Friday, August 31, 2012

Chicken and mouse bas relief plaque commission

I was recently asked if I could make something in bronze for a wedding anniversary.
The only stipulation was that since the couple has children with the nick-names of chicken and mouse, that it feature a chicken and a mouse, and that I find a way to incorporate a certain poem.

I didn't have long at all to get it done, so I suggested a bas relief plaque since that would entail the least possible number of complications, yet still give me plenty of scope to come up with an attractive design.
Plus, I really like doing bas reliefs for some reason.

He was fine with whatever I thought would look good and left me up to my own devices.

Perfect, that's how I like it!

I tried a few things out and was liking this sort of thing...

Chicken and Mouse design for a bronze anniversary plaque

So next up, using the method for bas relief sculpture I've described before, I made the clay and hardboard original, leaving space for the poem...

If you are curious to see the whole bas relief process and tips for achieving a convincing effect of roundness in about 1/8" of vertical space, type 'bas relief' into the 'search this blog' bar (top left of the screen I think) for several step-by-step demonstrations.

I find that sculpey comes in handy for eyes since you can bake it hard and sculpt around it.


Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Next up, Lee, my trusty mold and wax man (sounds like a funny sort of man, doesn't it!) got busy doing his thing...

Here's the rubber mold. Certainly one of Lee's easier jobs mold making jobs!

The inside of the mold from which a wax plaque will be taken...


Chicken and Mouse plaque in wax (detail)

Tracing down the lettering...

Makes it *much* easier to do the lettering if you can see it clearly!

Hand lettered wax, ready for delivery to the foundry...

I'll show the rest of the process in my next post...


Thursday, August 2, 2012

And the winner is...!

Well my guess the weight of the chubby artist contest is now over, and we have 2 winners!





Since the start of the year, thanks to my austerity fridge, I've lost a bit over 20 lbs and coasted a bit lately, languishing under 200 lbs for the last couple of months.
So I'm the first winner.

The second winner guessed closest to my final weigh-in on Aug 1st.
I was 199.4 lbs so congratulations to Hockey Rules who won with 198.8
It could have gone any one of four ways, but Meridee and I shared a chicken vindaloo the other night, and after a bit of wine I ate all the leftover rice so that was that!

My downward slide (hopefully still plenty more downward sliding to go...!)


Winged Angel Chubby enjoying a bit of leftover rice

Winged Angel Pugnacious

Winged Angel Sprightly



So get in touch to claim your prize!

Any one of my winged angel mice.

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille