Heavy in Your Arms

I managed to get Florence home. It was a very tense 5 minutes rolling her from the sculpture class room, along the side walk, across the street and into the parking garage which charges an ungodly $32 to park. It was the nearest garage though, and I decided it was worth it to park closer rather than to park a few more blocks away for $12 and perhaps have the cart catch on something and topple over.

Over the break (Dec 22 - Feb 3) I'll be refining the surface, and when Spring semester starts, the mold making process will begin, and my chronicles of Sculpting Florence will continue.

Sometimes I Feel Like Throwing My Hands Up in the Air

Spent a 7 hour session mostly on hands because when the clay gets too warm from being handled, you have to stop (or work on another part of the sculpture) until it cools off. Still some softening and smoothing to do, but next week is the final week of the semester, so Florence will be coming home.

You've Got the Love

90 Hours in.
I sculpted some cleaner forms for the dress train, finished the hair, and filled in the obvious dents in the face. I also started blocking in the hands. I think I might be done next week, but I'm not going to count on it.

All This, and Heaven Too

It was a scary day of sculpture. The face was just not getting better. In fact, it was getting worse. Because so much of sculpture depends on the accuracy of what is surrounding it, I was fighting an uphill battle trying to make even what was already surrounded by unevenness and losing accuracy in simple position on the face. (Like an eye drifting too close to the nose for example, make the other eye even, and now they're both too close, and make the jaw look freakishly large.) I knew something desperate would have to be done, but I still had a small internal shriek of horror when it was back to square 1...
  

Back to blocking it out...

After hours and hours of fiddling with bits of clay the size of salt grains, it begins to take form and it was all worth it.

85 hours so far, 3 weeks to go.

All that remains are the hands, foot, and inside of the dress which I'm told I'll need a hair dryer to spot-warm the clay.

Every Demon Wants His Pound of Flesh

I've been trying to title as many posts as I can from song titles and lyrics by Florence + the Machine where it's relevant to do so. Hopefully my sculpting instructor won't take offense to this title! Haha! You see, while chatting and looking through my sketch book, he suddenly said, "Why don't I have any of your artwork? Bring me an original by the end of the semester. We'll call it payment for my help with the Florence sculpture." 

On the one hand, I'm flattered he would even want one of my pieces, but on the other hand, I wasn't sure what he'd like of my work, since most of my stuff is very Disney-esque. (You can see for yourself at betsyillustration.deviantart.com) "I'll look through your portfolio and pick a piece," he said.

That'd be fine... if I had a portfolio...or better yet if I had artwork to go into a portfolio...

I guess that will be another project to be done by the end of the semester.

I tightened up the train of the dress. Might be a little too twisty? What do you think?

I struggled a lot with the face which burned hours. I will not give up though!

79 hours in, only 4 weeks/approximately 32 work hours left in the semester.

I would have brought it home to work on during Thanksgiving weekend, but I have other homework to catch up on, and I'm a little afraid of transporting it in my car in this more fragile stage.

Will it really be finished in 4 weeks?! Ack! I don't know!

Leave My Body (aches and ills)

Winter came in full blast and I woke up with a sore throat on sculpting day. I wasn't about to let a little tickle in the throat stop me, and I drove the two hour commute to campus.

Working on the face is incredibly challenging because everything around it influences the sculpting process. If the cheek bone is too shallow, it will in turn make the nose too shallow which in turn makes the mouth too shallow. I find myself having to make major adjustments to everything once I find one small mistake, not to mention the amount of time and effort that just goes into making both sides symmetrical.

After about 3 hours work on the face, it was lunch break, and In-n-Out burger was really busy, so I went to Subway instead. I should have known that the spaced out, disgruntled worker was a bad sign and probably meant he didn't care if he was sanitary with his sandwich making, but I bought a sandwich and ate it. Coming back to the classroom I was fine at first, but it's a poorly ventilated building, incredibly stuffy and the room was really small and claustrophobic feeling. After about and hour of sculpting, I felt nauseated, pressure in my forehead, and was somewhat weak. I was concerned if it got any worse, I wouldn't be alert enough to drive home safely. 

Incredibly disappointed, I paid the whopping $32 parking garage fee and left feeling like I hadn't made any progress on the sculpture. It was doubly disappointing since I won't be able to sculpt next week on account of going out of town for the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank. Even worse, I found myself smack dab in the middle of the evening rush hour traffic which added an additional 40 minutes to the commute home. 

I'm not much better this morning. The sore throat is worse, I'm still weak and, of course, after not being sick for about 2 years, I have to become ill right as my English midterm is due and I have plans out of town within the week. 

I'm going to do everything I can to keep these ills at bay and plan to study the anatomy of the head and face more thoroughly, as well as do some drawing studies of Florence's face during my down time, in hopes that when I go back to sculpt November 21, I'll be better prepared to make up for lost time and progress. 

Just Keep Following the Heart Lines on Your Hand

The progress won't be as noticeable as I get into more detail and refinement. According to my sculpture teacher, the first 85% of the sculpture is built quickly, but the last 15% of the sculpture will take half of the hours put into it. 68 hours so far, so that means 68 hours to go? Unfortunately the other photos didn't come out very well.

I've also been told it will be any where from $1500 to $2000 to have this sculpture cast in bronze. Even though it's a burden on a starving art student, I feel like what this sculpture represents can only be accurately depicted in the classical bronze.

Another Set Back

All the work I did on the sleeve wings in the previous session was undone. The clay wasn't stable enough and just about the entire sleeve had broken off sometime during the week. I started over on the sleeves, this time with more wire supports.

53 hours total.

Little by Little

Adding the sleeves is slow going. The clay is added about a dime or quarter sized amount at a time, and much over lap the last small piece by about half. After the main mass is built, it is slimmed down by leveling out the bumps.

Additional 8 hours, 45 hours total so far.

Drapery

Finally get to start adding some drapery. It is my first time sculpting fabric, but I find the process fascinating and I'm learning so much.12 additional hours since last post. 37 hours total.

What the Water Gave Me

I transported the sculpture to campus where I could work on it with the guidance of my sculpture teacher. He asked why I wanted to sculpt this particular singer, I told him because the music of Florence and the Machine, the Ceremonials album in particular, embodies that blossoming moment when all the hard work pays off, and something amazing that you've imagined for so long is made real. I have so many personal connections to those songs, they never fail to uplift me.

25 hours of sculpting so far.

Strangeness and Charm

Despite the earlier set back, I like the over all gesture of this attempt better. However, I used myself for a model at this stage, so the extra pounds are a reflection of me, not Florence.

Only if for a Night

Unfortunately, a summer heat wave pretty much melted the legs off the sculpture. I tried rebuilding it, but the armature wasn't secure, so and I had to strip all the clay off and start over. 
I begin summer school soon, and won't be able to progress until after August 6th.

Raise it Up

Legs added, so it's looking a little more human. About 10 hours in. 

Humble Beginnings

Very humble beginnings.