Armature & Material Planning

Now that I have a design idea in place, and a vision coalescing with the researched components from 'Pan's Labyrinth', I can begin to create the armature and practice some material experimentation.

After discussing with numerous technichians, I found that there are numerous ways to achieve the effect I'm hoping for with this sculpture. However, before term ends, I simply need to focus on having the armature in place and to begin cost research on material options.

Using the technical drawings from my sketchbook, below you can see some larger, scaled up versions to be used as a reference for the armature. Note: the top part of the sculpture will be mainly solid, with the lower half hollowed out to fit my salt lamp within.

Above: Technical drawings considering the lamp and scale.

Creating the Armature:

During material discussiong with the moulding and casting technician, we started to work on a very small armature to come to terms with the shape and structure needed. Later on, we used my technical drawing to remake the armature at the correct scale. Below you can see this process.

Above: Technical drawing alongside creating the armature base.

Above: The process overview.

Above: Final armature ready for clay sculpt.

Using newspaper, alluminum foil and different kinds of metal wire, I applied the same technique from the skull armature to create a strong infrastructure with enough surface area for clay to hold onto.

At the moment, the rough idea for this piece is to cast the main structure in resin and then sculpt the details on top of this layer. Therefore, the sculpt will need to act as the foundation - holding a defined shape that allows for extra detailing to be added later on. At this point I can begin sculpting in clay, while also experimenting with materials [as resin may not be the final medium].

Material Choices:

After talking to the visiting tutor, Graham, and the metal technicians, there were many cheaper options in order to create this sculpture. For example, PVA and silk, Warbla, Milliput, vacuum forming or paper maché. However, I decided that I wanted to invest some money into my piece for the highest quality. Initially I put through an order with Notcutts to create a silicon mould with a jesmonite jacket. However, this chalked up to just under £300.

The second option was to create a simple plaster waste mould however, after discussing this with Simon, we agreed that this would be too difficult for the shape of the sculpt and also problematic if the first cast didn't come out well. Luckily, some students in my class had left over silicon at a discounted rate and I could just use plaster to create the jacket. A technique a previous student had used to create a translucent or transparent surface involved the use of resin, gel coats and powder-based glass matting fabric. So I ordered these in preparation for the casting stage.

Now ready with all of my materials and a technique in place, I will begin making my mould with Graham in the casting and moulding studio.