Wax Casting

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

My been spending part of my time working on a large wax cast of an Inuit stone carving that has been commissioned by the artist and his dealer. You will notice in both images that part of the wax has been cut apart. The reason is to allow for  greater access to the interior spots of the sculpture. While the sculpture is open, it allows me to build up the wax thickness where it's needed;a crucial part of the bronze casting process and it points out the importance of the interior part of the casting. Inconsistent thickness in the wax cast can lead to problems such as shrinkage,non form and porosity in the surface of the sculpture.
After the interior work is completed, the surface of the sculpture is then repaired and under goes final finishing.  I'm hoping to complete this project this week.
Later in the week,I'm hoping to have some new updates on #6 . Talk to you all soon. Cheers.

Bronze Gallery New Page

Image copyright  Art Di Lella

Hi again, I've just uploaded the new Bronze gallery. It's located just under the banner. I took various pictures that I've used on the blog and composed them in a different way. I hope you like it.
Regarding studio news, I'm still progressing on the mould of  a large Race Horse relief, plus working on a complex wax cast of a Inuit stone carving that's slated for bronze and finally, finding time to work on #6.  LO is coming along.
I should have more updates to show on Monday,especially the larger works. Talk to you all after the weekend. Cheers.

Skin Texture Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture#6

I've been spending much of the weekend modeling the skin texture on LO. There is a fair bit of experimentation when doing it because the subject (a 6-7 year old child) has very different skin from any of the adult examples in this series. As I've been working,there are constant adjustments to not only the surface but also small corrections are needed for the underlying forms. Below are the latest images to date.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 This is the early part of the process. The texture on the skin has to be subtle.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

As I've been working,there were more changes made to the neck and shoulders. I guess, the fallout from not building them up concurrently with the face. Always a mistake. I'm still not happy with the shadows around the eyes and that maybe related to inadequate modelling around the eye lids.  But still, the sculpture is moving forward and for me,I'm hoping the piece continues to evolve. It always something to look forward to.

I also wanted to announce a new Porcelain Gallery found just below the banner. It contains the fired porcelain sculptures produced in 2011. I will be making new pieces to add to this gallery later this year.
I'll be back towards the end of this week with some new updates. Cheers.
PS  The light table was successful. Yeah!

And Now For Something Completely Different

This has been a strange but interesting week  so far. I started the week working on a large relief,a large wax cast and a bronze turtle. But the week evolved in a different way, I spent part of my time building a light box or exposure unit for my partner Barbara's studio. I've never built a device like this before since most of my training is in sculpture not silk screen printing. I do remember students building their own light boxes when I was at art school. So I decided to look at videos recently to familiarize myself with this device. It seemed to be a fairly straight forward building project except that I was uncertain as to the light intensity needed to provide an even,properly developed screen. The other issue was time. Was it prudent to use a timer that would automatically shutoff the light or a simple on off switch. At publication of this post, Barbara has not tried using the light box yet, perhaps Saturday. I'll let you if it worked.

Meanwhile, I still working on #6 and #5 hyper realistic sculptures and there should be some updates on those projects next week. Until then,have a great weekend,cheers.

Working on New Pages Part 2

Image copyright  Art  DiLella

I've changed my mind about showing #5 in this post. Instead, I'm publishing today, the new Hyper Realism Silicone Gallery. Since the beginning of this blog, I've been interested in improving  accessibility to my images especially after the blog rolls over to another page.  You'll notice in the above photo is the style I'm composing the images for the new galleries. I think this more horizontal lay out will be easier for the viewer to see and compare.It's also another way for the reader to view images from older blog posts that can be seen without the need to go through the archives.
I hope these changes will add a bit of convenience to your visit.  I would welcome your feedback.
Next post, I'll have new images of #5 and some other studio stuff.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #6 Part 9 plus Studio Bits

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 I'm still refining the contours of LO. I should finish this part of it next week.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 The two pink images above are of two moulds (so called studio bits) that I've been building,recently. After the models are prepared,silicone rubber is being applied to each model,layer by layer until the mould reaches  a thickness of at least five millimetres or about a quarter inch. Undercut-ted areas will be thicker in their applications because of the need for withdrawal of the support mould.
Anyways these particular moulds will be finished soon so I 'll have pictures of the casts shortly thereafter.
I'll be back next week with some updates on #5 and possibly news on prepping the mould for #2
Till then, have a great weekend.

New Pages Coming

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I had mentioned during the holidays that some new pages are coming. The reason is that I am trying to make the blog more convenient to use. What occurs after five posts have been published is the earlier entries are buried in the archives. All the posts have titles but that takes time to sort through so I decided to simply make new pages that more reflect what's been happening on the blog according to subject. The images shown in this post will be part of a Terracotta page or gallery. There will be a Bronze gallery, Hyper Realism gallery etc.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I'll be starting to insert the new pages over the next several weeks. If any of you have any comment or a suggestion, just contact me by email at sculpturemoulds@gmail.com
Next post, I hope to have more news about LO and some studio pics as well. I'll be back later this week
Take care, have a great week.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #6 Part 8

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

I had some time over the past two days to advance the sculpt on #6,LO(little one). I find it fascinating how the face of this particular sculpture has been changing . Initially, I was experimenting with an ecorche' version of this model but I decided in the end to focus on my original intent.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

More refinement was done to the face as well as the neck and shoulders. You'll notice that the face is noticeably wider and softer which obscures the skull further though the shadows around the eyes will need to be less "bony".

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 LO is still a long way off from completion but I feel confident that the contouring should be finalized soon.
Even though it's difficult to sex a child so young, my subjective impression based on the model so far is this individual is a girl. I find the facial mask effeminate but then again girls and boys at this age or younger differ little.  It will be a nice change not have to punch in facial hair!

In the meantime, I'm also working on a moulding and casting project for a local hi-tech company and a large  relief for an artist from Port Carling, Ont. I'm hoping to show pictures of those projects and others at a later time.
We'll see. Take care and have a great weekend.

Hyper Realistic Reconstructed Sculpture #6 Part 7

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella

 I'm back again with a new post for the new year. I've been over the past week applying the"skin" to #6, little one. I really love this part of the project because the face really begins to appear. With the face emerging, it was necessary to return to the neck and shoulders in order to bring them back into proper balance. Modelling is a to and fro process with many revisions. You eventually get to point where no new clay is added to the sculpture but instead  the clay is shifted around to where it's needed. The clay that is carved in one spot is added somewhere else until all the forms are connected properly.
I should have the basic topography completed over the next two weeks. We'll see.
I'll be back later this week. Cheers.

Image copyright  Art  Di Lella