play with texture and colour and make believe (of a material it is not. It looks an aged coppery metal right now, not sure the picture gives it credit though) I also love the lines and texture created by the tools. I will try and keep those! Lucky surprises!
More next week!
