NinjaGirl

This is the one I started first (October?) and finished last (0130 15-2-2008 NZDT).

I had two previous tries at setting up an armature for this one and they both kept growing until I was looking at a final height of about 8 inches for the overall sculpture. I kept being thrown by leaving portions of the wire extending beyond where the feet where supposed to be. I couldn't visualise that correctly and made the legs too long, so I made the body longer to match and the darn thing just grew.

So instead I re-read some of my books on sculpting and adopted a variation on Maureen Carlson's technique. I started with a small core of clay for the torso, which gave me a comparison point for the proportions.

I knew I was making more than one Laura face, so I spent a day sculpting one, baked it, made a mould of it from Miracle Mold (fantastic stuff) and used that as a push mould. I then realised the face looked nothing like Laura and spent another day on each one doing the best job my limited skill would allow to get a resemblance.
Lesson, polish the rust off your sculpting skills before you make masters for your moulds.

I finally got the nerve to try Katherine Dewey's technique for making eyes for sculpture again although I adapted it slightly. I coated round headed pins in a little clay and used Miracle Mold again for the mould that produces a nice hemisphere. No mould release required. If you want the full technique, buy Katherine's book. I have a signed self-published first edition. *smug*

The half completed face, resting on the mould









I had tried the eye making technique before, but the varnish I used stayed tacky for months and lost its shine when handled, so I had to find a better version.

As the figure was standing I used aluminium welding wire as armatures for the legs, I knew I'd have to bake it standing at least once in the process and I didn't want any collapses.

Legs and head as baked.
















Then I hit one of those logistical things that hack you off.

I desperately wanted to get the arms on to work out the positioning, but I realised I needed to get the Gi jacket sorted out and first and to do the arms I needed to get the hands ready. So onto hands.

3 or 4 tries later I got some that looked like fists and weren't too big.



The two best views of the finished product are:

and



The overall positioning irritates me immensely. Laura set herself in a nice balanced position for the original photo and I emulated that, then tipped the whole thing over onto its toes for some reason that probably made sense at one in the morning, but which I cannot recall now.

You can see a few more angles, and all the rest of these photos here.

The original was this. Laura trying on her new Gi for Kenpo.