Monday, September 3, 2012

More work on the detail

View from the front
I'm getting round to the details here, and also the surface textures.  I'm aiming for curly wavy hair on the girl, the smaller figure, and for shorter straighter hair on the boy.

I'm tentavioley positioning the noses, eyes and ears and have slimmed the necks..  The sweep of the skirt and the wavy hemline gives it all movement but I'm yet to work on thte surface of the skirt.
Side view
I winkled out a large shell from under the girl's arm which left a small pit - that's the nature of Portland limestone.  It's a beautiful piece of stone - tiny shells surfacce and I clear the stone from round the edge and take the corner of my tiny chisel and tap, off it comes - usually!  I like to see the shells normally but not on the tip of the nose and so on.
With a person (Nick) to show the size of the sculpture

I still work mainly with a one inch wide chisel.  I thought a Dremel drill would come in handy but I wasn't happy and went back to chisels.  I file with a "marble file"  or small shaped files and riflers but I am looking forward to getting the surface sanded down and gleaming.

Back view

The sculpture is resting for a while now.  I have a turntable which I find very useful for looking at the whole sculpture.  I am quite emotional when I carve as I think of the two beautiful children, Yaany, 8 and Mimi, 6 and search for them within the stone, chipping away the stone that is not "them" They seem to be emerging..  I call the sculpture "Love Reborn." I seem to be in a unique position carving a memorial to our two grandchildren who I adored so much and who died on November 18 2011.

Other side
Jeanie