WIP Photos

> 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.

Creating Water Effects With Resin

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!

Lobsterman Sculpture

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.