1/18/12: I started by making sort of an armature which is just some paper covered in tinfoil covered in duct tape on a dowel. Then I made a lollipop around the paper with clay. Then, for eight hours I shaped the lollipop into a head shaped form. This is not as easy as it sounds.
1/19/12
I pushed in the eye sockets and added clay to create the nasal bone which is the start of the skull. I then added a big lump of clay to create the jaw. I wish I'd have taken pictures of this because it takes a really long time to get the proportions right. I didn't have it exactly right as you'll see in the next pictures.
1/20/12
For the nose, I added three little lumps of clay, (tip and nostrils) and then made a piece of 'skin' which is just a thin flat piece of clay. I laid the skin across the bone and cartilage and shaped it with some tools. The nose is really fun to make. Once I had the nose I started to notice that my jaw was too short, and my eyesockets slightly low. For children, the eye sockets are lower, but not this low.
Next I added a bean shaped piece of clay under the nose and shaped it into the upper lip. The upper lip is fat, and looks much too big because you don't have the fat or muscles on the face yet.
Added a piece of clay and shaped the lower lip.
Started adding some clay below the lower lip to make the jaw larger and more in proportion.
Added fat and muscle around the mouth and cheeks and more on the jaw. I noticed that that the jaw was looking super masculine so I futzed around with that for a long time.
First try on the eyes. A little too low. Try again.
A little higher but weirdly shaped...try again.
Too close together and super flat and weirdly shaped. Try again. I think I remodeled the eyes 9 times in all.
I added the ears. Making ears is fun!
Hair! Making hair is not as fun as making ears.
Head on a stick.
2/5/2012: Terrible picture but head on a torso.
2/6/2012:
I met with my adviser after work today to figure out how I was going to make the final piece. I was initially going to mould the thing in five different pieces in plaster (insanely time consuming), wait for the plaster to dry (takes forever and I was concerned about plaster drying), and cast in slip. I then had to wait for the slip to dry and fire the pieces and reassemble using epoxy. My adviser agreed that it was unrealistic. He explained that I can't fire the original, not necessarily because of the duct tape and paper and tinfoil inside (although that would be very risky) but mostly because the inside of the head is very thick, the torso is very thin and the walls have to be of similar thickness. I guess I knew that going in, but I thought I was going to make moulds so I really didn't worry about it. The clay is too dry for me to hollow out now. So he said, chop the head off right here (slashing motion across the neck) and only mold the face. It will have to be a press mold. You have rebuild the rest (Holy shit!), and the clay has to be of similar thickness - no thinner than 3/4 - 1" because the hands will be that thick. Rebuild the rest...hair and back of head too? Yes, it's too complicated to mould. Okay!
I thought that maybe I could use Rub-R-Mold, which is latex instead of moulding the head in plaster. I bought some of that, but in researching it further in the moulding book, it was a bad/ risky idea. I don't have time for mistakes or experimentation right now so I'm going with plaster. I now have two jars of latex from which I will make something fun and scary in the future.
I went home and cut the thing in half. I thought I could maybe recast the entire front but in rethinking it, he's right. Plus, I didn't really like the texture of the shirt or the shape of the chest. My kid says, "Ooh! You get a do - over!" That's one way to look at it.
I also built the torso half way and built the arms and roughed out the hands and wrists.
Also, I have to be finished by Monday in order to fire this thing in time for the show. So I will work during the day, and make my piece after 4 and get in 9-10 hours of work T-W-Th-F. On the weekend I will have from 8am - 2am (with 6 hours of sleep which isn't bad). So altogether I will have around 70 hours (minus bio breaks and taking pictures and updates) to finish the project, which I'm pretty sure is enough.
