Sculpture

I missed the deadline, but it has been extended. I have been working diligently on the Jenna mold by myself, no apprentice. When it came to clean up I sure did miss her. Midway I ran out of material, found some old material and had to test it to be sure it would still have the chemical reaction that I needed it to. I’ll bring her to the foundry on Tuesday. I have already decided to have two waxes poured. I’ll clean one to go to metal and the second I’ll put together and keep in the studio. It will be good to have her around.

Now that I have my approval I will begin with the mold of Jenna. Once again this is not for the weak of heart! After all of the time spent creating this perfect sculpture I will need to now divide the sculpture up so that molds and waxes can be made. It is a process that I have done for so many years, it no longer bothers me, as it is just part of the process. The difficulty is that I don’t get to look at her for a while. But, in a few weeks, when I go to the foundry to approve the metal and see her there, I will say, “there you are sweety, I missed you.” I greet them all the same way. As a friend who has been a way for a while.

I took Russo, my now former apprentice, to the foundry to see how the sculpture that she has worked on is coming along, and to explain the foundry process with her. Then it was off to buy materials for the Jenna mold. Russo said if she wasn’t going to go to Washington before her trip home to her country, she would come and help. That was sweet, but to be perfectly honest- I’m looking forward to more alone time with Jenna, and since the foundry does not need the molds until Monday, my pace can slow down considerably!

Now it is off, for evening hours with Jenna.

Baby Jenna has bee approved. Mom said “I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through trying to get this done in the time frame, it’s amazing. Can I just say again how beautiful she is, thanks for all of the tweaking and your patience on the whole process, she just came together perfectly,absolutely love it. can’t wait to have her home.”

Keep watching to see her created into a beautiful bronze sculpture!

Just a few modifications on the Jenna sculpture, they have been done and I am awaiting approval from mom.

Now I wait for mom to say
“Approved” and she is off to be created in bronze.

Jenna now has hair, her hands are attached I am moving toward those toes. Doing a bit of work on the tights, and about to do the last two things, attach her other wings, and finish the butterfly. Symbolic I suppose. I was not well last night and went to bed early. It put me back a bit, but I expect to have final photographs in a few hours. It would be lovely if I could have an approval from the parents this evening then, I could spend the evening preparing Jenna for the mold process. The rubber had been ordered and come in on Wednesday.

I’ll post photographs this evening.

Most of the time, while I am sculpting on Jenna she is on a large lazy Susan. Several times when I try to take pictures of her she just starts turning around. I think it is Jenna’s game that she is playing with me. Trying to take the butterfly for a ride.

I still am not securing the two hands, they are taken off a bunch of times each day, to get to the face or the dress. The photographs of Jenna against the wall were taken last night while Russo was here. ( thanks again Russo for all of your help, I have enjoyed having you as an apprentice) I put all of the pieces together so we both could shoot some pictures, some for Russo, and others for this blog.

You may notice there are real ribbons and color full pins on Jeanna’s dress. The ribbons are just placement. As I said before they would never hold up through the mold process so after I receive an approval from her mom I’ll take them off, adding them at the wax stage. The pins are part of the lace design. OF course they look different colors in this clay, but when Jenna is turned into a bronze sculpture they will look like little beads, just like the ones on Jenna’s dress. WE cut out little leaf and flower patterns out of clay and once attached to the dress I put a texture in them.

The tights also have a pattern in them. I love this. This afternoon I went back to Jenna’s face and revised a few things. Jenna’s mom requested I send some pictures of her face looking right at her. To do this I had to remove the butterfly hand. But these are the newest pictures of Jenna’s face with some of my own revisions.

Sorry that the sculpture looks so shiny, it does make it difficult to shoot good pictures. The shininess is because I use hot Vaseline to smooth out the sculpture. I recently ran out of Vaseline and ran to the store to get some. The first time I used it I noticed it had a baby powder scent to it. One more thing to remind me of the specialness of this project. Russo and I agreed that it does smell wonderful.

Tonight I’ll go over everything one more time, add the rest of Jenna’s hair, smooth the dress out where it needs to be, fix the right arm, the only thing left to sculpt, attach the other wing, and sign the sculpture. Final pictures for approval will be sent to the family tomorrow.

Church and a celebration of my son’s 19th birthday was a priority. We took him out to lunch and to see Prince Caspian. Then it was back home to work on Jenna. Russo has not been in and did not get to see her until today. She was so surprised and I think I saw tears in her eyes when I showed her the videos, the dress, the toys. I wanted her to love her as much as I do before she began to work on her. Russo helped a great deal, smoothing things out and putting texture in, as well as helping me with the leaves and flowers of Jenna’s lace. I have held those tiny hands and tiny wings for two days now. They are done. Just one last look at the face to see if their are any revisions. All elements are ready to put together. Between this evening and to marrow I will have the time that I need to complete her.

I wish I would have brought the camera back up to the office to post the pictures that I took of Jenna, but I will try to post in the morning and then in the afternoon.

Goodbye to another apprentice
I have loved working with Russo and will miss her when she goes back to her country. Today was her last day in the studio, though I may try to pick her up next week to see how Dick is coming at the foundry.

What I thought I would work on, I have not. I have been jumping around on the sculpture so much it is hard to discuss what I have done, Pulled the left arm back further, worked on the skull, began to indicate hair, love that left ear, back to the hands, changed the back, more poof in sleeves, fixed trim on sleeve, changed trim around the neck, sculpted left arm with left hand attached, about to take left hand off to indicate those tiny little nails. Watched her birthday video over and over, fast forward through picnic, back again. Start video, pause.

All while watching Charlie and the chocolate factory with Jenna.

She is seated up right again, but I am sure she will want to go back and do splits in the air before the night is out.

Apprentice did not show up today, and Sunday we are going to celebrate my sons 19th birthday, so I know I will have to clean the clay out of my nails for part of the day. There is also church. I can only hope that Russo can come in late and help. I’ll post photographs later