Wotan's sculpt Thomas Cochrane bust 1/6

Jim R

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
13,597
Points
113
Location
Shropshire
First Name
Jim
Hi John
Fascinating to see the way you go about sculpting.
Jim
 

rtfoe

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 29, 2018
Messages
7,465
Points
113
Location
Malaysia
First Name
Richard
Hi John, just like Jim I enjoy your figure build up from scratch. You make it look so easy.

Cheers,
Richard
 

wotan

SMF Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,037
Points
113
Location
Quebec
First Name
John
Welcome everyone. I hope I won't disappoint.

I have now fleshed out his head. I used Fimo for this because it is a heat hardening clay so I can work on it as long as I want without it going hard. Then it can be put in the oven to bake it hard. It can also be heated several times so I built the main features first, fired that then added his ears and fired again. Still needs some sanding and cleaning but he's on the way. I decided to mount his head on his shoulders since this would make it easier to add his hair etc a little later. He has obviously been working out but he really needs to work on his arms a little more.

344372

John
 

Neil Merryweather

SMF Supporter
Joined
Dec 29, 2018
Messages
4,394
Points
113
Location
London
First Name
Neil
John, that's looking excellent.
I am intrigued with your use of Fimo....
I have struggled with curing time of Milliput in the few portraits I have done- this makes perfect sense- I never thought to combine the two. I would worry the Fimo would shrink over the Milliput base and crack- but clearly it doesn't.
Then again I am a better carver than I am a modeller, so I always end up tweaking and scraping and sanding, and Fimo is not so good for that. But I will definitely give it a try next time.
In the olden days you had to mix original Fimo with translucent to get a better consistency, but there are several new types around now-which do you use?
cheers
Neil
 

wotan

SMF Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,037
Points
113
Location
Quebec
First Name
John
Hi Neil

Thanks for looking in. I use just a regular sort of flesh coloured Fimo. I have never had shrinkage problems and since you can mess around sculpting it for as long as you want i have never needed to do major carving. It does sand very nicely.

Cochrane has now been to the hairdressers. I made this with a mix of Magic Sculpt and Greenstuff. This mixture gives a more firm medium to work in but it retains all the air drying qualities so is very useful for crisper sculpts. His collarS were very complicated but have been finished with the same sculpting mix.

344444

John
 

rtfoe

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 29, 2018
Messages
7,465
Points
113
Location
Malaysia
First Name
Richard
Superb John. Hair flow very nice. The collar is so paper thin.

Cheers,
Richard
 

Jim R

SMF Supporter
Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
13,597
Points
113
Location
Shropshire
First Name
Jim
Hi John
Wonderful work. Already looking the part.
Jim
 

wotan

SMF Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,037
Points
113
Location
Quebec
First Name
John
Gentlemen you are all too kind. There is still lots of room for this to go pear shaped.

I built his telescope. A little different to the engraving but I think the artist was a little fanciful with his gently flaring telescope tube. I built mine more like the regular slide in ones. I also got half his jacket on. I am now working on how to make some navy buttons. I couldn't manage to keep his left arm detachable so it got glued in.

344645

John
 

wotan

SMF Supporter
Joined
May 16, 2018
Messages
1,037
Points
113
Location
Quebec
First Name
John
Thanks Paul and to everyone. and by the way it is easy or I wouldn't do it. I bet most of you could give it a crack if you chose to.

Lots of details moving along, as well as 18 holes of golf this morning. It's a tough life but someone has to do it.

Imrovised the lace on his jacket. I also realised that his jacket should button left over right. The artist has reversed it in making his engraving. So I switched it around for my build. The buttons needed to have little anchor symbols on them, I found a way to approximate them by using a mould to press form green stuff. Not perfect but good enough. Next his epaulettes were a bit of a challenge. They also have the anchor and a crown on them which I have fudged but I hope they will look OK when painted. I think I'm getting close to gluing his left arm on since keeping it separate is getting difficult.

344754

John
 

papa 695

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
SMF Supporter
Joined
May 9, 2011
Messages
20,286
Points
113
Location
Doncaster, South Yorkshire
First Name
Ian
Just caught up on this John, and I’m gladI did. It always amazes me how much skill you sculptors have building from scratch. Great work so far, I’m watching from now on.
 
Top