"Forged in the fires of Mount Doom..."

 

Last night I decided on a whim to attempt to bake my new sculpture, so I did some research on cooking techniques, and tossed the piece in the oven. I set it for 250 and let it go for about an hour. Seeing no signs of scorching or burning, I turned the heat up a bit and let it go another 20 minutes. I then turned the oven off and left it to finish cooling overnight. I pulled it out this morning and am pleased with the hardness, but there are some parts that need to be reworked a tad. Mostly just the ends of each hair lock, where they are jagged or broken or cracked. Since the whole piece is holding up well from the firing, however, adding to these parts won't be any trouble at all. After that, some sanding and flash removal, which should be minimal since I used clay softener and a brush to smooth it before baking. I guess it's time to start looking for casting materials online.

Seriously, this stuff makes me want a bagel...

Here I've carved out the forms and put more detail on the face. It was tricky getting down into the curves around the face, so I bought some small clay tools today, to supplement the ones I have. Also, I noticed there isn't a whole lot of skull going on in the back, so I'll need to round that out more.

The ear was a little delicate, but surprisingly easy to do. The hardest task I've had is smoothing out the forms, but I saw some clay softener at the store- using that lightly with a brush should do the trick. All that will be left after that is to peg the back for hanging then bake it. Then I will have to find the stuff to make a casting mold.

I'm not dead! I think I'll go for a walk...

Just a note to say that I haven't given up again, I've just been in the midst of moving, and haven't had much time or energy to actually update. I have, however been doing some sketches, and am actually working on a small sculpted piece (more on that in a bit). I've also had some great ideas for some series pieces, but those will wait until after the holidays, I think. Also, prints of the Bad Girls of Gotham will be possible soon, I just need a really high res image to print from.

So this is a first attempt at a small relief piece I'm working on, part of a diptych. It's my first foray into Sculpey as a sculpting medium.

The Truth is Written in Acrylic

Okay, so finished the arm using the same blue and burnt umber, and a bit of the napthol and cadmium orange for the hand and accents on the hookblade. The background is a glaze of napthol and alazarin crimson over the black and white. And that's it; those are the only colors I used on this. Very proud of the limited palette I used.

Overall, I'd say my favorite part is the forearm bracer section. The texture of the leather came out very nicely. I also really enjoy the hood. Honestly, they were the parts I worried about the most when I began, along with the face, of course. 

For the moment, I'm done with this, though I hesitate to call it finished. I have one idea that I want to try out before I do it, and it's sort of a surprise. But if it works, I'll post another update to show it off. Thanks for reading, and as always, comments are welcome.

We now take a break from Batman: AC and Rocksmith to bring you the following.

Just an update on this painting, to prove that I am still working on it. At least in as much as I did more work today for the first time in over a week. Not a lot to say here. I added the red of the sash and the inside of the hood using my favorite Napthol Crimson (I seriously need to buy more of this). I touched up the spot on the tunic that I didn't like before. I used the Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber in various tints for the hood, and the fur is just black and white used in light, quick strokes.

Up next is the hand and hidden blade. It should prove interesting getting the metallic texture of the blade right. I'm still not sure what to do with the background, but I have some ideas. See you next time.