"Lurking Lioness"
For the structure and main support of this sculpture I used a 18g Stainless Steel and I used 26g Stainless Steel. The 26g was easier to work with and great for implying shapes but it was terrible for structural support. The 18g however was great for structural support though it was difficult to work with. I started by using the 18g to build the main structure of the head and the muzzle and used the 26g to make the finer details of the sculpture.
"Growth"
In this project I wanted to combine abstract and form so I went with an unstructured “trunk” and superglued the leaves and flowers for form. I started the process of building my sculpture by sketching out the shapes of the leaves and the flower petals on paper. I then cut out the leaves and petals. After that I used folding and curling methods to fold the petals and leaves in half and to curl the ends of the petals to make them seem more life-like.
My favorite part of this project has to be when I started gluing the flower petals together. I had never done paper flowers before and I was honestly expecting them to end up looking terrible. For the center of the flowers I decided to cut out circles of paper and cut them into small sections and then cut those sections into tiny feathered strips and glue the whole thing to the center of the flowers. For the base I crumpled and twisted two pages of paper and glued them together to be trunk-like. Finally I glued on the leaves and the flowers to the base.
"Campfire Clay"
When designing these three maquette sculptures I tried out several different shapes and ideas before finally settling on these three designs. The theme I landed on was an abstract campfire theme. The vaguely tear-drop shaped one was the first one I finished (representing a flame of fire) and it is probably my favorite of the three because, despite its relatively simple shape, it’s the most elegant of the three.
I used the sphere sandwiched between the two squares to represent a s’more as a point of emphasis for the second sculpture’s rather bold design.
The third and final sculpture was the most difficult to make but I tried to demonstrate a sense of rhythm and continuity using the cones as the repeating pattern in its design. This represents logs in a fire.
"Spruce"
For my impression mold project I decided to do an evergreen theme using pine cones, spruce needles, and spruce twigs. I had never done a mold of any kind before so I was not sure what to expect but I am pleasantly surprised and pleased with the end result. I wanted to keep the design relatively simple and I think I succeeded in that. For the paint I used wood stain which I thought would fit in nicely with my theme.
I was honestly expecting the cone shapes to be the most difficult to cast however it was the needles that were truly difficult. I purposely made the needles mold very deep because I was worried they wouldn't show up. However this just made it harder for the plaster to sink in and created air bubbles though I managed to remedy that. I am very happy with how the cones and branches show up in the plaster. I think it captured their details very well.
"Wolf"
After sketching out this sculpture the first thing I did was make the wire armature. I didn’t have very many difficulties while making it, though I did have a fair amount of trouble with the wires that formed its neck. They didn’t really want to stay in place. However, I was able to remedy this by using smaller wire to help hold them in place. Next I covered it in tin foil to help with the structure and to support the clay. I had a lot of trouble with the muzzle while doing this and I confess I had to resort to a glue gun to get it to stay on but it worked out in the end. Finally I covered the sculpture with clay and sculpted the finer details using my sculpting tools. Next time I will probably use more clay to work with in the future so that I can explore a bit more with shapes.
"Shell Shocked"
For the cast and mold project I decided to do seashells because they are relatively simple. I selected a shell from a recent trip to Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska and used it to create a silicone mold then I cast it three times. Additionally I took a barnacle (also from Price of Wales) and made a mold and cast of that. I then painted the three shell casts and barnacle cast with watercolor. Finally I arranged the shells into a flower shape and placed the barnacle on top and glued them together. My cast worked fairly well, though I am not one hundred percent satisfied with the result. I had a bit of trouble with air bubbles in both the molds and casts.
"Media Mayhem"
For my final project I decided to deconstruct an old keyboard. I began to deconstruct it by unscrewing the screws in the bottom of the keyboard that keep it together. However, I immediately ran into difficulties as one of the screws was covered by a sticker and I didn’t realize it was there until I had accidentally ripped out the screw in my attempts to open it up (thankfully nothing was damaged aside from the screw). Before I ripped the screw out, though, I popped out all the keys while I was trying to figure out why the keyboard wouldn’t open. Thankfully this process went rather smoothly. There was a lot of dirt and grime that wedged between the keys. I was actually surprised by what I found inside; it was a lot simpler and easier to deconstruct than I thought it would be. Finally, I painstakingly arranged the pieces into some semblance of order.
I thought it would be interesting to use the pieces of the keyboard to create a sculpture about how I felt about media and the worldwide web and how it can feel using the internet on a daily basis. First, I turned over the bottom of the keyboard to use for the base of the sculpture. Next I took what I am assuming is some kind of insulator that I found and started to super glue it into a vaguely brain shape. While I was waiting for the “brain” to dry I glued five keys that together spelled MEDIA to the front middle of the base of the keyboard.
Next I cut the former cord of the keyboard into several smaller pieces and glued random keys to the ends of them. After the “brain” and cord strips had finished drying I glued the brain to the center of the base just in front of the MEDIA keys I then poked holes in the insulating material and began to glue the ends of the cord strips into the holes. But I once again encountered difficulty with gluing and unfortunately despite my best efforts you can see some glue keeping the cord strips aloft. Finally for the last step I began to glue random keys all around the board. My first goal for this sculpture was to create it using nothing but the materials from the keyboard which, aside from the glue I used to put it together, I succeeded in. My second goal is that my sculpture illustrates the chaos that is the media and the internet. I think we all at some point have felt overwhelmed and I hope my sculpture illustrates that chaos.
