Posted by farid from customer-148-233-78-77.uninet.net.mx (148.233.78.77) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 at 2:22PM :
In Reply to: Jai Jo Plata! posted by Jeff from d14-69-22-254.try.wideopenwest.com (69.14.254.22) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 at 1:49PM :
One thing about sculpture...before you`re finally done with the piece, you`re sick and tried of seeing it. Especially when you start in clay...like the Shumirum for instance. First you sculpt the features in clay...then, in my case...I make a plaster mould of the whole thing...then I pour plaster into that and when it dries and I break the mould away...I`m left with a plaster replica of what started out in clay. Now I can carve and carve and carve. And when that`s all finished...I make a rubber mould into which I swill melted wax...and when that cools and is removed...I have a replica, in wax, of what I finished in plaster, which is a replica of what I finished in clay. Only it isn`t over yet because the wax is made in several sections that have to be joined together so you can now chase and finish and touch up the wax...same damn sculpture you started months ago in clay...but every step has it`s special tasks and each of them is in a different medium requiring different tools, techniques and skills.
When the wax is finally perfect...it gets cut up and cast separately...on larger pieces especially...into bronze. When molten bronze cools after pouring it develops all sorts of imperfections on the surface and besides that, pieces have to be welded together and the welds hidden and disguised...so you start all over again, same damn sculpture...fourth incarnation...now in metal...and you file and grind and weld and chase and whittle away.
And by now, you wish you`d gone to medical school like everyone else in the world and were raking in the bloody bucks.
Four friggin times you have to start all over on the same sculpture...inspiration has long since become drudgery. With a painting...when you`re done...you are DONE! With a sculpture...the way I work...you aren`t done till you`re sick of the piece.
Luckily with this piece I only had to work in wax and now silver...no plaster or clay.
-- farid
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