It mostly went according to plan, except for a little technical error with the legs (they should have been placed diagonally not parallel to each other.) I had to work section by section, and wait a few minutes for the wax to completely solidify before starting on the next section.
The material itself was easy enough to use, the challenge was mainly with the tools. I used : a lighter, a tin can, wax paper and a modified hair straightener.
At first I started by dripping the wax into the shape of the feet, it was slow both because it needed time to solidify and because it took time for the wax to drip. I eventually got to the knees and had to find a way to sculpt the leg into a forward motion - so i used wax paper as a mold. I also used the left over wax for the mold by heating it up in a tin can with a candle - which was a much faster process.
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| Souce: moma.org |
It was still too slow so eventually I began to cut up chunks of the candle and fusing those together. It was time to try out the hair straightener. I plugged it in. Turned it on. Melted the wax. It worked well enough, until I turned it off and it cooled down. As it turns out, the wax managed to get inside and when I turned off the appliance the wax solidified ; rendering the my tinkering useless. It did work again, but only after I took it apart and cleaned out the wax. The trick is to keep it hot at all times, (Ah the electricity bill.)
I did have an inspiration this time, maybe even an attempt at emulation - a sculpture by Umberto Boccioni "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space."
I would consider this a successful iteration since nothing caught on fire.
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| Final Product |
I like that, I think you should continue to make some more of those but of different subjects, maybe of animals and such. This looks like a fun way of creating 3D imagery. Fragile but not so much I guess if the wax was dripped and dried around a wire frame. Anyway good work.
ReplyDeleteIts great that you decided to go 3D, considering the history of enthusiastic painting, your sculpture adds a new flair to the traditionally flat technique. I would like to see more experimentation with the surface of the red paraffin, you could add features, shapes and colour just by panting on the exterior surface.
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