Armatures and finishing Whitetail

I know that we have touched base on armatures before but it seems that maybe everyone else is as bumfuddled with them as I was and still are often.   They are something that you have to be able to produce a molded piece of work but you can not let it dictate direction to you.

  In other words it has to be able to support quite a bit of movement and weight but yet give you enough flexibility to not have a pipe or wire sticking out where you do not need it to be interfering. There is nothing more frustrating then to find that after you start claying up, your animal looks really stiff because you have followed the lines or the demands of the armature rather than bending to the nature of a leg or neck and it will be  sickening when you already have it in metal before you wise up.

All starts with scaling your figure to where you can break it down into inches or 1/4 inches where you can be accurate.

This is a basic store bought armature versus a picture of one that can be constructed with pipes, T's, and L's and using wire that is either wound with more wire for strength or a single strong art store purchase of armature wire. You do not want something you can not move at all.

this is just beginning we already covered this in previous blog dated 5/5/15

several days later while trying to decide position I desired

 

this is trying to figure out exactly what I wanted in antlers

This is finished piece without the antlers actually attached because they will be molded separately.

I have cheated and upon finding a wire in a bad spot and needing to eliminate it I have waited until it is a wax and trimmed it where the wire was visible in the molding process. I don't suggest this if you are like me and are absent minded...it might go through the foundry process like that.

I don't care what anyone says you may change a piece or tear it down and redo five to eight times before finding the angle or position you want and that looks good to you. Remember my story about covering up a piece between working on it so that your errors jump out at you as in this piece it was redone many times because I chose a different position than ordinary, it is called the "sneak" so you have to change to accommodate the neck, head and entire body language  making it more difficult. It is the position of a buck when he is in pursuit of a doe. It is so beautiful to watch hopefully I got it to come across in clay. Much like having a baby this won't be out of the foundry for a few months and I will show the finished piece at that time. Thanks for dropping in hopefully I have shown something you enjoyed.

Finally down to the last show, I think

Sorry I have neglected this part of my keeping touch with everyone but during the summer I am usually so busy with art, shows, family and etc. that it is difficult to keep this current.
On top of that my daughter had another grandson for me (making it three boys) my husbands mom passed away and he had total knee replacement (not due to spousal abuse).

I have my last show September 19-20 in Boulder, Colorado on the Pearl Street Mall and I pull down my Estes Park show October 25th then I will close out 2015 unless I get into the Lone Tree Art Expo 2015 which I will not hear until later. It runs 9/24/15 until 11/09/15.

But did want to call attention to you artist that shows are already being posted for 2016 and the cut off dates are earlier than ever.

My option is still open for a class to be taught this Spring (I do not usually set the date until I get my show schedule) for only four days and only one person and to remind those that do not know me I only teach one person at a time because I like to develope not only friendships that have my complete attention during the class but also because this is when I donate my earnings to Operation Smile (so little can change a child's entire life). Four days for 375.00 what a deal, from clay to finished piece or close to finished plus I get to see a miracle in a child's smile.