Blacknick Sculpture

New Kong Sculpt In Progess

2012-01-27T10:30:00.007-05:00

Last month I sold my original Kong bust. I took a last photo before shipping Kong off to his new home in CA.

I'm at work now creating a similar, though smaller sized bust.This one will be cast in a mold so the teeth have to be made in two sections.

The top and bottom canine, and front teeth will be cast separately from the molars.

I rigged the jaw halves together with aluminum wire so I could articulate them to approximate how Kong will be chomping down on his native victim.

I'll be updating with work in progress photos as Kong takes shape!

Ceramic Dinosaur Sale

2012-01-18T06:21:00.004-05:00

I'm listing one of the first dinosaur sculptures I ever created on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120845666173&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

This T Rex was inspired by the "old school" tail dragging dinosaurs of my youth. I do appreciate the modern day Jurassic Park type of dino.

But there is a certain charm to the early art restorations of dinosaurs by the likes of Charles Knight.

And of course as a teen nothing was as inspirational as watching one of Marcel Delgado's stop motion film dinosaurs charge through the jungles of Skull Island!

Good Business Sense

2012-01-13T05:25:00.007-05:00

Everyone these days seems to be doing a lot of online shopping. I thought I'd share a story about one online merchant that my wife Diane did business with over the holidays.

I had asked for a particular fishing lure called a Northbar bottle darter, in a certain color for my birthday. My wife ordered it online from The Surfcaster: The Surfcaster - Rods, reels, lures, and equipment for the serious surf and inshore fisherman

Well apparently I have good taste in lures! The Northbar darter has taken some pretty large stripers from the looks of the photos on their website: Blog Northbar Tackle Montauk, NY

The lure/color I wanted was sold out! Doug the owner of The Surfcaster sent my wife the Northbar bottle darter I wanted in Blk/Purple so she would have something to give me on my birthday. He said he would email her when the out of stock lure became available.

Well Doug went a step further than that. He sent the lure I wanted for free and included a hand written note thanking my wife for her patience!

It arrived just in time to make a truly surprise Christmas present for me! Many thanks to Doug for being a gentleman and going the extra yard for his customers.

And while on the subject of lures I found this beauty while walking the tide line the day before Christmas.

One of my winter projects will be stripping this wood lure down and refinishing it for striper season.

King Kong Auction

2011-12-22T06:53:00.004-05:00

I'm selling my bust of Kong mauling a skull island native on eBay. I hate parting with him but I need the space for new work.

"This is a handmade, one of a kind sculpture of King Kong for sale. Inspired by the 1933 horror film this bust depicts Kong chewing on a Skull Island native. It would make an eye catching addition to any collection! The bust is an impressively sized piece measuring 19" L X 15 1/2" H X 11" W and is sculpted in Apoxie Sculpt clay. Apoxie Sculpt is a two part epoxy type clay that when set is extremely hard and durable. Adding to the realism of the sculpture is the actual grass skirt and real miniature necklace the native wears".

Anyone looking for an interesting one of a kind piece for your collection stop by eBay and check out my auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120829836053

Peggy the Seagull

2011-12-12T04:08:00.006-05:00

Last year my wife and I were throwing some leftovers to the seagulls. Competition among the gulls to get at the chow can be pretty intense.

It was then that I happened to notice a seagull with a strange leg watching us in the distance. Its one foot was deformed and its leg stuck out at an odd angle.

I pointed the seagull out to my wife and she immediately felt sorry for it. She tossed a piece of food to it and the bird made an attempt to hobble over to it but the other seagulls swooped in and stole it.

A few days later the gull with the strange leg showed up again. By now I had named it Pegleg. My wife thought that was inappropriate and christened her Peggy.

So now all our choicest leftovers are set aside for Peg. Well throw something large like a chicken carcass to the rest of the gulls and during the melee Peg will hop over to us and scoff down what we brought her.

She has figured out some feeding strategies on her own. While the other seagulls go into the water to bath after eating Peg will wait for us by the exit to the beach for a quick nosh as we are leaving.

This past month we hadn't seen Peg for a few weeks and I began to think something had happened to her. Sunday my wife and I were a few blocks away from the beach when I noticed a gull flying high in the opposite direction.

I couldn't be certain but I thought its leg stuck out like Pegs. So as I'm looking up the gull does a quick turn around and circles over our head. Here I am deciding if its the gull I think it is and the gull is circling lower cocking its head doing the same exact thing.

Then I realized we were wearing different coats and hats then we usually wear when we walk the beach and Peg wasn't sure at first that it was us.

When you take in too account all the other people strolling around us its pretty amazing that a gull can pick out two humans by facial features alone!

Peggy will be happy to learn I have some leftover baked salmon with her name on it.

Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe

2011-11-23T16:37:00.005-05:00

I'd like to wish all my online friends a Happy Thanksgiving! I've been busy getting ready for my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale at my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlacknickSculpture

I'm having a 20% off sale and offering free shipping on purchases of artwork ( after discount ) of $100.00.

Between working on my Etsy listings I braved the supermarket for some last minute supplies.

This year instead of a turkey were doing a roasting chicken stuffed with ( of all things ) White Castle hamburgers!

Here's the recipe in case you think I'm ribbing you:

White Castle Holiday Stuffing

10 White Castle hamburgers, no pickles

1 1/2 cups celery, diced

1 1/4 tsp. ground thyme

1 1/2 tsp. ground sage

3/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

1/4 cup chicken broth

In a large mixing bowl, tear the burgers into pieces and add diced celery and seasonings.

Toss and add chicken broth. Toss well.

Stuff cavity of turkey just before roasting. Makes about 9 cups ( enough for a 10 - 12 -pound turkey). Note: Allow 1 hamburger for each pound of turkey, which will be the equivalent of 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound.

Let me know if any of you are brave enough to give it a try!

Bad Santa

2011-11-17T05:43:00.014-05:00

I thought I'd share a few work in progress photos of this nasty little fellow I just listed on Etsy: Clubba The Bad Santa by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy

If you missed my earlier blog post this is the armature I made for the sculpture.

I like to wrap the armature with floral wire to help the clay stay in place.Once the armature was completed I began adding Apoxie sculpt clay.

Here the final pose is taking shape. The legs are done but I can still reposition the arms and head if I choose.

Adding some detail to the face with a needle tool.

Adding the bat to the figure and sculpting the sleeve.

The finished sculpture and base outside being primed.

Beginning painting the face.

Giving the figure a wash to accent the details.

Putting the finishing touches to the gift box my bad Santa will be holding. I named this guy Clubba because, well, what do you name a character holding a Louisville slugger?

Zombie Santa

2011-11-08T10:31:00.008-05:00

Shades of the Walking Dead! I felt like making a Zombie Santa ornament yesterday.

I used Apoxie clay to sculpt the zombie and finished it in acrylic paint. It has a cord in the head for hanging it from a Christmas tree.

I also started a couple armatures for sculptures I'm planning.

Here is the finished armature wrapped in floral wire. I find the floral wire helps give the clay a toe hold as I'm applying it. I hope to have more done on this by weeks end!

Halloween Monster Time

2011-10-29T05:09:00.006-04:00

Halloween is right around the corner and I haven't finished my new monster decoration yet! Our old monster had one of those paper skulls from Michael's that I sculpted paper mache over.

We got a couple of years out of it before it started crumbling apart. The new monster has a styrofoam skull which I sculpted Apoxie clay over.

Here he is with some hair being added. I'm hopeful he'll stand up to the elements better then his predecessor!

Besides monster making I've been replacing hooks on my fishing lures to get them ready for the fall striper run.

I have another board full of lures just like this one. But thankfully I don't use every lure. So I only have to ready my " go too " lures. These are the lures that over the years have proven themselves to produce more fish for me.

Kong Spider Pit Finished

2011-10-09T04:26:00.032-04:00

I have been working on my interpretation of the stop motion puppets and spider pit from King Kong (1933). I thought I'd share some photos of the completed work.

Here is a full view of the ravine.

A detail view of the right wall.

View of the top of the left wall.

The lizard creature slithering out of the cave in the ravine.

The lizard attacking one of the convicts.

The crab snatching one of the survivors up into its claws.

The lizard and the crab fighting over one of the convicts.

The spider polishing off a victim.

Convicts being menaced by the spider.

A view of the ravine shot through the cave opening.

The tentacle creature on the attack.

The inhabitants of the pit waiting for something else to fall into their lair.

Quiksilver Pro Long Beach, NY

2011-09-03T12:02:00.014-04:00

Residents of Long Beach NY have been watching the preparations taking place for the Quiksilver Pro New York - Long Beach - Sept 1-15 Surfing Tournament for well over a month.These giant wrap around decals advertising the event now cover all the towns ticket booths at the beach entrances.

The town is still showing the effects of Hurricane Irene's recent visit.

This decking at one of the beach ramps was torn up by the storm.

All the sand washed into the streets from the storm surge has to be cleaned up.

Chris Morrissey of the Beach Maintenance Department helping in the clean up effort.

The foundation of the Lifeguard station on National Blvd. prepared to reseat the structure. The station was washed off the foundation and came to rest against the boardwalk.

This is the crane which was going to be used to hoist the station back onto its foundation.

I think this is the newscasters booth.

One of the structures erected for the event on National Blvd. beach. The Allegria Hotel is in the background.

The structure for the contest to pick the next Roxy Girl.

Cleanup underway on National Blvd. and Broadway.The Allegria Hotel ( on right ) where many of the surfing community are staying during the event.

A beach mummy buried in the sand amusing himself with building sand pyramids till the surfing conditions pick up.

Hurricane Irene Long Beach,NY

2011-09-01T07:00:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd share a few pictures of how Hurricane Irene affected us here at Long Beach, NY. Some people are annoyed that Irene didn't live up to the weather report hype.

Well, it was more than enough storm for me!I'm glad we didn't get a full category 1 Hurricane come through our area.

This is the ramp leading to the beach on our block at the height of the storm during high tide.

This is the same ramp as the storm surge washes in.

This is my wife going down the ramp. She wanted her picture with the water in the background.

She didn't realize the depth of the water because of the foam covering it. It had filled her boots.

I hollered to her to get out of there but she said take the picture first. A second later she got walloped with a surge of water that was almost up to her waist!

This photo is a split second before she got knocked off her feet. She managed to hang onto the railing and I ran down and dragged her back up the ramp.

This is the boardwalk on our corner showing the flooding caused by the storm. We were lucky that the dune sand and wooden planking held!

The surf broke through the boardwalk planking on this street.

You can see where the water washed over the dune under this section of the boardwalk and then smashed through the wood planking.

This couple were on the Lindell Blvd. beach checking out the water. Even though the storm had passed and the tide had receded the surf was still kicking up.

The decking around the concession stand on Grand Blvd. was broken apart by the storm.

One of the metal lifeguard chairs which are set out just beyond the high tide mark washed up the beach by the force of the surf.

The playground at Magnolia Blvd. showing where the storm surge punched through the cinder block wall.

My Mom standing on the boardwalk at National Blvd.

National Blvd. and the Allegria Hotel completely flooded!

A tree on our corner felled by the storm. Our area of town was without power for a day and a half. We were very fortunate. We got no flooding or damage to our home.

Thinking about Shark Week

2011-08-06T04:36:00.000-04:00

I've been enjoying Shark Week on the Discovery channel this week. It got me thinking to how I first became interested in sharks.

In the mid 1960's my Mother and I had gone for a walk and stopped to rummage through a bookstore. There was an enormous selection of old National Geographic magazines on sale for 3 for a quarter. I begged a quarter from my Mom and shot off to pick out my three issues!

Delving through the stacks of magazines I came across the very one Chief Brody is leafing through in the film Jaws. When I saw the painting of the white shark attacking the lobster fisherman's dory that appears in the film I was hooked!

Then in 1971 Peter Gimbel released the documentary Blue Water White Death which chronicled his search for the Great White shark. Amazon.com: Blue Water, White Death: Peter Gimbel, Ron Taylor, Valerie Taylor, Stan Waterman: Movies & TV

I pestered my Dad to take me to see it. I remember he was none to pleased when he found the theater had hiked up the usual ticket prices for this movie!

Watching that film I thought I had died and gone to heaven! No one had ever filmed White sharks underwater before. That film blew me away.

Around that same time my Dad bought me a copy of "Sportfishing for Sharks" which was written by Capt. Frank Mundus. Mundus coined the phrase " Monster Fishing " to describe this new sport.

Then in 1974 I coerced my Dad to take me to see the self proclaimed " Monster Man " Frank Mundus give a lecture on shark fishing.

After his talk I got Mundus to autograph my copy of his book!

That same year my Mom mentioned my love of sharks to a co worker who owned his own boat and often did offshore fishing. He agreed to take my Dad and I out for the day.

I remember first laying eyes on his 23 foot boat and wishing it were bigger! It was a windy day and the choppy water inshore grew to fairly large swells as we headed 40 miles offshore.

No sooner did we start drifting and chumming then my Dad who was prone to getting seasick turned green as a gill and laid down in the cabin.

When the drag of the reel screamed to announce the strike of the first shark my Dad dragged himself back on deck to watch me land a 5 ft Brown shark.

Sick as he was he watched us measure, then tag and release the shark. At which point he promptly added his breakfast to the chum slick and then crashed back onto the bunk in the cabin.

I caught a second Brown shark soon after but nothing will ever replace landing that first shark and seeing it close up!

Getting back to Mundus if you notice he autographed my book twice! I finally got to fish with him out of Montauk aboard his boat the Cricket II in 2005. Fishing with him was a treat! To say he was a character would be putting it mildly! He regaled us with his great stories and shared his scrap book of photos with us.

To celebrate Shark week I'm having a sale on my Shark and Nautical sculptures at my Etsy shop. Use the coupon code SHARKWEEK201 at checkout to get 30% off the purchase price! : Mako Shark OOAK Sculpture by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy

Making Tentacles for a Stop Motion Puppet

2011-07-25T10:30:00.000-04:00

The stop motion puppet I'm designing will have six tentacles. I sculpted one tentacle and made a two piece mold of it.

From the two molds I made six sets of latex skins. Six top sides and six bottom sections to cover the finished tentacles.

The tentacles were made by taking a section of aluminum wire and wrapping it in cotton string. I tacked the string in place with a bit of liquid latex rubber.

The thicker portion of tentacle that attaches to the body of the creature was built up with sections of foam rubber.

Then after dabbing on a bit of liquid latex I began wrapping the entire tentacle with athletic foam wrap.

Here is a top section of the latex skin for the tentacle fresh from the mold.

Here I'm test fitting the skin to one of the foam wrapped wire tentacles.

Next post I'll begin assembling the tentacles.

Christmas In July Sale

2011-07-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

I'll be taking part in Etsy's Christmas in July sale between the dates of 7/14/2011 through 7/24/2011. Use the coupon code at checkout to take 30% off your purchase price. I also liked to mention that a couple pieces of my sea themed artwork are in these two fishing inspired treasuries: Musings of a Fisherman's Wife by fiiimac on Etsy Gone Fishing! by WhisperingOak on Etsy

Cthulhu Sculpture

2011-06-23T04:47:00.000-04:00

I took a break from working on my spider pit recreation to sculpt Cthulhu. I thought I'd share some work in progress photos with you.

Here is the aluminum wire/foil armature.

Here I've started adding clay. The bolts in the feet will secure the sculpt to the base.

The sculpt mounted to the wooden base. I'm adding Apoxie clay around the bolts to secure it in place.

Cutting the armature for the wings out of wire screening.

The two completed wings with metal rods added for mounting to the sculpture.

Smoothing the area the wings will attach to.

Blending the area around the wings with the rest of the body.

Adding the tentacles to Cthulhu.

Here is the finished Cthulhu.

Whale Washes Up Off Atlantic Beach NY

2011-06-08T14:47:00.000-04:00

I was working on this fellow this morning.

It is one of the creatures that inhabits the spider pit diorama I'm creating.

I had just got the eyes installed when a friend called to tell me a whale had washed ashore in the next town.

I grabbed my camera and decided to take a walk along the shoreline. Atlantic Beach is a private beach but I figured they wouldn't mind.

When I got about a 1/4 block away I could smell the carcass.

The biologist at the scene said it is a Finback whale. It is estimated it is between 35 - 40 feet long. I guess they have to haul it out to sea and let nature take its course.

Spider Pit Ravine WIP Photos

2011-05-20T09:14:00.000-04:00

I've been chipping away at getting my spider pit ravine finished but it has been slow going. The weather has been constantly rainy, humid and foggy for the last week.

Because of this the rock work I am doing on the ravine walls is taking forever to dry! The picture below is the wood and hardware cloth frame covered with mache and wood putty. I've just added a section of styrofoam board to build up the rock face.

This is the styrofoam rock face before I added my mache/wood putty mixture.

This is the rock face about 75% finished. I just have to refine the cave entrance a bit.

Here is the pit lizard stop motion puppet sitting on one of the finished boulders waiting for its final coat of paint.

Spider Pit Interview with Lee Ashworth

2011-05-11T12:21:00.000-04:00

I'm a huge fan of the 1933 version of King Kong! So you can imagine my pleasure at discovering the website KongisKing.net.

There I met a great bunch of folks. Kindred spirits that share my fascination with Kong and the process of stop motion animation.

Some members like Mr. Lee Ashworth have taken their passion for Kong a step further. Ashworth and his co author Gary Vehar have penned what may well be the definitive article exploring the mystery of whether the spider pit sequence was ever filmed.

What is the mystery of the spider pit you may ask? In the film a rescue party pursuing Kong are dashing across a fallen log spanning a chasm.

Enraged Kong appears from the jungle and shakes the terrified men clinging to the log into the ravine below. At the bottom of the ravine the sailors that survived the fall are set upon by a menagerie of grotesque creatures -- giant spiders, a crab and a tentacled monstrosity.

I'm currently building a diorama of the ravine and some of the pit creatures. So you can imagine what a treat it was for me when Lee Ashworth agreed to be interviewed about his love of Kong and his article " Lost Nightmare The Mystery of the Missing Spider Pit Sequence "which was published in FilmFax magazine.

For those wishing to read his article it can be downloaded at this link: http://newboards.kongisking.net/perl/gforum.cgi?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediafire.com%2F%3Fnszyx0h67oadwnv

So Lee at what age did you first see the 1933 version of King Kong?

My dad took me to see King Kong '33 in 1977. I was five at the time. When Kong first emerged from the darkness with the trees moving the way they did via stop motion animation, it left me mesmerized and my imagination started to run wild and it has never stopped.

Well, I'm now 38 and my favorite subject is Kong '33! When I first got Kong '33 on home video it was the best thing in the world (even better than Christmas and my birthday combined)!! It is a movie that I can honestly say I love.

What prompted you to write Lost Nightmare The Mystery of the Missing Spider Pit Sequence ?

Whilst posting on KongisKing.net, some years ago, I became involved in one of the "was the spider pit sequence shot or not?" debates and joined in just for fun really. I owned copies of letters that Merian C. Cooper the director of Kong had wrote that mention the lost spider pit sequence and why it was not in the final movie.

I also had several photos of the scenes, so I shared them on the site and was contacted by Jim Quirk (who dropped out for personal reasons) and Gary Vehar who were planning on writing a book on the subject. A book was not a realistic prospect due to the amount of knowledge that seemed to exist on the subject, so we decided on a lengthy article instead.

A year later and we had the version you can read today. We had help from some very generous people in the business and a personal friend of both Cooper and composer Max Steiner, and besides knowledge we also received several never before published pictures of the scene set ups (one of the many highlights of working on such a project) from stop motion animator Chris Endicott.

How hard was it tracking down sources on a film that is over 78 years old?

Well, we were very lucky to start with and managed to find out lots of tales about the sequence. One guy that we interviewed told me that Max Steiner had seen the spider pit sequence in a preview to help him score the film (it does sound plausible seeing as the score was composed in the "Micky Mousing" style) so he could write the music to fit the scenes and that when he next saw Kong (still unscored) the pit sequence was gone.

He also said that when "Jack" reacts to the sailor hitting the rocks in the version that we know, the reaction was actually because "Jack" had seen a creature in the pit attacking the sailor.

So we had plenty of "word of mouth" stories to compare and filter down to what most probably was shot, but we were no closer to finding out what happened to the scene after its removal, and we didn't expect to find out either, because if that information was available then the scene would not remain lost to this day.

Saying that, a second Kong armature did come to light after many years and that was also believed lost. On the opposite hand, we did have patches where things seemed to move at glacial speeds and we would run into many dead-ends, hence the reason it took a while to get enough material to put the article together.

How accurate do you find Peter Jackson's recreation of the spider pit sequence to be?

Peter Jackson's spider pit? I'm assuming you are referring to the stop motion version and not the ghastly CGI version. I don't think the scene would have played out like that in the 1933 version for these reasons:- The Styracosaurus NEVER appeared in the original film, the shot of it standing at the other side of the ravine was just a cut and paste job created by the studio. They even managed to cut the Styracosaur's beak off.

The crab and the lizard grab two sailors at the same time, so you don't know which to watch. That scene was certainly rushed. The men are still seen being dashed on the rocky floor of the chasm and would not have survived that kind of impact. In the original script, the men landed in soft mud and were supposed to be attacked after that.

I say "supposed" because we still have no hard evidence that the scene was shot, although I have seen stills from actual film that to appear to have a soundtrack on them, maybe a temporary music or sound effects track (you can see where the sound is encoded onto film. It appears to the side ).

Another thing to ponder is that the log scene in Kong '33 has been tampered with ... As Kong drops the log into the ravine, the whole scene has been flipped (left now appearing on the right side) for some unknown reason. Anyway, in Jackson's defense, he did state that it was just a fan version, so I suppose that gives him the advantage of using as much artistic licensing as he wants.

Recently you mentioned your adding a Kong ball & socket armature to your collection. How did that come about?

I noticed that Tom Brierton was selling a gorilla-like armature with a replica of the original Kong armature skull and I just had to have one! It worked out at around the same price as the "Sideshow Collectibles" replica Kong armature which I'd heard horror stories about the metal being soft and the thing couldn't hold a pose, so it was a no-brainer for me.

I remember once I'd paid for it I wanted it straight away and then got realistic about the time it takes to ship across the Atlantic ocean, but that didn't stop me looking out the window hoping to see a courier van arriving after day two! I had always wanted a stop motion Kong puppet, so this was the nearest that I'd ever been to getting one.

What motivated you to begin building stop motion puppets?

My first love of monsters and the fantastic, is Kong, and that walks hand in hand with stop motion animation, so I was also hooked on the films of Ray Harryhausen too.

I always wanted to own a stop motion monster as I was growing up, but it was very elusive due to the fact that I had no idea where to get my hands on latex rubber and other supplies necessary for the task. And also living in England didn't help matters, as the only subject material I could lay my hands on were imported American mags at the time.

Then along came the Internet, and thank heavens it did! I could speak to more like minded people like myself, talk to the SFX professionals I'd only ever seen in books and mags, it was great. Still, I didn't consider trying my hand at creating my own stop motion monsters because I didn't think I had the skills to take it on.

It was only after a near death experience in 2010, that I decided to try some things I wanted to try out, and that's where I got the "nothing ventured nothing gained" attitude, and that's how I finally stepped into the art of stop motion.

You mentioned building a T Rex inspired by the one that challenges Kong in the film. What other puppets are you planning on building in the future?

At the moment I'm working on another "Skull Island" type creature. I've decided to create a hybrid of two of the creatures built but not used in "King Kong." The new creature will be a mix of the Arsinoitherium and Triceratops. I am planning to use this "Arsinoceratops" monster in a scene involving the T Rex.

I'm also near to completing a lizard-man puppet, but have yet to settle on the design of the head, so it's taken a back seat for now, as has the Octopus creature from the deleted "Spider Pit" sequence from 'King Kong."

The beauty of creating the Octopus creature is, that apart from the tentacles, we have never seen an image of the final design that was to be used in 'Kong,' so it gives me a free range in which to use artistic licensing!

Stop motion animation and creating the articulated puppets can be such an exacting and tedious process. What do you find rewarding about it?

What do I find rewarding .... Well, I love to create things from nothing, so building the stop motion puppets and other miniatures is very rewarding when it's going right, and then animating something that you've created and playing it back is something very special indeed.

It's not as simple as just moving the puppets arms or legs frame by frame, you have to channel the "actor" within yourself from your minds eye, through your fingers and create a personality for your puppet or it will be as interesting as animating a block of wood sliding across a table top.

The Kong scene that I animated was a rush job due to my impatience and wanting to finish the animation and get stuck into adding sound effects, music and compositing a background in there.

It was a big mistake I made, but trial and error are the best ways to learn the art... You really need to study things very closely, e.g.: when you really watch how a body moves when walking, everything moves, the body has to balance and counterbalance, etc., the head remains centralized whist the shoulders and neck are in constant motion.

It's the things animals do that we don't really notice that can make a big difference to your puppets natural looking actions. With Kong I did give him a personality but didn't take care with the movements, it's something I will address on my next project.

I've included the link to one of your first animation sequences with your Kong puppet: http://www.youtube.com/user/shran1933#p/u/6/B9ShIlaOYhQ

Also a clip of your T Rex in action: YouTube - T Rex on Skull Island

How has the groundbreaking special effects created by Willis O'Brien in King Kong influenced you?

Well, (this will sound cliche, but it's true) I have never been the same since I first saw 'King Kong' on the big screen as a child. After that day my life took the direction of indulging myself in the world of Kong and monster movies, books, toys, games, cards ... you get the picture.

You can't beat reading a cool horror comic whilst listening to a storm rage outside, none of which I would enjoy if it wasn't for monsters and horror icons that I took an interest in after seeing Kong. I feel that it's made my life a little, no, a lot more interesting than the average blokes on the street, and I wouldn't change that if I had my time over again!

So, the work of Willis O'Brien, Marcel Delgado, Merian C. Cooper, and everyone else involved in that utterly magical film, have been with me throughout my life, and I can say that it always will be!

The Art of The Diorama

2011-05-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

A few readers have emailed me asking how I learned to make dioramas. Well most of what I do has come about by and trial and error. I'm also always on the lookout for books or articles on techniques and new materials that can help take my work to a new level.

One such book is The Art of The Diorama by Ray Anderson : Amazon.com: The Art of The Diorama (9780890240922): Ray Anderson, Roland Patterson: Books

To say Ray Anderson is a master craftsman is an understatement! His attention to detail is amazing! If your a fan of miniatures and dioramas you can see some examples of his work here: Model Makers—Ray Anderson

Another book I have found useful in my work is Terrain Modelling by Richard Windrow. Just the section on building trees was worth the purchase price to me!

While on the subject of dioramas I thought I'd share a few pictures with you. I've made some progress on my Skull Island spider pit diorama this week.

Here is a wire mesh frame stapled to a wood base. It is going to be a cave in the ravine cliff face.

Using sections of burlap impregnated with mache I covered the wire frame.

After the cave dried overnight in front of an electric fan I primed it and painted the interior. Then I installed the cave into the frame that will form one of the ravine walls.

I added burlap and wood putty around the cave entrance and left it to dry. Tomorrow I hope to get the entire frame covered in a first coat of burlap/wood putty!

WIP Skull Island Spider Pit Diorama

2011-05-01T22:25:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share a few work in progress photos. This past week I've been concentrating on finishing up the fallen log that bridges the spider pit chasm.

Here I am drilling a hole in the Apoxie Sculpt clay "bark" of the tree.

After drilling the holes I glued in my roots which were coat hanger wire covered in foil and then wrapped with floral wire. The floral wire helps the clay stay in place as you model it.

This is the first layer of clay. After it cures a second layer of clay will be applied which I'll texture to match the bark on the rest of the log.

Here is the snapped off top section of the log which I made by hot gluing Styrofoam over a cardboard tube. You can see the finished trunk section of the log primed grey in the background.

After using a rasp to shape the Styrofoam I coated it in wood putty.

The smaller roots of the log trunk were formed using aluminum and floral wire.

Here is the root nearing completion. It is covered in cotton and tinted liquid latex.

Next post I'll show the roots added to the log and go about painting and detailing it.

Miniature Diorama

2011-04-23T04:39:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a several stop motion puppets based on creatures from the 1933 version of King Kong.

To showcase my puppets I decided to build a diorama. The diorama will be the bottom of a jungle ravine on Skull Island. I'm going to need a large rock. Also a portion of an old uprooted tree trunk.

To build up the tree trunk I took a cardboard tube from a roll of aluminum foil. I hot glued chunks of styrofoam to the tube and roughed out the shape of the trunk with a file.

Next I mixed a batch of Mache which I tinted with brown acrylic paint. I applied this over the styrofoam trunk with a palette knife.

I'm using Durham's Wood Putty to create the root end of the tree. After mixing up a thin mixture of it I painted the putty over the base of the tree. While this was drying I began work on the rock.

For my rock armature I filled a plastic bag with shredded paper and wrapped it with Duct tape till I got the general shape I was looking for.

Then I mixed a batch of wood putty and saturated burlap strips with it. After squeezing out the excess putty I began draping it over the armature.

After this dried I mixed up a thick batch of putty and using a palette knife applied it over the entire rock. When the putty reached a leather hard stage I carved it to create an irregular craggy surface.

When it was dry enough to be safely handled I removed the armature to facilitate drying.

I was left with a light weight, hollow putty rock. I was pleased with how the putty handled and would definitely use this material again in the future.

Next post I'll be creating the roots for the tree trunk.

A Bad Bunny!

2011-04-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a new dark art themed piece for my Etsy shop OOAK Bad Bunny by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy and thought I'd share a couple work in progress photos with you.

This naughty character started out as an aluminum wire armature. After padding the armature with foil I added a coating of Apoxie Sculpt clay which I allowed to cure.

After the clay had hardened I began adjusting the pose of the legs to give the figure the stance I wanted.

Here is the figure roughed out and posed on its wood base.

Remember what your Mother told you about taking candy from strangers? It goes double for naughty rabbits!

Stop Motion Puppet Construction

2011-04-11T05:09:00.000-04:00

Over the Christmas holiday I decided to try my hand at creating some stop motion puppets. This type of puppet is fully posable and used in the film industry to create stop motion animation in movies like Coraline.

I thought it would be fun to create my interpretation of the strange creature that crawls up from the pit in the 1933 version of King Kong.

I began by carving a wooden skull for the creature and adding some Apoxie sculpt teeth.

Next I used aluminum wire to create the spine and front legs of the creature. Here is the lizards head added to the spine. The small human figure is one of the lizards intended victims.

The wire body of the lizard is then wrapped with cotton.

Then chunks of foam are glued to the armature using liquid latex. It is then trimmed to shape and covered with a foam tape overwrap.

Next I sculpted the lizards head and lower jaw over the armature in clay. I then made a two piece plaster mold of the clay head. I brushed a mixture of acrylic paint and liquid latex into the mold halves.

After peeling my lizard head pieces out of the molds I brushed some liquid latex onto the armatures skull and glued the sections in place.

Next I glued down the neck section onto the lizard and added some spikes I had formed using liquid latex and cotton.

For the lizards skin I made a textured mold into which I brushed a thin coat of tinted liquid latex.

When the latex was dry I brushed talcum powder over it. This prevents it from sticking to itself.

Then I carefully peeled the latex skin from the mold.

Here is one section of the completed skin. I'm guessing I will need about 3 or 4 sections to cover the entire lizard creature. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the puppet up this week.

Asian Noodle Soup

2011-04-04T06:31:00.000-04:00

I'm frequently at the Chinese restaurant to get my soup " fix " so when my wife Diane came across this recipe she knew I'd like it! I forget where she got a hold of it so I can't give credit to the author.

I changed the recipe somewhat. Instead of turkey meat I browned up some Italian sausage and crumbled it up. I also did away with adding the extra 3/4 of water. We like things spicy so I added some cayenne pepper to our soup. I'm not a fan of cucumber so I omitted that garnish.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons hot sesame oil, divided

1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey

1 bunch scallions, sliced, divided

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

3/4 cup water

3 cups thinly sliced bok choy

8 ounces dried Chinese noodles

3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 small cucumber, sliced into matchsticks, for garnish

Preparation:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add ground turkey, all but 2 tablespoons of the scallions, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring and breaking up the turkey, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add broth, water, bok choy, noodles, soy sauce, vinegar and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Return the turkey mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Serve garnished with the reserved 2 tablespoons scallions and cucumber (if using).

One Bad Egg Finished!

2011-03-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

I had fun creating this piece of dark artwork. It was a departure from the more complicated sculptures I usually work on.

Run afoul of this bad egg and your head could be decorating his Easter basket!Here are a couple different views of this rotten character.

Bad Egg Work In Progress Photos

2011-03-23T05:29:00.000-04:00

I got some more work done on my bad egg character this weekend. After drawing a machete on thin basswood I cut it out and covered it with Apoxie clay. When it cured I sanded it smooth with wet/dry sandpaper.

Next I painted it with acrylic paint and set it aside to dry.

Here a piece of Apoxie clay to form a hand has been added to one of the characters aluminum wire arms. Gently pressing the soft clay against the handle of the machete will create a hand that perfectly fits.

When the clay hand had cured I glued the machete in place with Zap a Gap.

After adding fresh Apoxie clay to the hand I sculpted fingers gripping the machete.

After setting the hand aside to cure I textured the base of the sculpture and worked on the characters shoes.

After the arms are attached I can begin painting!

A Really Bad Egg

2011-03-19T10:57:00.000-04:00

With Easter around the corner I decided to do a dark art themed egg. At Michael's I found the perfect sized styrofoam egg for my project.

I began by making a cardboard template of the shape I wanted for the sculptures base. After tracing it on to a piece of plywood I cut the base out and drilled holes for my characters legs.

Next I cut 4 steel rods for the arms and legs. After embedding the legs in my egg character I bent the arm rods and ground one side of the rod flat.

Then I inserted the arm rods in brass square tubing which I had filled with Apoxie clay. Flattening one side helps prevent the rod from coming loose and turning once the clay cures.

The photo shows the styrofoam egg covered in mache with the steel leg rods mounted in place. It is temporarily mounted on the wood base as it dries.

After the egg dried I marked the location for the arms.

I cut an opening for the arms, packed the hole with Apoxie clay and pressed the square brass tubing into place.

Now it was time to cover the mache with Apoxie sculpt clay. This provides a much more durable finish than mache alone.

I have more sculpting to complete on this after it cures later this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll have some new work in progress photos of the bad egg.

Crab Cakes

2011-03-10T16:38:00.000-05:00

I decided on making crab cakes for dinner. Generally I use backfin or lump crab but since claw meat was on sale that was what I went with.

I keep my recipe fairly simple because I don't want to over power the flavor of the crab.

Ingredients 1 pound Blue crab meat

4 unsalted Saltine crackers crushed

1 egg beaten

1/4 cup Hellmann's mayonnaise

2 small scallions chopped

1 Tbsp red pepper chopped

1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 Tsp Hot sauce

1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning Extra virgin olive oil (for frying)

flavored bread crumbs (for coating the crab cakes) Preparation

After checking over the crab for cartilage or bits of shell I add the meat to a large mixing bowl. I sprinkle the Old Bay seasoning, scallion, red pepper and crushed cracker crumb over the crab. In a separate bowl I mix together the rest of the ingredients which I then spoon over the crab. Using a spatula I gently turn the crab to mix it trying not to break up the chunks of meat.

After letting it sit in the fridge for an hour or so I form the cakes. I usually end up with about 7 cakes. The cakes are then pressed into flavored breadcrumbs and fried in extra virgin olive oil 4 or 5 minutes per side till they are nicely browned.

With the crab cakes we are having scallops and shrimp which were marinated a few hours in garlic and oil with a few dashes of habanero pepper sauce.

Sea Serpent Sculpt Finished!

2011-02-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

I finished the sea serpent sculpture I've been working on this Thursday and got it listed in my Etsy shop :http://www.etsy.com/listing/68901992/sea-serpent-and-doryman I thought I'd share some wip photos with you. First I finished sculpting the clay waves over the wood base.

Then I mixed together Liquitex Blue acrylic paint with transparent green polytranspar paint to make a thin wash.

I applied the wash over the clay waves in thin coats.

After several coats of the blue/green wash I dry brushed in some white caps.

When my painted sea dried I gave it several coats of water based clear varnish to seal the finish.

While the varnish was setting I mixed up a small batch of EnviroTex Clear resin.

I wanted to do a test mixture of the Envirotex, sand and broken bits of shell to be sure it cured properly. The next morning I saw it had set fine - clear and hard!

So I mixed up a second batch and poured it into the bottom of the listing boat letting it settle to the side. I've never seen the floor of a work boat yet that didn't have some sea water slogging back and forth. The EnviroTex captured this look perfectly!

Here are some photos of the finished piece. Click on them if you'd like a larger view:

If I've piqued your curiosity about sea serpents you may enjoy these links:

The UnMuseum - Sea Serpent of Gloucester

The Shadowlands Sea Serpent page

This book by J.P. O'Neill sounds right up my alley! Amazon.com: The Great New England Sea Serpent: An Account of Unknown Creatures Sighted by Many Respectable Persons Between 16...

I'm Craving Clam Chowder!

2011-02-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

I love making chowders especially New England Clam Chowder! I got the craving this weekend and went to the supermarket to pick up some of the ingredients I'd need.

The price for the little package of salt pork was ridiculous! But what they were asking for a quart of fat free Half n Half made the salt pork look reasonably priced!

So I switched gears and decided to pick up the fixings for making Manhattan Clam Chowder. After the supermarket my wife and I headed to Point Lookout to the The Doxsee Sea Clam Co . Doxsee has been at its present location since 1933!

Here is a photo of my wife Diane standing in front of the Doxsee "building".

It is a one room operation consisting of a freezer and some canned goods.

Their products and prices are posted on the wall.

You help yourself to the freezer full of clam products. This trip we got a bag of surf clams and large can of clam juice for the chowder. I couldn't pass up grabbing a bag of the breaded clam strips. And since I wouldn't be making my chowder till midweek Diane suggested I get a container of the Doxsee N.E. Clam Chowder to hold me over. Good thinking!

After you bag your food you stuff your money into the cash box mounted on the wall.

Afterwards we decided to take a walk around Point Lookout. When we got to the inlet there were quite a few ducks near the sandbar.

It was windy which was causing the inlet to kick up. I climbed out on the rocks to try and get a few shots of the waves as they were breaking.

Sea Serpent WIP Update

2011-02-11T06:27:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much chance to work on the sea serpent piece due to the rotten weather we've been having! I'm painting the serpent in acrylic washes and I need to protect the finish with clear lacquer before progressing to the next step.

We finally had a decent day here and I was able to get outside and spray the serpent so I could finish the painting. The serpent is now done, the fisherman and boat are 99% completed. All that remains to do is create the waves washing over the base.

On past projects I've sculpted the waves in clay, made a mold, and cast the waves in resin. It is a time consuming process but provides a dramatic effect! Here is a post with photos of my sculpture of The Old Man And The Sea for a look at resin water : http://blacknick-sculpture.blogspot.com/search?q=resin+water

On this piece I'm going to use Apoxie Sculpt two part clay to create the water. The first step is marking off the direction I want the waves to flow using a marker.

Next I begin using foil to form my waves. The core of foil will save on weight and material. This weekend I hope to have the foil waves set in place so I can begin my wave sculpting.

Detailing The Miniature Fisherman's Boat

2011-01-24T04:23:00.000-05:00

It has gotten cold here. When I see saltwater freezing on the jetties I know the real winter has arrived!

In the 5 minutes it took to snap a few pictures and feed the gulls some scraps we had for them I could barely feel my fingers.

The frigid weather was a good excuse to stay indoors and catch up on my fisherman project.

One of the things I feel detracts from a miniature is if it looks too perfect. This is especially true for boats.

So after all the careful sanding and painting it came time to beat up the boat a bit. The first thing I did was use a strand of line to rub the gunwale in several places.

Before gluing the seats in place I sanded the paint off here and there and nicked them up with my Xacto knife.

Next I used chalks and a cotton swab to create aged drip marks under the thole pins and at the locations of the bow and transom lines.

Many times fishing boats will have blood splattered about from the thrashing of landed fish. To replicate this I used thinned down dark red paint and a stipple brush. It created a nice pattern of paint at the location where the fisherman would be seated.

The next thing I did was antique the oars and the trawl tub. When the tub was done I packed aluminum foil inside it and topped it off with Apoxie Sculpt clay. Then I took the line which I had aged in brewed tea and coiled it in the tub tacking it in place with Zap a Gap glue.

Next up will be gluing the boat gear and fisherman in place. Then on to creating the water around the dory.

Sea Serpent WIP Photos

2011-01-17T04:46:00.000-05:00

On Saturday I worked on the sea serpent piece. I reinforced the neck area by wrapping it in wire mesh and masking tape.

Next up I inserted the eyes I had sculpted and painted earlier.

For the sculpting I was using Apoxie Sculpt clay Apoxie® Sculpt which is a two part medium that you knead together to activate.

The trick is too only mix up as much as you can use before it begins to set up. I prefer using small batches and mixing more as I need it.

Once I begin sculpting I like to try and complete the piece in one sitting. I find that by doing so the newly mixed clay blends into the setting clay already on the piece more seamlessly.

Here is a few photos of the finished pose.

Monster Wonderful Monster

2011-01-10T04:44:00.000-05:00

Tarayvonne my teammate on Etsy Dark Team has assembled a wonderful collection of monster themed artwork in this treasury: Monster Wonderful Monster by tarayvonne on Etsy

I'm honored that she selected one of my monsters for inclusion in her unique treasury!

If you have a minute you should pop into Tarayvonne's Etsy shop for a treat. She has a wonderful assortment of shadow boxes and other miniature creations: :19th Day Miniatures bids you welcome by tarayvonne on Etsy

WIP Photos

2011-01-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

> The weatherman is calling for snow Tues into Wed this week. I thought I better take the opportunity to get into my garage and do some work before I need to shovel my way in there.

I wanted to cut and route a piece of plywood to use as a base for my fisherman. The alternative would be to sculpt the clay swells up to the boats waterline.

Besides being a waste of sculpting medium it would add quite a bit of weight to the piece.

By routing a depression into the wood the boat can sit lower in the base. Then considerably less material will be needed to build a sea around the dory.

I also cut a block of wood to add as an anchor point to my sea serpent sculpture. I've got the jaw sections put together and mounted the head to the neck.

Next up will be painting and detailing the dory.

Cod Fisherman

2010-12-20T09:21:00.000-05:00

With shopping and other Christmas preparations I haven't had much time to update my blog.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a few work in progress photos.

I've got the polymer codfish painted. I thought of airbrushing it but was too lazy to strain the paint and then have to clean the airbrush.

I've also built and primed the wooden dory the fisherman will be seated in. I still need to make a pair of oars and other fishing gear.

Here is a photo of the fisherman holding his catch seated in the dory.

Sea Serpent Sculpture Sold!

2010-12-16T05:30:00.000-05:00

I had two pleasant surprises yesterday. The first was the sale of a piece of my horror themed art.

It was the sea serpent sculpture that was inspired by the brontosaurus upsetting the raft full of sailors in King Kong (1933).

The second surprise came after I had fed the seagulls. Each morning the gull we nicknamed Wally shows up on the beach near our home.

My wife and I started to feed Wally when we noticed he was hobbled by fishing line ensnaring his legs.

Eventually he somehow freed himself but now each morning when I check out the surf conditions for fishing Wally expects his free lunch.

Yesterday was the end of the striped bass fishing season. Each year I make a point of fishing the last day. Well the freezing temperature combined with the gusty northwest wind put any idea of fishing out of my mind.

I thought since I'm here I may as well tough it out and walk a few beaches. After three blocks my eyes were tearing badly from the constant wind. I turned my back to the wind to get a moment of relief. As I turned to continue on this lure washed up literally at my feet!

The weird thing is I wanted this lure but I had put off buying it till after the holidays.

Empire Team Treasuries

2010-12-12T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here are two treasuries of the artwork of my talented teammates on Etsy: Empire State of Mind by corrnucopia on Etsy Empire Team It's the Joys of the Season by sandyssentiments

Dark Art Horror Sale

2010-12-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BlacknickSculpture I'm having a 30% off sale in my Etsy shop from Dec.11th through Dec.15th on my horror art and dark art sculptures. With free shipping on purchases over $100. So have a look if your searching for an unusual gift for someone.

Dark Art Goblin Tree Ornaments

2010-12-08T06:11:00.000-05:00

I recently finished this set of three Goblin tree ornaments and listed them in my Etsy shop.

They are modeled in Apoxie Sculpt clay and polymer clay. Handmade Goblin Dark Art Ornaments by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy

Between Christmas shopping and fishing the last weeks leading up to the close of the striped bass season I haven't had much free time to work on my new sea serpent piece.

I thought I'd share these photos showing the beginning of the armature and adding the tongue and teeth.

After gluing the aluminum wire into the wooden skull I began sorting through my teeth.

I glued the individual teeth in place. And then sculpted Apoxie clay around them to form gums.

Next it will be time to create the eyes and paint the jaws.

Eric Kessler's King Kong Project

2010-12-01T05:02:00.000-05:00

The last week in October Eric Kessler visited us on Long Island to pick up a project I had completed for him. It was a set I created for a stop motion film he is at work on.

Kess is an avid fan of the 1933 version of King Kong. In that classic film special effects creator Willis O'Brien brought Kong and the other creatures of Skull Island to life using stop motion animation.

Utilizing elaborate miniature sets and the most gorgeous Kong puppet I've ever seen Kess has set about to create his vision of the Kong story. In this clip on Youtube you can get an idea how labor intensive this process is : YouTube - Kong Spino & T

Here is Kess loading the last piece of the cavern set into his Jeep.

I took some B&W photos of the cavern to see how it would look.

And here are some color photos of the completed cavern.

For a Kong fan like myself it was a privilege creating this for Kess. I mean think of it -- Kong is going to be strutting his stuff through something I made! How cool is that? The icing on the cake was Kess was kind enough to give me a sneak peek of some footage he had recently completed!

Black Friday to Cyber Monday Dark Art Sale

2010-11-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

I'll be having a 20% off sale and offering free shipping on sculpture purchases of over $100 from 11/26 - 11/29 : BlacknickSculpture - Etsy On Sale Many of my fellow artists on Etsy's Dark Team are also holding weekend sales. They create a wicked selection of gorgeous dark themed artwork! Be sure to check them out if you have a free moment: Etsy Dark Team: Black Friday to Cyber Monday 2010 EDT Specials!

New Horror Artwork

2010-11-24T12:35:00.000-05:00

After going without clay for several days I finally got my shipment! I was one happy camper. Nothing worse then being near completion of a piece and not being able to finish it!

This gnarly looking vampire was fun to make. In the near future we are having an exhibition of artwork by the Etsy Dark Team members. The theme will be non-sparkly vampires and this fellow will be my entry.

I wanted my sculpt to be a depiction of an average joe type of bloodsucker. Like if a groundskeeper or villager were to become one of the undead. I just listed him on my Etsy shop this morning: http: OOAK Dark Art Clay Vampire Figure by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy

Speaking of the Etsy Dark Team a number of our members are having great Black Friday sales. Some running through to Cyber Monday. If your looking for the perfect dark gift pop over to check it out: http://etsysdarksideteam.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-friday-to-cyber-monday-2010-edt.html

Horror of horrors!

2010-11-18T11:12:00.001-05:00

I ran out of Apoxie clay in the middle of a horror figure I'm sculpting. A sculptor without clay is a sad sight. A sculptor that fishes without clay and who is unable to fish is an even sadder sight. I'm watching out for the UPS man today and hoping my clay order arrives!

The ocean has been kicking up something awful the last week. This photo gives you an idea of the size of the wave compared to the surfer. Also notice the surge of water pushing back seaward in the left of the picture. It is colliding with the incoming water and erupting straight up.

There was also water flooding over the rock jetty to my left adding to the washing machine action of the water. I scratched fishing for another day and decided to snap some pictures of my feathered friend Wally.

He ( or she ) is a black backed seagull. My wife named him Wally after we came across him one afternoon with his legs tangled in braided fishing line. He could just barely stand.

She took to feeding him daily which was hard because even small seagulls were able to dominate him and steal his food. As I came to know him I realized besides being ensnared he was also blind in one eye.

Some how over the weeks the line came free. Then Wally went through his limping phase for about a week till he regained full use of his legs.

Now he is a living terror!

Blackback seagulls are aggressive by nature but Wally has raised it to an art form.

He savages any seagull that even comes near him on the beach. And forget it if he sees one of his own species! Sometimes he'll chase them 1/4 mile down the beach before circling back.

I'm thinking someone threw something at Wally to blind his eye. The reason I say that is if he sees you holding anything large he wigs out.

The picture of him lifting off is right after he spied the camera. Otherwise he is fairly trusting of me. Even walking alongside me when I go to the waters edge to check on conditions.

A Lazy Weekend

2010-11-07T17:10:00.000-05:00

I had planned to fish the outgoing tide Saturday and Sunday morning but things didn't work out. The new moon brought strong sweeps which I'd counted on. The stronger than usual current actually makes some fishing lures work better.

What I hadn't expected was tons of seaweed!It would have made fishing next to impossible. The surfers weren't bothered by the seaweed and seemed to be having a ball surfing the seven foot waves off Long Beach.

Instead my wife and I decided to take a beach walk and throw some stale bread to the birds.

These are mostly Ringed-bill gulls. They are pretty good at snatching the bread in the air but would come in second best to a fly off with a Laughing gull. Lucky for these little beggars no Laughing gulls were in sight.

I like how three seagulls are honing in on the piece of bread in the picture above!

When we got home I decided to paint some work I had started ages ago. I primed a fisherman and cod fish I had sculpted and got some painting done.

I have a wooden boat I built that the fisherman will be sitting in. The stick in the cod fish serves as a handle for painting.When it is all together it will show the fisherman unhooking the cod.

A Few Halloween Photos

2010-11-01T17:59:00.000-04:00

We didn't see many trick or treaters at all on Halloween. We have so much candy left over!

Some kids would look at our house and just keep on walking.

My wife doesn't understand it. She says when she was a kid she would have headed straight for a house decorated like ours.

I think all together we had 22 kids come by. By the way she doesn't wear the mask to hand out candy if the kids are too young.

That's me in my surgeons gown and rubber apron.

I only answer the door if it is teenage kids. Three older girls got a kick out of my costume. The rest of the kids were too little for the full treatment.

And the Winner of the Vampire Bat Magnet Is!

2010-11-01T17:43:00.000-04:00

The winner in the drawing for the Vampire bat magnet is Debbie Wright!

Congratulations Debbie when you have a chance email me your address I'll get this off to you.

Priming Up For Halloween!

2010-10-30T16:02:00.000-04:00

BOO! Another Halloween is almost upon us. My wife is out decorating our front yard. Though we won't put our good scary stuff out till tomorrow. And I've been busy putting the finishing touches on my mask. It started out as an ordinary mask from CVS that I've customized to fit my face.

I cut the entire face off the mask leaving the original ears and wig portion. After donning the mask I built up the rest of the face right atop my own skin using liquid latex and bread crumbs.

Using the same technique I created a pair of monster hand gloves. You can see the work in progress pictures on a blog post I wrote here: http://etsysdarksideteam.blogspot.com/2010/10/diy-monster-gloves-for-halloween.html The Etsy Dark Side Team blog has some great Countdown to Halloween articles from our members. Such as cool Zombie make up tips and how to make realistic looking burns and scars to name a few.

I wanted to add a throat section and a bloody wound to my mask so I brushed out a mixture of green tinted latex and breadcrumbs onto a tile. After it dried I peeled it off and glued it to the underside of jaw area.

Here is how the finished mask came out with the neck section added and the bloody wound.

If you love celebrating Halloween be sure to pop over and check out Kat the hat lady's Haunted House Online Party!

The Candy Corn Killer

2010-10-24T04:19:00.000-04:00

My thanks and a warm welcome to the new folks following my blog. Also a reminder that there is still time to take part in the magnet giveaway.

This past week I haven't done much sculpting. The fall fishing season is beginning to perk up here in the Northeast and I've been on the beach almost daily hunting for signs of life.

From now till the striped bass season closes I find myself fishing the outgoing high tide and sculpting during the low tide.

I did finish up work on the Candy Corn Killer Friday morning. He is a mean little cuss that lures his victims in by using an offering of candy. CCK ( as I call him ) is in a cool treasury rubbing elbows with other killer art : Psycho Killers by VintageEye on Etsy .

While browsing through VintageEye's interesting shop I came across the same type of clock I use in my studio. Another cool find was an 8mm movie camera very similar to the one I used to use to film my stop motion plastilene monsters! If you have an opportunity stop over and have a look around her fun shop.

Vampire Bat Giveaway

2010-10-07T05:04:00.000-04:00

To celebrate Halloween I am having a giveaway of a vampire bat magnet. The bat magnet measures 2" X 2 1/2" L .It is part of a trio of scary magnets I recently made.

The drawing of the winning persons name will take place on Nov. 1, 2010. To enter you need to be a follower of my blog and leave a comment to this post.

The other magnets are of a zombie craving (what else?) brainnnnsssss! And a monster who is seriously screwed!

I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop later today.

My work space is a sight! I'm working on a mask for Halloween. Replacing the hooks on all my fishing lures to get them ready for striped bass fishing. And sculpting some new pieces.

Speaking of fish my wife and I visited the nautical mile in Freeport, NY recently to get some seafood for a cioppino recipe I wanted to make.

We always go to Capt. Ben's.

Capt. Ben's also sells this wonderful flavored Italian bread! We usually end up eating half of it on the ride home! That's me bread in hand hamming it up.

The cioppino came out pretty good! The recipe called for mussels but since I'm the only one who eats them I left them out.

It had halibut, shrimp, scallops and Little neck clams in it.

Our Maryland Weekend And A New Mummy

2010-10-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

My wife Diane and I visited Maryland this weekend to help celebrate my niece Lauren getting her BA.

Maryland was a nice change from New York! The people seem to be more laid back than New Yorkers.

Even when driving. I think I heard a car horn blown three times the whole weekend. And I didn't see one middle finger salute given!

Unfortunately Edgar Allan Poe's house was closed during our visit. Likewise the Maryland Science Center.

We did get to see the Maryland National Aquarium which was cool! They had an exhibit you could walk through with waterfalls and exotic birds flying overhead.

This photo is Diane and I outside with part of the aquarium in the background.

Docked nearby was the USS Constellation

Since getting home here to Long Island it has been nothing but heavy winds and rain. So much for fishing on the last couple days of our vacation!

I had finished this mummy before I left but hadn't had the opportunity to upload pictures of it. I figured I'd share some photos of it now.

It measures 15" high with a foam rubber/cotton wrapped body with head and hands sculpted of Apoxie clay. It is covered in gauze and mounted on a sand covered wood base.

Michelle O’Neill Volleyball Tournament

2010-09-11T15:35:00.000-04:00

My wife Diane and I took a stroll to check out some garage sales in Long Beach this afternoon.

She is the one in the blue shirt and baseball cap. She scored a blender, CD player and some yard decorations for Halloween.

We decided to walk the beach on the way home to check out the volley ball tournament.

September and October are my favorite months here. It is almost like having your own private beach.

The tournament is held each year in memory of Michelle O'Neill: Michelle O’Neill volleyball tourney - Long Beach - LIHerald.com - Nassau County's source for local news, breaking news, sport...

That is Diane taking in the tournament from the boardwalk with her bag of garage sale treasures.

Wedding Anniversary

2010-09-02T05:29:00.000-04:00

The last few weeks have been busy and I haven't had the time to blog.

I've been sculpting some new work and making molds. Hopefully I will get around to painting and photographing it this weekend.

Today is our tenth wedding anniversary! We are going for a beach walk this morning.

That is a picture of my wife Diane next to a channel marker that we came across on one of our hikes.

Later we are going to an Amusement park and out for lunch. That is when I'm going to surprise her with a cruise vacation.

Molding And Casting Rocks

2010-08-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

My last post dealt with creating rocks by hand modeling. So this time I thought I'd touch on a couple ways of making rocks by casting them from molds.

Sometimes while walking the beach I'll find a rock or small piece of driftwood that calls to me. I don't know where I'll use it but if it is the perfect scale for using in a sculpture I'll hang onto it.

On occasion I'll make a mold of these found rocks. The rock I'm holding in the photo had barnacles adhering to it which I thought would make an interesting addition to a marine diorama.

Generally the materials I'll use for simple molds are liquid latex or 100% clear silicone caulk. For my mold separator I take a glass baby food jar and put a blob of Vaseline petroleum jelly in it.

To this I add a few drops of Naphtha. I keep adding the fluid and stirring the mixture till the Vaseline is thinned down to a brushable consistency.

If the model isn't too intricate another economical separator to use is neutral colored shoe polish. You apply it to your model and then buff it with a soft cloth.

On rocks I stick with the Vaseline mixture and just take an old bristle brush and apply it directly to my model.

After the separator I brush on multiple coats of liquid latex. Usually about 8 coats though that can vary due to the size of the mold. When the latex has cured I apply a bit of my separator to the outer surface of the mold and make a mother mold which will support my flexible latex mold. Sometimes on small molds I'll use Apoxie clay to make my mother mold. On larger molds I'll use Bondo Auto body filler.

Once the mother mold has hardened it is removed and the latex mold peeled away from the model.

The above photo shows a latex mold of the rock and its two piece mother mold. The rock was cast using a mixture of casting resin and Bondo auto filler.

The yellowish casting in my hand was made using Polytranspar Liqua-Cast from Wasco: WASCO -- Wildlife Artist Supply Company

When I don't have time for the multiple coats required for building up a latex mold I'll use 100% clear silicone caulk.

I'll use the same Vaseline mold separator on my model and apply a small amount of the silicone with a caulking gun.

Using a disposable brush I smooth the silicone over my rock model. Because the silicone is so thick this technique doesn't work well on highly intricate models. But for this river rock it worked fine. I try to get an even application of about a 1/4" thick.

The mold I'm holding is made of silicone caulk with a two piece mother mold of Bondo Auto filler.

When it comes time to cast the molds I'll brush a bit of separator in and use Apoxie Sculpt clay pressed carefully into the mold.

Other times I'll cast a mixture of casting resin/Bondo into the mold to make my rock. This is a picture of a small latex press mold and my cast rock.

In the photo below the lighter colored rock is Apoxie Sculpt while the darker one was made by pressing stoneware clay into the river rock mold. The size difference in the rocks is caused by shrinkage during the firing process.

Another option when it comes to making molds is to use the type of materials offered by companies such as Smooth-On - Mold Making and Casting Materials for a World of Applications!

The photo below shows a mold of the same barncle covered rock made using Smooth-On rubber in a plastic container in one pour.

After it cured the mold was partially cut apart to free the model. This method leaves much less seam line to clean off your casting then a traditional two piece mold would.

Seeing Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2010-08-14T04:52:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to say I'm approaching the finish line on my Skull Island cavern project.

One of the remaining tasks to complete was creating some loose rocks for the interior.

Whenever I'm working with Apoxie clay, mache or wood putty I will always make up rocks with any surplus material.

The collection of these rocks in the above photo on the left are textured to look like marine rocks. The batch to the right are more like ordinary rocks. Sometimes I'll add a stick into the rock as a handle for when it comes time to paint them. For my skull island rocks I cobbled together a few of these leftovers, added some carved styrofoam and finished molding them with Apoxie Sculpt clay.

By modeling these rocks by hand using the same technique to texture the clay that I had on the cavern I achieved a good match.

Here are the finished rocks painted and sprayed with Dullcote.

I thought I'd celebrate nearing completion on this project by having a nice seafood dinner!

After picking my wife up at work we drove to the nautical mile in Freeport.

The Nautical Mile Fish Markets

My favorite fish market on the mile is Capt. Ben's. While there I bought some salmon fillets, shrimp and a dozen Little Neck clams.

For our dinner I made salmon cakes, spaghetti with white clam sauce and garlic shrimp. My wife made a green salad and a toasted garlic bread with melted mozzarella cheese. That bread was soooo good!

And The Winner Is!

2010-08-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

The winner of the skull from July's giveaway is Nitebyrd. Congratulations Nitebyrd if you'll email me your address I'll get the skull mailed off to you.

I spent most of Saturday working on the miniature cavern. Early afternoon I called it quits and took my wife and mother to the beach.

Soon after we got there and we saw a pod of dolphins chasing something close to shore. This video clip a beach goer posted on Youtube shows one leaping out of the water: YouTube - Dolphins about 100 yards from the beach (Long Beach, NY) The group that passed our beach came as close as the tip of the jetty. It was pretty cool to see!

My Wife Thinks She's Annie Leibovitz

2010-07-31T05:24:00.000-04:00

I'm beginning to think there is more to this Mars vs Venus concept then I first thought. At least when it comes to taking pictures at our house.

I'm a point and shoot kind of guy. While my wife Diane tends to spend a great deal of time over each of her pictures.

For this reason I tend to score a lower irritant factor when brandishing a camera at social events then she does. My intended subjects know I'm going to snap a quick shot and keep moving.

Diane on the other hand likes to take multiple shots. She'll have people change places. "You over here". "You stand next to so and so". That sort of thing.

I have no problem with her approach to photography -- unless I'm the subject! For example this past weekend I asked her to take a picture for my blog of me standing next to the miniature cave I'm making. I wanted to show the size of it. It was a very hot day - 94 degrees in the shade.

She fiddled around taking shot after shot while I'm literally starting to do a slow burn in the sun. Then she chides me for not smiling!

Better yet was the time last summer when we were walking the beach taking pictures during an extremely rough sea with huge waves for this area. We were experiencing wave heights of 10 to 15 feet! To give you and idea of how large the surge was take a look at this photo of one of the life guard chairs.

These chairs are set out well above the usual high tide mark. They are also surrounded my a mound of sand right up to just under the chair seat. The water had washed away the mound and was beginning to drag the chair out to sea!

In this shot you can see one of the local surfers with a large wave breaking above him.

Diane decides if I went out a bit into the water it would give viewers of the pictures an idea of the size of the waves.

I look at her like shes crazy but she keeps at me. Okay I venture out a few steps and turn towards the camera. Oh no she says I need you a little further out!

I take a few more paces out and I'm starting to really feel the strength of the current pulling at me. She wants me out further! I'm starting to feel like the Chief in Jaws when Hopper is taking photos and wants him at the end of the boats pulpit to give the shark some scale. A breaking comber nails me and I'm soaked and not a happy camper. As Diane is lining up her perfect shot a large wave and comber are lining me up!

Just out of camera view to my left is a rock jetty where all the water rushing back out to sea had created a nasty rip current. I got out of there in a hurry!

So if I ever post a picture of me on my blog and I'm not grinning from ear to ear you know who the photographer was!

Cavern Work In Progress

2010-07-27T05:47:00.000-04:00

Now that I had created my cavern ceiling using resin and chopped fiberglas cloth it was time to begin covering it in Apoxie Sculpt clay.

After mixing up a batch of parts A & B of the clay I apply a thin veneer of it to the cavern ceiling working it down onto the walls of the cave.

I can't work too large of an area at a time because I have to impart a rocky texture to the clay before it begins to set up.

This photo is of the entrance to the cavern. It is made of hardware cloth and styrofoam board.

After adding a layer of mache I covered it in Apoxie Sculpt clay. I find the mache closes the pores of the styrofoam board otherwise I keep getting loose particles of styrofoam as I apply the Apoxie.

An added benefit is it bulks up the piece without the added weight ( and expense ) of a thick layer of Apoxie clay.

This photo shows the finished cave entrance painted with acrylics and placed in its position on the plywood base. I now begin building up the rest of the cliff face which will eventually be joined to the entrance.

Here is one of the supports for the interior of the cave. It shows the wood frame, styrofoam board and veneer of Apoxie Sculpt.

This is a close up photo of the rock texture of one of the supports.

I hope to get a great deal of work done today before the heat and humidity return later in the week!

Working with Resin

2010-07-24T05:47:00.000-04:00

It has been so hot and humid here I haven't felt like posting much lately. It figures the PC would be in the hottest room in the house!

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the new followers of my blog and to thank the folks that have expressed an interest in the skull giveaway. The giveaway will close the end of July so if anyone wants in there is still time.

Recently I have been working on making the cavern I blogged about awhile back. The interior will have a curved ceiling. I needed to construct the ceiling light yet strong. I chose to build the foundation of the ceiling with resin.

I decided to move my entire operation outdoors into the garage for two reasons. First off the resin fumes are murder and I've yet to find a respirator mask that 100% blocks the odor. Secondly I figured it would be easier to load the finished piece in my clients truck straight from the garage.

The resin I am using is from WASCO -- Wildlife Artist Supply Company . It is a good product and the staff at Wasco are friendly and helpful should you need help with using any of their products.

The interior of the cave is roughed out in rigid styrofoam board. When it is completed it fits into a wooden framework that supports it. For the ceiling I stapled the middle of a piece of hardware cloth 1/4" screen to a panel of wood. Wood was also added to the end sections of the screen.

I curved the ends of the screen into the shape I wanted and secured the ends to my styrofoam boards. Next I hot glued sections of styrofoam to the screen. When I was done I roughed up the styrofoam with a coarse file so it looked irregular.

Resin time! I make it a habit of recording the dates I use the resin on a sheet of paper affixed to the can.

Older resin may not set up as readily as new material does. For this reason I always mix two test batches of the resin I plan to use.

One batch is allowed to cure in the paper cup. The other is applied to scrap pieces of the materials I will be using. This way if there is a negative reaction I can more readily figure out where the problem arose from.

In the photo you can see that the two small pieces of craft styrofoam are unaffected by the resin. While the piece of styrofoam insulation board is completely eaten away by the resin!

Once I knew I was good to go I began mixing up small batches of the resin with chopped fiberglas resin strands added to it. Not only does this thicken the resin it makes it incredibly strong.

I wrapped and taped a heavy duty black plastic garbage to the underside of my project to capture any resin drips.

In this photo most of the ceiling has been covered with the chopped fiberglas/resin concoction.

Once the resin is fully cured I can begin adding the rock look to the cavern ceiling. When I'm further along in the construction I'll post some pictures.

A Ghoulish Giveaway and a July Sale

2010-07-14T09:05:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the Etsys Dark Side Team Facebook page reaching 1000 fans I'm having a ghoulish giveaway here on my blog and a sale to run the remainder of July at my Etsy shop. I'm giving away this hand sculpted skull to one of the folks that follow my blog.

It is sculpted of fire clay with a candle created of Apoxie sculpt clay atop its noggin. It measures 3 1/2" H X 1 1/2" W and is mounted on a base which I've initialed.

To take part in the giveaway you need to be, or become a follower of this blog. To enter please leave a comment to this post about where you plan on displaying the skull should you be the lucky winner. The drawing will take place the first week in August. Also for the remainder of July I'm offering 25% off all sculptures in my Etsy shop priced over $300.00. With free shipping on any sculpture over $500.00

And The Winner Is ....

2010-06-24T08:49:00.000-04:00

A winner has been drawn for the give away of the limited edition porcelain dog sculpture.

The fairest way I could think of doing it was assigning everyone a number and giving the bottle a shake.

The number of the ball that popped out in my hand first belonged to Debie Lyons.

Congrats Debie! Email me your shipping info and I'll get this off to you.

An Interview and a Commission

2010-06-22T17:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the new folks that have begun following my blog. I'm pleased to have you here. Well I am having a pretty good week.

Yesterday Rikki at her blog Custom Zombie's Undead Ramblings posted an interview with me : Custom Zombie's Undead Ramblings: Q&A with BlacknickSculpture .

Thanks Rikki! I posted a picture of my Halloween Zombie just for you ;)

I also received a commission to design a miniature cliff for a filmmaker who is making a stop motion animation film. I picked up some plywood from the lumber yard and will get busy framing it out this weekend.

Then today I was pleased to find that my sculpture was chosen for two separate nautical themed treasuries over at Etsy. My thanks to Jana and Carol for including my work :We're Sinking We're Sinking by snowinjune on Etsy ... Fish 'n' Ships for me by aquabelle on Etsy

A 100th Post and a Miniature Give Away

2010-06-17T13:06:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I've reached 100 posts! Anyone that knows me well knows how much I hate typing.

If it wasn't for the dreaded keyboard I'd probably be a much more prolific blogger. Anyway to celebrate my 100th milestone I'd like to do my first give away. It is of a dog I sculpted.

I had a plaster mold made and cast up a limited edition of 15 of the dogs in Dresden flesh porcelain. This is one of the remaining two dogs I have left.

All one of my followers need do is leave a comment to this post and I'll pick a random winner on June 24th.The dog measures 2 1/4" high. A little history on the dog. I used to add it to miniature work I was doing at the time. One such piece was titled Home For The Holidays.

The little hobo violinist and most everything else was sculpted of royal porcelain clay. Everything in the scene was handmade by me except the cast dog, and the tree -- though I did make the tree ornaments.

I really liked that sculpture but unfortunately I wouldn't have it for long.

We had a family friend who used to do street fairs and trade shows. She was unable to get a booth at a local fair because her merchandise was mass produced. She asked if she could borrow a few of my sculptures to display so she could obtain a booth. I was happy to do it for her. I lent her three pieces. One of them being Home For The Holidays. The Monday after the show I phoned and asked for my work back. She kept putting me off and putting me off. Finally I had enough showed up at her door and she admitted Home For The Holidays was among the missing.

It had disappeared from her storage unit. I guess I should be flattered. The thief had good taste. That was the last time I ever let any of my work out of my sight without something in writing.

I Finished My Swamp Creature Sculpture

2010-06-04T12:17:00.000-04:00

I see there are some new folks who are following my blog and I'd like to offer you a warm welcome!

Sometime ago I started a base for a swimming monster I had sculpted. If you missed that post here is the link to it: Blacknick Sculpture: Creating A Base For A Sculpture

This sculpture was inspired by my love for the Universal horror film The Creature From The Black Lagoon. As a kid I was so taken with the Gillman suit! Frankly I think that suit stands up pretty well even by today's special effects standards.If your not familiar with the movie here is a cool website with some photos and a quiz on the Gillman:The Gillman's Movie Trivia

This past week I've been trying to finish up work in progress before I start on something new. Which led me to painting my swamp monster sculpture.

It was pretty straight forward painting. It was done by brush with opaque and translucent acrylics. I used a lot of dry brushing to bring out the scaly skin texture on the beast. Though I did break out the airbrush for tipping the fins and for shading the back of the swamp creature. I hope you like him!

A Baby Dragon and Celebrating the Odd

2010-05-28T10:07:00.000-04:00

I sculpted this little fellow recently of polymer and Apoxie Sculpt clay.

It is a baby dragon hatchling.

I started a second dragon but I can't photograph it because my camera card is on the fritz.

It seems my camera and batteries are in collusion. When the batteries are fully charged the card acts up and vice versa.

I got an interesting email this morning. Some of my sculpture was profiled on: Celebrate Odd Etsy!: Blacknick Sculpture

My thanks to the author of the blog for finding my work suitably odd enough for inclusion ;)

One Nasty Little Guy

2010-05-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend I sculpted this little guy with a bad attitude named Damek. He is 6" tall and sculpted out of polymer clay and Apoxie clay.

He is a real stinker and likes nothing better than stalking the forest with his hawk terrorizing the small game and gnomes.

Creating Water Effects With Resin

2010-05-12T04:06:00.000-04:00

I'm in the process of designing a sculpture which will have either a water dragon or sea serpent as its subject. With the last serpent I created I used Apoxie Sculpt clay to model waves around the creature.

Another method of creating realistic looking water effects is to use clear resin. I first used resin on a project in the early 1990's. That sculpture depicted two men hauling a net full of mackerel into their dory. Unbeknownst to them a Mako shark had been zeroing in on that school of mackerel and breached right next to their boat.

The creation of that sculpture was detailed in an article I wrote about sculpting and mold making titled Mako Antics for issue 32 of Breakthrough Magazine Spring 1993 . The resin I used for that project is Polytranspar Artificial water distributed by Wildlife Artist Supply Company.

Unfortunately I don't have digital pictures to share of Mako Antics but here is a photo of a recent sculpture I did where I used similar techniques to create the resin water.

If you are familiar with the film The Old Man And The Sea you may remember this scene where Santiago is bringing in his catch lashed to his skiff.

This piece required sculpting clay waves around the skiff and Marlin. Making a rubber mold of the water. And casting tinted resin in the mold to get my resin waves.

Another product I find useful for creating water effects is Envirotex. If you've ever been in a pub and seen a coin embedded on the table top under a clear coat of material likely it was EnviroTex!

I prefer using it over resin to create still water. It doesn't give off the awful fumes that resin does. Another advantage over resin is the surface dries completely tack free.

In this sculpture of a Gorgosaurus coming upon a dead dinosaur in a burned out section of the forest I used EnviroTex to make the water in the shallow creek.

In the close up photo you can see the stones and moss that line the creek bed. After gluing everything in place I drizzled a thin layer of EnviroTex over it. When it cured I poured subsequent layers till I achieved the depth I wanted.

If you've ever wanted to add water effects to your work using resin I'd encourage you to go for it. Just be sure to follow proper safety precautions in using it. And expect to go through some trial and error experimentation before using it on anything important!

One tip I would pass along is to keep a work journal and detail everything. And I mean everything! Right down to the temperature and humidity on the day you make your resin pours. You'd be surprised how it can effect how the resin behaves.

And I can't stress enough to test the compatibility of everything that is going to come in contact with the resin. It can be nasty stuff and attack certain materials

I'd also advise you to keep a dated record of the age of your resin. It definitely has a short shelf life. For that reason I always make a point of mixing up a small test batch before adding it to my project. Trust me you don't want the hassle of trying to remove uncured resin from your project!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T08:57:00.000-04:00

I'd like to take a sec to wish all the artistic moms that visit here a Happy Mother's Day. I hope you enjoy the day doing whatever it is you love most!

This past week I took some time away from my sculpting projects to make my mom a present.

She had wanted a revolving composter and I had drew a rough plan up but there was no way I had enough time to get it done.

So my next thought was why not make her something for her garden? She loves Roy Orbison's music so I wanted to create something in a musical theme. I decided on a garden stepping stone.

So I made a pair of Roy's trademark Wayfarer sunglasses, a guitar and musical notes from polymer clay. After baking them I painted them flat black and rubbed them down to give them faux pewter hi lites.

Then I filled a stepping stone mold with cement and set my polymer clay pieces into it. I was happy with the result and it was fun being creative outside of the usual materials I work with.

Now I just have to steer my mother to my blog so she can find this link to her favorite song: YouTube - Roy Orbison - In Dreams (Black & White Night) If you've never seen the concert "Roy Orbison and Friends a Black & White Night" it is well worth a look!

My Sculpture Featured on Etsy's Off the Beaten Path

2010-05-01T05:21:00.000-04:00

It was a pleasant surprise to wake up to find my Sea Serpent sculpture had been chosen by the curator of Etsy Finds: Off the Beaten Path : Etsy Finds: Off the Beaten Path :: Etsy Blog .

I can't believe the number of people that have viewed it in a little over a day! Just goes to show you the power of the Internet.

I have another serpent in mind I'd like to create. This one will be "swimming" in resin water.

Creating resin water is a little more time consuming and the fumes are a bit much. For this reason I like to cast my resin pieces outdoors which means I'll have to wait for warmer weather to arrive.

King Kong Sculpture Finally Finished!

2010-04-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to have finally completed this sculpture! To give you an idea of the size the finished piece measures 8 1/2" W X 9" L X 10 1/4" H . I had wanted to finish this sculpture on April 15th to correspond with my shaving my head as a fund raiser for the St.Baldrick's Foundation for childhood cancer research.

Unfortunately I underestimated the time needed to finish it on schedule. But on a positive note so far I've raised $ 240.00 by shaving my head and now I plan on auctioning off this King Kong sculpture with 100% of the proceeds going to St.Baldrick's.

If you click on a picture it will open to a larger image.

I'm Just About Done

2010-04-25T14:49:00.000-04:00

I expected to have my Kong/Pteranodon sculpture finished this weekend but the rainy weather is preventing me from getting outdoors to spray paint some of the parts with primer.

Anyway I thought I'd share a couple photos of what I've been working on to this point. Here is the flying reptile with Kong's paws sculpted directly onto its body. I wanted to convey the look of him actually clutching it which I didn't think just gluing the paws on later would accomplish.

I've completed the rocky base section and I've given the Apoxie Sculpt clay a coat of thinned down acrylic wash.

Now I'm in the process of wiping it down with a section of cloth to give it an aged look and bring out the crevices in the clay.

Update On WIP

2010-04-18T17:16:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share a few photos of work I've completed on my Kong/Pteranodon sculpture.

Here is the beginning of the claws for the flying reptile. I used green floral wire for the toes.

This is Kong's bottom jaw. Super Sculpey teeth and tongue set in Apoxie Sculpt clay.

This is the upper half of the jaw. Again I am using baked polymer clay teeth inserted into Apoxie clay.

To make my life easier I wanted to paint the two halves of the jaw before they were assembled.

Using acrylics I base coated the interior of the mouth with a fleshy pink color.

I then began using thinned washes of color to build up the final color for the inside of the mouth.

When I was finished I sprayed it with matt clear to protect the paint. Then I used an antique wash to bring out the detail and give the teeth an aged look.

After everything had a chance to dry I brushed a coat of clear gloss on the tongue and interior of the mouth.

I am hoping I can have this sculpture finished and painted this week.

Pteranodon: Work In Progress

2010-04-06T04:20:00.000-04:00

Sometimes when working on a piece of artwork I hit what I call the point of no return. This is when a creative decision has to be made that can't be undone.

I reached that point this weekend with my Kong battling the Pteranodon sculpture. I couldn't continue work till I committed to how the flying reptiles wings would be posed. And more importantly how Kong would be grasping his opponent.

After planning ahead I decided that the Pteranodon has to be sculpted ( and painted ) before it can be put in Kong's grasp. At the moment I'm toying with the idea of sculpting the hands directly onto the reptiles wings and attaching them to Kong near the completion of the sculpture.

Before I got to the complicated work I thought I'd insert the reptile's eyes.

Then I procrastinated a little longer by making Kong's hands. They are a block of balsa wood and braided green floral wire.

I purposely left the wires long and glued them into holes I drilled in the wood hand.

Okay I couldn't put it off any longer. I folded the Pteranodon's wing into the pose I had decided on and used a bulldog clip to keep the screen out of the way.

I then locked it in place by beginning to model Apoxie Sculpt clay over it.

The wing is delicate being made of a single strand of aluminum wire and plastic window screen.

I learned of the technique of using screen as the armature for wings in a great book titled: Dinosaur Sculpting by Allen A. Debus and Robert Morales.

Amazon.com: Dinosaur Sculpting (9780965146302): Allen A. Debus: Books

The book is a good introduction to sculpting dinosaurs in polymer clay. I found the only slight drawback was that the pictures are in B&W. I was spoiled by the color cover of the book and wanted to see more of Mr.Morale's outstanding dinosaur sculptures in color.

I'll update as work on the Pteranodon progresses.

A Couple Of Irons In The Fire

2010-04-01T10:04:00.000-04:00

On occasion I'll work on two or three pieces simultaneously. It may seem chaotic to other artists but it works for me.

If I'm sculpting I have to get out my tools and set up my work bench. If I'm airbrushing I have to fire up my compressor, prepare my spray booth and thin and strain my paint.

And of then of course there is the cleaning of the tools and neatening up my studio at the end of the day. For just this reason I find it more productive (and cost effective) to work on multiple artwork at once.The sculptures I have going presently are Kong vs the Pteranodon, a thresher shark and a gillman.

The gillman is about ten years old! It was the first piece I ever made using Super Sculpey.I have always been interested in Cryptozoology and the sightings of unknown, mysterious lake creatures. So it wasn't surprising that my first polymer sculpture would be a cryptid of my own design.

Recently while searching for something in my studio I came upon a box containing the gillman.I thought it would be fun to design a base for it which I did.

Here is a picture of his head. In preparation for airbrushing I've masked off his eyes and mouth and primed him with spray paint.

On his side you can see the holes I drilled that correspond with the bolts at the top of the piece of driftwood on the base. I'll post more photos as work progresses.

Work In Progress Update

2010-03-30T06:34:00.000-04:00

Before I could lay down the ground cover atop the base I tacked down a piece of wire screening with hot glue.

The screening would give the material I was using a secure foothold. Using a spatula and damp brush I then applied the pebbly ground cover.

To prevent the base from warping I clamped it tightly while it dried.

After it dried I bolted the foot of the Kong armature to the base and positioned it in the pose I wanted.

After adding Super Sculpey clay to the legs and torso I carefully removed the armature and baked the polymer clay.

Now that the Super Sculpey has hardened I'll have Kong in a fixed position. The next step will be deciding how to pose his arms as he battles the Pteranodon.

Now That is a miniature!

2010-03-29T17:56:00.000-04:00

I was painting eyes this weekend for a couple of my creations. Usually I make them myself but I found a pin head that is the perfect size for my Pteranodon sculpt.

After I finished painting the pupils I was less then pleased with the results. I washed the pupils off and put them aside to finish at a later time.

In the interim a friend sent me this Youtube link about Willard Wigan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEnccjSvEP8

Here I am having to redo my eye painting attempt on a pin head. Willard Wigan's sculptures can sit atop a pin head! His work is absolutely unbelievable! I'd love to see the tools and brushes he uses as he creates his sculptures.

Kong Armature Update

2010-03-25T05:49:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share a few work in progress photos of what I've been up to. Well I've begun wrapping the Kong armature in foil preparatory to beginning sculpting today.

I also designed the mountain top cliff where Kong will battle the Pteranodon.

The base is comprised of two sheets of thin plywood sandwiched together between hunks of styrofoam.I glued a piece of thicker wood in the center of the base to add strength.

The block of wood a top the base will be where Kong rests his foot during the battle. The block is drilled to accept a bolt which gets secured in the bottom of Kong's foot.

Once the armature is secured to the base I can go about posing it in various positions till I hit on one I like. In this photo I used a rasp to shape the styrofoam into the basic shape of the rocky cliff top.

I added a thin veneer of Aves Apoxie Sculpt clay to the styrofoam to cut down on the styrofoam dust once I begin the final sculpting. I also primed the top of the base white to seal the wood before I add the stone surface to it. I'll post more photos as things progress.

Pteranodon Armature

2010-03-19T05:41:00.000-04:00

The sculpture I am working on at the moment is going to consist of three parts. These will be my two principal characters and the base.

I have already assembled my Kong armature. Now I am in the process of cobbling together the armature for Kong's adversary - a Pteranodon!

For those of you that may not be familiar with the film King Kong(1933) the Pteranodon is the flying reptile that foolishly tries to snatch Fay Wray away from Kong.

The first step in roughing out the armature was scaling up the size of the reptile to my Kong figure. I'm lucky in that my nephew bought me the two disc special DVD put out by Warner Brothers of the film for my birthday. It proved great as reference material. I was able to freeze frame the scene where the two creatures battle each other to get an idea of their relative sizes.

Using aluminium wire I laid out the shape of the pteranodon being careful to leave extra wire in the neck,wings and leg areas. I then twisted green floral wire around the torso and added a few drops of Zap a Gap glue to lock everything together.

Next I carved a wooden skull adding Zap a Gap to the tip of the beak area to penetrate and help strengthen the wood in this delicate area. For the same reason I added a stiff piece of metal rod to the rear of the crest on the reptile's skull.

Sections of wood were added to the wing areas to insure they would bend like the actual creatures wings would. The torso was then bulked up with some aluminium foil. Now that I have my two characters fleshed out I can go about designing the base for this sculpture.

Finally .... The Sun Has Returned!

2010-03-17T11:08:00.000-04:00

With the constant rain and sustained wind gusts of over 50 mph this weekend we have been having some horrible weather here on Long Island. Some of the gusts reached close to 80 mph and a couple of times I thought for sure we were going to lose part of our roof. Monday after the worst of the storm had passed I walked to the beach. The sea was still churned up and the weather station was calling for more flooding with the high tide.

The sea had reached the main road that runs parallel to the beach in a few areas. Luckily it only rose as high as under the boardwalk in most places.

Amongst all the debris washed up I found this beauty of shell completely unbroken! How it came through that storm intact I'll never know.

With the return of the sun on Tuesday I had a chance to explore more of the beachfront east of where I live. We lost quite a lot of sand to the storm. Areas of old wooden jetty were exposed that hadn't been visible before.

Later in the day I continued work on the base I had started last week as well as my small Kong figure.

The base got sprayed with a white lacquer primer. Now I'll be able to begin the final painting on it.

The Styrofoam I had glued to the wire Kong armature was carved with a knife and then shaped with a rasp to roughly the size I wanted it. The next step will be bulking out more of the form with aluminum foil.

Creating A Base For A Sculpture

2010-03-13T05:26:00.000-05:00

Often when I'm sculpting a swimming creature I think to myself wouldn't this be easier if I was a painter! Painters aren't bothered by pesky things like gravity tugging at their creations.

One painter who I feel captures the freedom of movement of his marine subjects so well is Richard Ellis! I've long admired his work. Particularly his shark paintings. Take a look at his painting of a breaching Mako shark : Richard Ellis Gallery: Mako Shark . When I see a painting like that I get green with envy.

Unfortunately as a sculptor I have to devise supports to hold my subjects aloft. These supports need to be incorporated as unobtrusively as possible into the composition.

Recently I began making a base with just such a support to mount a sculpture on. I thought I'd post a few work in progress photos.

The first photo is of a hard wood dowel glued and wired to a painted and sealed piece of plywood.

The second picture shows Apoxie Sculpt clay beginning to be applied to the bottom of the dowel to strenghten this area.

Here I am starting to work the clay around the edge of the plywood base.

It is hard to make out in this photo but I've given the clay edge a textured look by using a piece of coral.

After the clay on the edge had a chance to cure I started applying the clay to the dowel being careful not to cover the drilled holes near the top. These will hold the bolts for mounting the sculpture.

When the clay on the dowel became semi hard I gave it a distressed wood look using latex and silicone texture pads I've created.

After I glued the bolts in place I wrapped a piece of Saran Wrap around my sculpture and pressed it against the still pliable clay.

It left an impression that will help to solidly mount the sculpture later. I then used a hot glue gun to add chunks of styrofoam to the base.

Here I've added a piece of real driftwood in perfect scale to the base as well as rocks made from Apoxie Clay, Mache and Wood Putty.

I make a habit of always using the leftover bits and pieces of whatever material I happen to be working with to make a surplus of rocks and pebbles. This way I have a ready supply in assorted sizes to draw from.

I took the base outside and shaped the contours I wanted into the styrofoam using coarse sandpaper.

The next step involved making a concoction of sand and white glue to paint over the styrofoam and around the base of the tree stumps.

After this dries I'll need to prime the base with lacquer spray paint before I can begin painting it. I'll show the completed steps in a future blog post.

Spring Can't Get Here Soon Enough

2010-03-06T05:47:00.000-05:00

I like to visit the beach after a storm because of the interesting things I often find washed up. In particular I am often searching for driftwood to incorporate into my work.

Unfortunately the best days for collecting aren't always the most pleasant for hiking. The bitter weather keeps many folks away from the beach. It's not uncommon to pass a blustery afternoon without seeing a soul.

Mother Nature provided me with several great pieces of wood especially a stump of driftwood that will be perfect for an owl sculpture I have planned.

When I got home I placed the wood in my kiln to begin drying it and began this little armature.

It is going to be a small King Kong battling a Pteradon. This weekend I'll finish carving the wooden skull and seal it. Then I can begin bulking out the form.

Snow, snow and more snow

2010-02-27T05:27:00.000-05:00

No sooner had the recent rains washed away the last traces of snow around our neck of the woods then Mother Nature decided we needed a fresh covering of the white stuff.

I get antsy couped up inside so I decided I'd head out to the store to buy some fixings for making a pot of clam chowder. Surprisingly my wife decided to come along. Usually she likes to weather the storm indoors in her pajamas.

We walked along the beach so I could check out the higher than usual surf the weather bureau predicted we'd have.The dunes looked gorgeous in the dusting of snow.

As we were leaving the beach we had to cross a mid thigh deep drift of snow. I told my wife to follow me and walk in my boot tracks. She pooh poohed that idea and insisted on taking the lead. A few steps later she was mired down in the snow and promptly fell over! I hauled her out stifling a laugh and two steps later got bogged down myself. Luckily the beach was empty and no one saw our predicament.

When we got back home with the groceries we decided to make a snowman. It was fun but he didn't come out very well. I think I'll stick to working in clay!

The chowder I made came out pretty good. Usually I follow a recipe I have from a pamphlet titled: "Old Fishing Village Recipes". It is good but the salt pork and heavy cream can't be good for the old arteries. I found this recipe and doctored it up to suit my taste buds: Clam Chowder, New England Style - Recipe File - Cooking For Engineers I prefer using Yukon Gold potatoes and I substituted Fat Free Half n Half for the milk. I don't have a set amount of flour I use. I make a roux and add a bit at a time as I'm stirring the chowder till it is as thick as I like it. After lunch I headed to work in my studio. What do you folks do to pass a snowy day?

Lobsterman Sculpture

2010-02-16T07:22:00.000-05:00

During the winter months when I'm not fishing I often like to spend my time building wood boat kits. I've always had a soft spot for working boats like dredge boats and dories.

I suppose it was only natural that I eventually combine my love of the sea with my passion for sculpting. One of my recent sculptures in this theme is the Lobsterman. This piece depicts a lobsterman rowing his skiff called a Peapod through calm waters as he is about to drop his last trap.

The lobsterman figure is sculpted of Apoxie and polymer clays. The Peapod was hand built of wooden strips bent and fastened to the ribs much like a real Dory is constructed.

The trap was fun to make. It is highly detailed and features a piece of fish bait, a brick for weighting down the trap and a marker buoy. The finishing touch was adding a bit of broken shell and seaweed covered by some clear resin to give the effect of seawater sloshing in the bottom of the skiff.

The sculpture is mounted on a stained and varnished wood plaque over which Apoxie clay was sculpted to simulate water lapping at the hull. The sculpture measures 18" L X 9" W X 6 1/2" H and is finished in acrylic paints.

Sea Serpent

2010-02-09T05:04:00.000-05:00

Sea Serpents have always fascinated me. While "Nessie" of Loch Ness is probably the most well known of the mysterious serpent clan there are many others.

Author J.P. O'Neill wrote of one such creature in her book "The Great New England Sea Serpent".I came across a bit about the creature while poking around online at the UnMuseum: http://www.unmuseum.org/glserpent.htm

Recently I had the opportunity to finish a sculpt of a sea serpent I had started some time ago. It is modeled of Apoxie and Super Sculpey clay.

My creature is behaving badly by serpent standards. I attribute its aggression to the brontosaurus attack on the rescue party in "King Kong" (1933)which influenced me.My serpent has just dashed a make shift raft to pieces and snatched up a survivor in its toothy jaws.

I've been reading the "Monster Spotter's Guide to North America" by Scott Francis which covers many lake monsters. The book sparked my curiosity about one serpent called the Cadborosaurus that reportedly has been spotted in lakes in British Columbia. I enjoyed creating this sea serpent with the attitude problem and I plan on sculpting a more peaceful creature in the near future.

Shaving My Head For Charity

2010-02-04T03:42:00.000-05:00

On April 15th I'll be shaving my head to raise funds for the St.Baldrick's Foundation for childhood cancer research. If you'd like to help the children please stop by my page and make a donation : http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/363860 This year I am also offering some of my artwork for sale to benefit St.Baldrick's. The sculpture can be found here at Esty.com: Fishing Boy Sculpture by BlacknickSculpture on Etsy The entire proceeds of the sale will go to the foundation. Thank you, Brian

The Finished Stegosaurus Sculpture

2010-01-09T04:11:00.000-05:00

The final painting on the sculpture was done by dry brushing to accent the plates and scale work.

A dark wash was applied over the stegosaurus to tie the colors together and bring out the texture of the scales.

Painting The Stegosaurus

2010-01-08T04:44:00.000-05:00

After spraying the stegosaurus with primer I brushed on a coat of liquid latex to mask off the tail spikes.

Using an airbrush I misted a couple light coats of Polytranspar Light Bass Green over the entire sculpture.

Stegosaur Tail Spikes

2010-01-07T04:46:00.000-05:00

After the plates were added I moved on to working on the tail spikes. The locations were marked on the tail and then drilled. The spikes were then glued in place. When all the parts of the stegosaurus had been assembled I covered the entire sculpture with a thin layer of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

While the clay was still soft I embedded various sizes of baked Super Sculpey into it to give the dinosaur hide a pebbly armored look.

After the clay had cured overnight I gave the sculpture a couple light coats of white lacquer primer.

Adding The Stegosaur's Plates

2010-01-06T05:55:00.000-05:00

Once the legs had firmly been attached I began adding the plates to the stegosaurs back. After locating the position for each plate a hole was drilled in the back. A rod was then inserted into the base of each of the larger plates and glued with Zap A Gap. This would help anchor the plate in place till the area was reinforced with Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Stegosaurus Sculpture

2010-01-05T07:32:00.000-05:00

The stego's legs were padded out in aluminum foil over which Super Sculpey was modeled. In this photo I am adding the toes to the front foot.

The legs were then attached to the body using Zap A Gap glue. I installed the eyes and at that point I began covering the entire stegosaurus in thin applications of Apoxie Sculpt clay.

Stegosaurus Sculpture

2010-01-04T05:14:00.000-05:00

I've always liked the stop motion dinosaur puppets from King Kong (1933). They may not be scientifically accurate by today's standards. But they had a look and charm that I find lacking in many of the modern day CGI movie monsters. Recently I thought it might be fun to sculpt an old school type of dinosaur. For my subject I chose a stegosaurus. After deciding on the size I fashioned an aluminum wire armature and carved a balsa wood skull. The body was roughed out in paper mache. In this photo I've added the skull and bent the neck wire into the position I wanted.

While the neck area was drying I began making the plates that would adorn the stegosaurs back. I cut basswood slightly smaller then the actual size that the completed plate would be. Over the basswood I applied a veneer of Apoxie clay which I textured to appear aged.The tail spikes were formed of Super Sculpey added over sections of brass rod and wooden dowels.

The Finished Brontosaurus

2009-10-29T06:05:00.000-04:00

Here is a photo of the completed brontosaurus shot in my yard. The colors of the sculpture came out closer to how they really appear in this photograph then the ones I shot in my studio under florescent lighting.

For fun I took a photo of the bronto in B&W.

Creating A Base For The Brontosaurus

2009-10-27T05:40:00.000-04:00

Once the tree and brontosaur were painted it was time to mount them on the base. I set the sculptures on a piece of pine wood.Then they were positioned so the eye lines between the sailor and dinosaur lined up.Using a pencil I carefully traced around the sculptures and marked their locations.

After drilling the holes for bolting the sculptures to the base the wood was sanded, stained and given three coats of polyurethane. For the ground cover on the base I used a 50/50 mix of white glue and water to which I added my soil and leaf litter.This mixture was painted around the tree roots and the trunk of the brontosaur's neck.

While the soil/glue mixture was still wet I worked in some dried moss around the base and partially up the base of the tree.

Painting The Brontosaurus

2009-10-24T06:25:00.000-04:00

The eyes and mouth of the brontosaurus were masked off and the sculpture was given a light coat of grey lacquer auto primer. When the primer had thoroughly dried I peeled off the masking and began dry brushing white and light gray acrylic paint over the brontosaur to bring out the scale texture.

When I was satisfied with my light toned hi lites I sprayed the sculpture with Krylon clear matt to protect my work. Next I mixed a grayish green color and dry brushed that over over the entire brontosaur.

After another coat of clear Krylon matt spray it was time to give the brontosaur sculpture a wash of thinned down acrylic paints. The wash would help tie the dry brushing work together and accent the scale texture.

When the wash had dried I top coated the brontosaur with Kylon clear matt followed by a light misting of Testors Dull Cote. This left the sculpture with a slight sheen like the brontosaur was still a bit wet after emerging from the swamp to chase the sailors from the rescue party.

Super Sculpey Brontosaurus

2009-10-23T03:47:00.000-04:00

After mounting the wooden skull to my aluminum wire armature it was time to begin working on the brontosaur. I began sculpting using Super Sculpey polymer clay. The advantage of polymer clay is that it stays workable for a considerable length of time. This allowed me to send pictures to my client as work progressed.

He would advise me to any changes he would like made and I'd rework the sculpture. We went through three revisions of the brontosaur's look till we hit upon the one that pleased him.

At that point I stripped the polymer clay from the wooden skull and switched over to sculpting in Apoxie Sculpt clay. The final sculpture was built up in layers allowing each layer to cure before adding the next.

The final layer of Apoxie Sculpt was given a scaly texture. Here is the finished brontosaurus posed in front of the unpainted sailor and tree trunk.