BUSTED!

The beginning of a bust of Richard Hathaway

Today was a busy day.

LUCAS
First Jennifer pin pricked a Xerox copy of Lucas’ tea shirt so that we could transfer the image into the wax. I was grateful for her young eyes. When she is done I will carve it out of the wax. The pattern will then show up in the metal.

DICK
Later I had her working on Dick’s hands. They start with wire and then carefully Jennifer added clay for me until she had fingers formed. She seemed to enjoy the process. I showed her how to tip the underside of the fingertips upward, and then how to make knuckles. Later I’ll work on the hands myself. Dick Hathaway had big hands so I want to be sure that I have the correct size. Time to review the video clip again.

Transferring letters to a wax shirt for Lucas

Frustrated with the body I asked Jennifer to hold Dick’s head near the torso so I could see the design of the entire piece.
She is such a great apprentice, such a hard worker and great attitude. She held it up and then I took pictures. Then I put his head back on the stand.

Wire fingers are molded with hot clay.

With frustration surfacing again I Later decided to actually secure his head to the body. I rarely do this until the bust is complete and the torso is complete. Later I will take it off again to work on the details of his face. It is roughed in enough so that I can work on the body and get an overall picture. In just a couple of weeks Dick is coming to life!

Interns help to get the hands full of clay
so I can finish sculpting them.

I sort of freaked inside of myself when rolling around on my stool and looking up at the sculpture. From a certain angle I saw my deceased grandfather. I mentioned something to Jennifer, she said sitting at her angle she saw her deceased great-grandfather who was a sculptor. I laughed and said, “Maybe they are all here helping.”

Positioning Dick’s Head.

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