Alan's Mary Ward Sculpture Course Blog

Hello there!

2012-02-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

The following is a blog about my very amateur attempt at sculpture.

I first started a 12 week course in Sept 2009 (3 hours a week) at The Mary Ward Centre in the West End of London. I created this blog for my family, friends, tutor and possibly fellow class members. I shouldn't think it will be of interest to anyone else. Start at the beginning if you want to see the progress of the sculptures in order.

Since then I have done several other terms at The Mary Ward Centre but also a 3 day course (5 hours a day for 3 Sundays) at City Lit (in Central London again). The City Lit course was entitled 'Bronze Sculpture: The Voluptuous Figure'. It involved casting a bronze statue that we have created ourselves from plasticine.

Also included in the blog is various sculptures I have worked on at home in between courses.

I hope you enjoy it and if you don't, don't tell me!

Year 3 Week 17

2012-02-06T10:34:00.000-08:00

Today I finished the saw cuts and chiselled the lumps out at the top of the stone.

I did some minor work on the shaping and filed a couple of the large flat surfaces (still avoiding the flaw though).

Still a LOT of work to do!

Year 3 Week 16

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

Lots of chiselling, sawing and filing this week and lots of avoiding that flaw in the stone.

I started a couple of saw cuts in the top of the stone but will need to finish them next week.

I am finding this a very hard stone to work with.

Year 3 Week 15

2012-01-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

This week I started in earnest the chiselling and filing of the sculpture.

Unfortunately I discovered when I got further into the stone that there is a flaw in the middle. I hope this doesn't make it too brittle. It is a bit unfortunate that where it is located is bound to show up in the finished sculpture.

Below is a close up of the annoying flaw!

Year 3 Week 14

2012-01-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

I found a piece of stone that fitted my latest sculpture idea perfectly but a student from another day had marked it for their use. After an enquiry from the tutor they very kindly let me use it instead. Below are two pictures of it before I start.

Follwing are pictures after a few hours of chiselling, sawing and filing.

Year 3 Week 13

2012-01-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

Start of a new term and start of a new sculpture. I have an idea already of what I want to do so I hope to find a piece of stone at Mary Ward that roughly fits the shape of the idea. Meanwhile I made a clay maquette today to see how the sculpture would work.

It is based on a household object that should be familiar to most people and is associated with happy times (I hope). It is an object that seems to have been recreated for many years in roughly the same design so is quite iconic. I also like it though because it resembles something else and is strangely pleasing to the eye and a bit humorous. Intrigued!?!

As I had a little time at the end of the 3 hours I worked on another clay maquette for another sculpture. This was for a piece of very nice wood that a fellow class member (Ruth) very kindly gave me.

Year 3 Xmas 2011

2011-12-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

In that last two weeks of the class I mainly just sanded the dark wood of the sculpture and then over Xmas I polished it.

The dark wood has rather odd light section in it shown in this picture.

This close up picture shows what lovely grain the dark, inner wood has when polished.

I took the picture below to show the outer, light wood (the snake) stands out from the dark, inner wood (that the snake is wrapped around). It also shows the large split in the wood unfortunately. As long as it doesn't split completely I'll be happy.

I would just like to fill the woodworm holes with some wood glue mixed with sawdust and then I am finished.

Year 3 Week 10

2011-11-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

You probably won't notice much difference today. I thinned out the snake a bit (the white bit) and I shaped the head and tale a bit more.

In the last half hour of the class I started to sand the dark wood a bit. I was pleasantly surprised. Some really nice patterns appeared in the dark wood when it was sanded which made me think if it was oiled/varnished afterwards it could look really nice.

Year 3 Week 9

2011-11-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

I have continued to do lots of chiselling this week in class. You may be able to see now that my idea all along was to create the effect of a snake winding it's way up the log. The snake is the white outer wood and the tree is the dark wood below.

Year 3 Week 8

2011-11-14T03:43:00.001-08:00

I started chiselling in between the masking tape to the dark, inner wood today.

When I had got down to that darker wood I took off the tape. I then had to chisel gently where the tape was to reveal the lighter, outer wood.

Unfortunately because I had taken off all the bark and left the log in my office (where the heat is on) it split all down one side.

I was a bit dissappointed by the split but I have decided to accept that it is a fact of life quite often when carving wood.

Year 3 Week 7

2011-11-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

Today I brought in a very interesting piece of wood that my friend Bonnie gave me. It was destined for the fire I think but it is now going to be my next project instead. After much discussion in the class it was decided that it is laburnum.

The thing I like about it is that under the thin, dark bark it has a pale outer ring of wood and inside that it has a dark centre. I hope to use this as part of the sculpture.

My first job was to strip the bark off, not very difficult.

When all the bark was off I put some maskign tape around the log. The plan is to chisel down to the dark, inner wood in between the tape. Then I will leave the light outer wood where the tape is.

Year 3 Week 6

2011-10-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today I concentrated on sanding and polishing the smooth sides of the face. Paul, the tutor cut the wooden base for me (with an electric saw) as I thought it was a bit too big for the sculpture the way it was.

Later at home I mounted the sculpture on the wooden base with a bolt. I had to drill a hole in the stone which was slightly worrying. It turned out OK though.

This is more or less the finished article now but I'm not sure about the base. I might try staining it or finding a completely different base.

Year 3 Week 5

2011-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

I decided over the week that the nose was not prominent enough so cut the notch a bit deeper in the stone today. I then mostly just filed and sanded the stone to make it smoother.

I also cut a piece of scrap wood to length that I hope can be used as a base for the sculpture. It's nothing special but it would help it to stand up.

Year 3 Week 4

2011-10-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

This week I felt that I was nearing the final shape of the sculpture so I decided to cut the nose. I thought carefully where to put it but am not sure I chose the right place. Possibly a bit too high?!?

My intention was to have the nose as the only feature on the face but I'm not sure if it works.

I did a little bit of polishing at the end to see how the contrast works between the face and the neck.

Year 3 Week 3

2011-10-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

This week I worked on getting closer to the final shape of the sculpture mainly with the use of chisels and files.

I decided it might make a nice contrast if I left the back of the sculpture unpolished and with a rough texture and polished the front (face).

Year 3 Week 2

2011-10-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

During the week I did some sketches to see how my idea for the new piece of stone might work.

I started to work on the stone this week. I did a little bit of sawing and a lot of chiselling.

Year 3 Week 1

2011-09-29T09:26:00.001-07:00

The start of a new term and although I have a piece of wood at home I would like to start work on I couldn't resist getting a piece of stone from the store room at The Mary Ward Centre.

I didn't have anything in mind for stone so as Paul, the tutor has suggested in the past I just spent a while looking at it from all angles for inspiration.

I purposely picked a piece that was oddly shaped to increase my chances of being inspired.

Strangely the side that inspired me most was the flat, cut sides.

I made a couple of maquettes from clay to try out an idea I had. It is very roughly based on Cycladic sculpture which I really like

The second maquette is designed to suit the stone shape better but I like the look of it more anyway.

I didn't think it was worth keeping either of those maquettes for firing.

Summer 2011 Session 3

2011-09-26T02:36:00.001-07:00

The squirrel is finished at last. Just in time for the start of a new term at The Mary Ward Centre and a new project. The final stage was polishing with various different types of polish to make it as dark as possible.

Summer 2011 Session 2

2011-07-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos after a second session at home in the summer. I'm at the sanding stage now.

Summer 2011 Session 1

2011-05-02T08:33:00.000-07:00

The term has finished at Mary Ward now so I am hoping to finish the squirrel off at home over the summer.

These photos are after one session in the garden at home. Mainly filing.

Year 2 Week 22

2011-03-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Today felt like a productive day.

The black stripe across the top of the head is to remind me not to file away the ears!

I rounded off the tail and tried to deal with the missing chunk from it.

I used a saw towards the end of the 3 hour class to take out some more chunks between the legs and under the head. This caused the major difference I think.

Looking much more like a squirrel now.

Year 2 Week 21

2011-03-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

More sawing, Chiselling and filing of the stone squirrel today. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos. I wouldn't say I made major progress or changes today though.

Year 2 Week 20

2011-03-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today I did some more 'blocking out' of the stone to get to the basic shape of the sculpture. I used a saw, a mallet, chisels and rasps.

I had one slight mishap while chiselling! A chunk of stone came off the back of the sculpture that wasn't supposed to. I will have to alter it slightly to allow for the missing chunk. I think you can see it quite clearly in the sculpture below.

Below is the rear view.

I hope the basic shape is coming. Lots to do yet though.

Year 2 Week 19

2011-02-22T07:27:00.001-08:00

As I didn't make the course last week I did some research into my next stone sculpture. In other words I looked at images from the Internet of what I had in mind and I found some images of how other people had made sculptures of the same thing before.

I then made a maquette out of clay to see if it would work. I was pleasantly surprised by the maquette. Luckily my girlfriend's mum, Jean had bought me some self hardening clay for my birthday last year. It came in very handy now.

Below (at the request of Paul, my tutor) are some of the images I downloaded from the Internet to inspire me and below that some photos of the clay maquette.

Worked out what I am hoping to make yet?!?

I was inspired by walking through Russell Sq every time I go to and from my class. The squirrels are always running around. I had terrible trouble though finding a photo of a squirrel looking like I had imagined it. The picture above is the closest to what I was looking for. Body and head down, but tail up.

Below are the squirrel sculptures I found images of on the Internet.

None of them are that similar to what I was hoping to create. My favourite though is the one below as it is made from very similar colour stone to the piece I am using. I really like it. If mine turns out half that good I will be happy.

The next photos are of my maquette. In the second pair of photos I have added some details of legs etc. which I may or may not be able to carve out of the stone. I hope to make the stone carving a bit more angular than this. so it is a bit less cute!

In this weeks class I started the stone carving (see below). I used a hand saw to take a few big chunks out of the piece of stone. I then used a rasp on it just a little. You can probably see from my pencil marks the shape I am aiming at.

This is definitely my longest blog entry so far. I will shut up now.

Year 2 Week 18

2011-02-15T09:14:00.000-08:00

I was unfortunately unable to make it to the class today due to illness.

I have been studying my photos though of the new piece of stone to see what I can do with it. My initial idea seems not to fit the stone as well as I thought but I am still hopeful I can adjust the design. I may need to make a maquette next week.

Year 2 Week 17

2011-02-15T09:03:00.001-08:00

Today I finished the 'fist'. At least I went as far as I wanted to go with it. Pictures to follow.

A new supply of stone had been delivered to the Mary Ward Centre today so I chose myself a piece (possibly) for my next project.

It looks very grey but I sanded an area on the top and as you can hopefully see in the pictures below it is surprisingly a lovely brown colour when polished.

I already had one vague idea of what I would like to try next and the shape of this piece of stone seemed to fit very well.

Year 2 Week 16

2011-02-07T04:36:00.000-08:00

I am getting to the end of this project I think but have still been doing a bit more fine tuning.

This week I had a go at trying to show some of the creases in the skin.

I used a sharp knife for this instead of a chisel (loaned to me by Paul my tutor).

I think the creases need improving but after that I will call it a day with this project.

So 1 more week and that's it!

I think!

Year 2 Week 15

2011-01-26T05:44:00.001-08:00

More fine tuning (with chisels) this week on my fist. I feel that I made good progress but didn't really think it was worth taking any photos as you probably couldn't see the difference.

Year 2 Week 14

2011-01-26T05:43:00.000-08:00

I missed this class due to a holiday in Iceland I'm afraid so no progress. I didn't even get a chance to work on the sculpture at home.

Here's a picture of Iceland instead...

Year 2 Week 13 (Term 2 Week 1)

2011-01-26T05:42:00.000-08:00

Back to class for term 2 of my 2nd year at Mary Ward. I did do a little work on the fist over Xmas but not as much as I hoped.

I'm afraid the photos are very poor. New mobile phone and flash too bright.

It's now just down to fine tuning of the fist. All with chisels so far.

I don't think you will be able to see much difference really.

It is coming on but I need to finish really and start something new.

Year 2 Week 12

2011-01-26T05:41:00.001-08:00

This was the last class of this term and we had a bring and share lunch so not much sculpting done really. So little has changed on the fist that I did not bother to take any photos I'm afraid.

Year 2 Week 11

2010-12-06T04:03:00.001-08:00

Quite a pleasing week's carving. Managing to get some more definition out of the hand I think.

The side shown below is hard to get right.

I have started to carve the fingers on the top at last.

The picture below was my favourite bit from this week. I've carved the whole little finger now and like the look of it.

1 more week left this term.

Year 2 week 10

2010-11-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

This week I did a couple of hours work at home on the carving in between week 9 and 10. The next 4 pictures show the results of that.

The next 4 pictures show the results of week 10 session in the class. It's slow going but I'm getting there.

Year 2 week 9

2010-11-16T05:01:00.000-08:00

Today I spent a lot of time chiselling chunks off the piece to get it down to size and improve the shape.

I remembered this time to include the maquette in the photos.

I didn't do any work on the maquette this week but did last week so I think it is slightly improved from the earlier photos.

The wood carving should end up roughly the same size as the maquette which is life size. The wood should have a longer arm though.

There was a lot of wood on the floor at the end of the session but the shape doesn't seem to have changed much since the last session. Perhaps someone else was chipping in my direction. A long way to go yet anyway!

Year 2 Week 8

2010-11-08T09:51:00.001-08:00

Today I started by doing some more work on the clay maquette of the fist. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos. I am slightly happier now I have made some adjustments to it. It seems a bit more like my fist and less like the Incredible Hulk's. The clay was a bit harder and I enjoyed working with it more but I also got some valuable tips from the tutor as to where I had gone wrong. After about an hour on the clay I decided to start on the wood itself.

Firstly I decided that the piece of wood I had was too short so cut another length (of lime).

Then I used the saw and a chisel and mallet to start 'blocking out' to get to the shape.

It probably looks more like a fist now than it will when I'm finished but if so it will have to be described as abstract!

Year 2 Week 7

2010-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Today I started a new project. It was inspired by a woodcarving pictured in a book I have all about woodcarving.

I spent the whole of today's 3 hours working on a clay maquette.

Pictured behind the maquette is the wood I intend to carve the fist out of (in case you didn't realise it is supposed to be a fist).

I'm not overjoyed with the way it's turned out. It was modelled on my fist but seems to have turned out like the Incredible Hulk's fist!

Year 2 Week 6

2010-10-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

During the week (at home between classes again) I spent some time sanding the wood. Today on the class I just sanded the stone with various grades of wet and dry sandpaper. Picture of back below.

I have now almost finished so have brought the whole sculpture home. All it needs is some polishing. I am not sure how to finish the wood though. I quite fancy staining it with a dark stain to make a contrast with the stone.

Next week new project!

Year 2 Week 5

2010-10-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurred this week. They were just taken with my mobile phone and I must have been too close or moved.

Between lessons (during the week) I took a couple more notches out of the wood as I mentioned I would last week. This was to make it a bit more interesting and also to cover up a rough cut. Pictures of the results on the wood only are shown below.

Then today during the class I have been doing mainly sanding (with occasional use of the chisel and file).

The only difference you will see in the pictiures I think is that the black veins in the stone have started to show more thanks to sanding.

Still more sanding and then some polishing required.

Pictures of wood only as mentioned...

Year 2 Week 4

2010-10-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Today I was obsessed with making all the wonky lines straight in the stone which was harder than I thought. It did involve a little bit more sawing and chiselling but mainly I used rasps to file it down. I think I could go on forever attempting to straighten things up but I have to stop at some point and start sanding, which is now!

Below is the front view at the end of today.

Rear view below.

Left view.

Right view.

And my favourite view again from the front and slightly above.

I have decided that the wood needs a few more notches taken out of it to make it a bit more interesting so have taken it home to try and do it before next week. I live in hope.

Year 2 Week 3

2010-10-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Today I finished the sawing and the major chiselling of the sculpture. I took some more chunks out of the stone and the wood but I think that is enough now. Below is the left hand view.

I have started to file down some of the edges to make them squarer. Below is the back view. Hopefully you can see some more chunks were taken out of the stone here.

Below is the right hand view.

Last is the front view.

Lots of filing and sanding to be done!

Year 2 Week 2

2010-09-28T05:10:00.001-07:00

Lots of sawing this week plus a little bit of chiselling. Hopefully just a little more of that on the stone and then start cleaning up (eg filing). I would also like to take some more off the wood though. Below is the front view after this week's efforts.

Left view

View of back (definitely a little more to be taken off here).

Right view

Below is my favourite view. From the front, slightly above.

Year 2 Week 1

2010-09-22T08:12:00.001-07:00

Back to class after 1 term and the summer away. I didn't get very far with this sculpture over the summer but in the 3 hours today in class I feel like I've got going and achieved quite a lot. Below is the front view at the end of today.

Left side view.

Back view.

Right side view.

Front view again.

All of today's work was with a saw or a chisel and mallet.

Week 3 of Voluptuous Female Form.

2010-07-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

The following photo is the grand unveiling of all of the bronzes back from the foundry. I didn't have any trouble recognizing mine.

Some of the bronzes came back smoother than others which the tutor suggested was probably due to the sand mixture we each made for the molds. As you can see below mine was one of the less smooth.

The next stage is to start cleaning up the rough edges etc. on the bronze. We did this with several different types of hand and power tools.

Below is my bronze at the end of the day's work.

I am not sure whether to leave it like this or spend more time making it smoother and more polished.

Week 2 of Voluptuous Female Form.

2010-06-07T04:28:00.000-07:00

This week we started by making some minor changes to the original plasticine scuplture (with advice from the tutor) to make sure the mould would be easier to create.

We then made a box out of fibreboard big enough for the sculpture to fit in with some space around the edges. We mixied up some sand with a couple of chemicals so that it sets as hard as concrete. Before it sets (of course) we packed it around the scuplture in the box.

After an hour, when the sand mixture had set, we removed the fibreboard box and turned the mould over. We then had to pick out all the plasticine from the mould. It seemed very odd to have to destroy the sculpture that I had spent so much time working on but once you could see the empty mould it was very satisfying.

I'm not sure how the bronze will come out but having made the mould I can see how I should have made the sculpture differently so that the mould and the subsequent bronze would be better.

Fingers crossed. 3 weeks wait now!

Week 1 of Voluptuous Female Form.

2010-06-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

These are the results of my first day of three at the City Lit bronze sculpture course. Firstly we had to draw the female model. Then we had to make a model of her out of plasticine.

Next week we will make a mould from this plasticine model for the bronze to be poured into (at a foundry).

The results were better than I hoped.

Below is a photo of all the plasticine models made by the class (including mine).

Summer 2010 Second Session

2010-04-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

Another hour or so in the garden working on the wood/stone. I have made sure that the two pieces fit together better now.

I have also cut some horizontal slots in the wood to match up with similar slots in the stone.

Below is picture of the back but I haven't done much to this yet.

This session felt more successful than the last. I think there is still quite a lot of work to do though.

Below is a sculpture I saw in an exhibition at Tate Modern. This is where the idea for my current sculpture (above) came from. In the end I hope it will look something like this!

Summer 2010 First Session

2010-04-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

As I am taking a break from the course for the summer I spent a couple of hours in the garden on Saturday working on the current sculpture.

I cut a groove in part of the stone for the wood to slot into to marry the two materials together. It was harder work than I expected.

Following is a photo of the two pieces separated so you can see the groove I have cut in the stone.

Week 23

2010-03-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

I picked a new piece of stone today to start a new project for the last two weeks of term. I was thnking of making this a combination of stone and wood so I cut two pieces of wood roughly the same length as the stone.

I made a maquette of one idea I had which is based on a table made out of wood I saw in Thailand. The idea was to have three pieces like the maquette (1 of stone and 2 of wood) made into a sort of totem pole. I don't think this piece of stone lends itself to that though. It would be a bit of a waste.

Week 22

2010-03-16T03:40:00.000-07:00

Sanding, polishing, finished!

Week 21

2010-03-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

You may not see much of a difference in the photos this week as I just did loads more sanding. A little bit of filing on the top surface of the plinth too.

I thought I had sanded enough so polished the whole sculpture. Then the tutor pointed out that I had not used fine enough sandpaper and I should have used Brasso on the stone before polishing.

He demonstrated by using finer sandpaper, Brasso and then polishing (just the top of the sculpture) to show what a difference it can make. You can see this I think in the photo below.

So next week more sanding, Brasso and then polishing. It should be finished then though.

Week 20

2010-03-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have just been mainly sanding the sculpture today. Consequently the colour is starting to look much better now though.

At the end of the session Paul, the tutor helped me try an experimental repair on the side of the stone. We took some dust created from filing the stone, mixed it with super glue and spread it in the groove where I had accidentally cut in too far with one of my very early saw cuts. Next week I will sand it down a bit and see how it works out.

I still like this view below.

Week 19

2010-02-24T09:23:00.001-08:00

I bought myself a couple of files and a stone chisel last Friday and tried them out for the first time today. They made life a lot easier.

I have rounded off the horizontal part of the loop (attached to the base) and cut in where the loop meets the base (which was quite difficult).

I then decided that it was time to do some sanding (for the last ten minutes of the class). I just did a bit at the top of the loop as you can see from the photo below.

I think it shows how nice the stone can look when smoothed and polished. I'm not sure whether to leave the base rough and un-polished.

Below is an experiment I did during the week in Photoshop (on the computer). I edited the photo so the base is stepped. This was my original idea but I'm not sure I'm so keen anymore. Especially having seen this fake photo.

Week 18

2010-02-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

The work is getting more delicate and time consuming now so I'm not sure you can see much of a difference from last week.

I was a bit worried at the beginning of the three hours that I wasn't going to be able to make it work (and cover up my earlier mistakes) but was pleased with the results in the end.

I still really like the view below.

Week 17

2010-02-08T10:30:00.000-08:00

Quite hard work this week. More delicate filing and chiselling is needed now or there is a danger I will damage it.

I have annoyingly made one side of the loop (the left in the picture above) a bit thinner than I intended so the rest of the loop should probably be reduced to match it.

One of my saw cuts from much earlier went a bit deeper than it should have as well (as you can see from the picture above). I will have to hide that somehow.

Strangely I like this view of the piece. It might be interesting to mount it on a wall when it is finished (somehow) so this is the view you always see.

Below are some photos (at last) of the Easter Island head I made earlier. I decided to stain it with a dark oak stain that I have used before and really like. I think it was a mistake actually but once I started I couldn't stop. I like it a little bit more when it was unstained now I go back and look at the old photos.

Week 16

2010-02-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

Another really enjoyable week of chipping away with a hammer and chisel and some filing.

I like the picture below as it starts to show the twist in the shape appearing for the first time.

Only two pictures today as the others were blurred for some reason.

Week 15

2010-01-25T10:48:00.001-08:00

A very enjoyable and productive few hours of work on the stone this week.

Chiselling, sawing, filing and even drilling. There is now a hole in the middle! The tutor did drill the hole for me though as I was too afraid of breaking it. The hole was quite small to begin with and I have already increased it quite a lot with some chiselling and filing.

I'm very pleased with it so far as a project, I'm not sure how it works as a piece of art though.

Week 14

2010-01-18T10:32:00.001-08:00

Lots of sawing and some chiselling this week.

I feel that it is starting to take shape though.

In the right of the above picture are some of the chunks of stone I have cut off so far. I hope to make something out of them at some point in the future.

Week 13 (Term 2 Week 1)

2010-01-12T07:13:00.001-08:00

This is the first week of the new term so effectively my 13th week of the class. I started taking chunks off the new piece of stone (with a saw mainly). I concentrated on measuring, marking and cuttting to create the plinth.

I then got a bit worried that the size of the shape sitting on the plinth was going to have to be very small and therefore look very odd. Paul (the tutor) suggested I create a new full sixed maquette out of clay to see how it would look. I didn't keep the original very rough maquette.

The maquette I made is shown in all these pictures sitting on top of the piece of stone. It did reassure me that it can still be a decent size and will look OK. Only time will tell.

Week 12

2009-12-07T10:12:00.001-08:00

Last week of term and the end of a 12 week course. I enjoyed it so much I signed up for another 12 weeks. Not much work done today as we had a small bring and share Xmas lunch first.

I marked a proposed plinth shape on the new piece of stone and cut (with a saw) a couple of pieces off the sides to straighten up the edges.

I drew on the stone my idea for the shape to go on top of the plinth but I'm not definite about this yet.

I'm going to see over Xmas if I change my mind and decide to put something else on top of the plinth.

I gave one of the sides of an offcut a bit of a polish to see what colour it would be when it is finished.

Week 11

2009-12-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

You probably won't be able to see any difference in the wooden head this week. I just did some very minor fine tuning and added some detailing to the chest (like the real one in the British Museum).

I'm going to stop there and just take it home and stain it. I must remember to post a picture when that is done.

The rest of this week I spent making a maquette of an idea I had for the piece of stone I picked last week.

The maquette is a very rough idea, not to scale or anything.

The main idea was to have a plinth carved in the stone and some sort of shape on top (all carved together out of the one piece of stone).

I'm not sure if the shape on top works. The idea doesn't seem to be impresssing the few people I've shown a sketch of it. Also some parts of it might be a bit hard to carve (a challenge might be a good thing though).

Week 10

2009-11-27T06:02:00.000-08:00

3 hours of fine tuning with chisels and a little bit of sanding in the places a chisel couldn't quite reach.

I think I'm nearly finished on it now. I'm realising that you can just go on fiddling forever if you don't stop yourelf at some point.

I like the front view better than the profile.

A little bit more fine tuning and them some stain or polish next week.

I have selected a piece of soap stone from the 'stone room' at Mary Ward to potentially be my next project. Some pictures are shown below. I don't have an ideas what to do with it yet. I hope it inspires me.

Week 9

2009-11-16T15:07:00.001-08:00

Just did lots of chiselling this week really to fine tune the features etc.

I think the nose is a bit bent which I like because so is mine!

I think the mouth protrudes too much still so need to take that back a bit. It looks like he/she is pursing his/her lips.

Not sure whether to add arms at the side or some chest features at the front.

I like the photo above. I think I will leave it with the rough chiselled finish and not sand it (not all over anyway).

Week 8

2009-11-12T06:00:00.001-08:00

For some reason I don't feel as if I got very far this week. I just did lots of fiddling.

I've given the nose a bit of shape but I think it's far too big and will have to be reduced in size.

I'm not happy with the chin either.

Lots more work to do next week. I will be happy now if I can finish it to some degree by the end of term.

Week 7

2009-11-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

This week was just lots of work with the chisel plus a little bit of sawing. Very satisfying though as I'm really starting to get the shape and see the features.

I'm finding the wood really nice to work with. It doesn't have very strong grain though so probably doesn't look very exciting.

The nose isn't looking very elegant so I'm thinking of slimming it down a bit.

At the moment at really like the rough marks the chisel leaves in the wood so am tempted not to file/sand it smooth at the end.

Lots more work to do!

Week 6

2009-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

I built up a sweat this week with lots of sawing and some chiselling.

This is the back. It is the only bit with any strong grain.

This is the front. Not much to see from this angle really.

The two side views give you a better idea of where I'm heading. I'm quite pleased with what I've achieved this week.

Tempting to just leave it here! It doesn't look anything like an Easter Island Head but is interesting in it's own way!

Week 5

2009-10-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

While I think about whether I want to put any finishing touches to the stone sculpture or leave it as it is I started on a new sculpture. Out of wood this time.

I spent almost 2 hours making a maquette out of clay for this project (picture to follow - forgot again).

I also forgot to take pictures of the piece of wood before I started work on it but I only did a little bit of work on it this week.

I made several saw cuts and started some work on the back of the piece with a chisel.

Week 4

2009-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

This week was 3 hours solid sanding and polishing. Not quite as satisfying as last weeks filing.

I used 3 grades of wet and dry sandpaper. Starting with the coarsest (obviously) and working my way down to the finest.

Then I did some polishing. With Brasso in this case as that was all that was available.

Unfortunately it's not until you start polishing that you realise you haven't done enough sanding in places and have to go back to sanding again. I think it's about as smooth as I want it now though. I don't want it to look machined!

I've decided that it's more or less finished now unless I decide to do something else with the base (as that has not really had any work done on it).

I realised that you might not get an idea of the size of sculpture from any of my previous photos so have included this one with a coffee mug to give an idea of scale.

Week 3

2009-10-09T06:35:00.001-07:00

A very satisfying week despite the fact it was 3 hours solid filing. No sawing or chiselling (which is frankly more enjoyable).

This is the view from the back which I didn't file to such a sharp point as the front. I was a bit afraid that I might make the point at the top too fragile and break it off. That would be very depressing after all this work.

Hopefully what I'm trying to create is becoming a bit clearer now?!?

This is the front view. Fairly symmetrical I hope?!?

For the last 10 minutes of this week I changed to a less course file to make the surface smoother. I'm undecided what to do with the base at this point. I might just leave it as it is to illustrate what the shape and texture of the stone before I started to work on it. I could do something with the upper surface to make it look something like water (I don't know how though). Or possibly making the shape more like the upper part and smoothing it all off.

Week 2

2009-10-09T06:33:00.001-07:00

Started to use a large file to create the shape here. It's amazing how much of stone the file removes. Apparently it's better than using a chisel because chiselling sends shockwaves through the stone and could spoil the finish of the completed sculpture.

I lowered the base a bit more at the beginning of week 2 by taking another section out with the saw. I decided the base looked too chunky.

The felt tip line was to stop me taking too much off one side or the other with the file.

Week 1

2009-10-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the piece of stone before I started. These pictures were actually taken at the beginning of week 2 of the course as I didn't have my camera with me the 1st week.

We were asked to look at the piece of stone from all angles before we did anything and see if it suggested anything to us (real or surreal). It immediately suggested a shape from nature to me which hopefully will be recognisable as I work on it.

I had cut out 1 large piece of the stone with a saw at this stage but placed it back just for the photo. I had also experimented using the chisel on the back.

It is (apparently) a piece of white English alabaster weighing about 7Kg.

Quite a soft stone.

Just in the edge of the picture here is the maquette I made out of clay before starting on the stone. This was made by cutting a lump of clay approximately the same shape as the piece of stone (but smaller). I should take some seperate photos of the maquette.