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I'm going to explain what work I've been doing for anyone seeing this post that isn't familiar with my work. I am currently undergoing a sculptural project making sections of the naked human body based upon peoples shadows. I am then placing the sculptures made into a dark space and shining lights onto them so the viewer can observe the shadows cast.
I have been making the sculptures out of three main materials; Concrete, sheet Steel and Bronze. This is a documentation of my largest Steel sculpture.
At the start of this semester I took a large sheet of Steel and drew shadows from two models directly onto the metal to maximize the size of the sheet. As shown below:
Once I had the outline drawn on I started to cut the shape out using the Nibbler and then cutting the metal by hand using Tin Snips. The images shown below show the cutting process, all in all it took about 3 days.
Once the basic shape had been cut out I had to define the shape more, so I then hand filed the metal down to the drawn edge on the surface of the metal. As shown:
Jaggidy edges
Jaggidy edges
Filing
The difference between filed and jaggidy
Filed foot
Filed arms
Filed breast
Front side finished
Under side finished
Once the filing had been finished (this took about a week to do!) and the edges were smoothed using wet and dry paper to make the sculpture safer (as it was very sharp) it was time to shape the metal. Luckily the size of the sheet of metal was just small enough to fit through the roller, however it was a tight squeeze. I played around with the shape for about a day to get it right, also the rollers settings were a little off so it needed adjustments. Unfortunately there were some grooves on the roller that scratched the surface of my metal as it was passed through. This process is as shown:
Putting it through the roller slowly
Bringing the upper section through
Side view
All the way through, side on
Basic overall shape when stood up
Resulting scratches
Kink made from groove in roller
Grooves that caused the kink
Underside scratches
Large underside scratches
Once the shape had been ascertained the next stage was decorating the surface of the metal with different textures. I found a large dot punch to use and began hammering it onto the surface of the metal with the aid of the Anvil. This proved to be quite difficult as the metal was no longer flat (as I had previously put it through the roller), I had to do it in this order though, as I was aware that the metal would not fit through the roller if it had such surface textures.
At one point I had to have a helper to hold the metal at certain angles so the surface was flush with the Anvil... this process is shown below:
Beginning hammering
Front side texture
Underside texture
Continuing using a g cramp
Finishing off section
Overall texture
Side view
This particular texture took me several days to do and was incredibly difficult to achieve on my own considering the scale of the metal. As much as I wanted to continue using the dot punching method to add texture I knew I needed to use a different tool to add textures to the other sections of the sculpture.
For the foot I wanted to create straight lines, I tried to achieve this using a stone-work chisel but it wasn't sharp enough to achieve the desired texture. I then tried to use wood wedging tools but it was too hard to link each line up with one another. Instead I used Etching needles to scratch a straight lined design into the foot shape, as shown:
Using the needles and a tri-square on a tester piece
Scratching inside the lines to create a surface texture
Close up scratched section
Overall foot
Zoomed out view
Once I had used the Etching needles to create a texture I suddenly thought of using a Dremel Drill to add textures also. Luckily my friend has one so I borrowed it to create the textures for the hand and arm of the sculpture. Please see below.
Dremel Drill
Different heads to try out
Sample tile
Sample tile
Sample tile
Sample tile
Sample tile
Once I had experimented with different textures and decided which head to use on the Drill I began applying the texture to the work, as shown:
Application to arm
Texture to seem like hair
Close up
Close up
Overall view so far...
Once the side of the arm was done I focused on the hand textures...
Sample tile
Hand texture
Close up
Once all of the textures that I desired had been added I needed to remove the pen lines from the upper surface of the metal. I did this using mentholated spirits and a cotton rag. Here are some images of what the sculpture looked like without the pen lines:
Underside
Front side
Side view
From there I drilled a small hole in the top of the head in order to hang the sculpture as it doesn't stand up on its own and I didn't want to clutter its overall look by creating a bulky stand for it. Once drilled I placed a small rubber washer inside to line the hole so that the fishing wire used to hang the sculpture wont snap from the sharpness of the metal.
Pushing a rod through to open up the hole
The last part of the process other than installing the sculpture (which I will do when the exhibition space is available to me) is colouring and sealing the metal using a blow torch and a Bees Wax sealant. I sealed the metal by applying the Bees Wax mixed with Turpentine with an animal hair brush while the metal was still hot (synthetic brushes melt). The heat from the metal causes the Wax to evaporate, leaving the metal sealed. This process took me one afternoon to do and is shown below:
Bees Wax and brush
First couple of sections
Close up
First 6 sections
Finished
Side view
Because of the size of the metal I couldn't blow torch the entire thing and seal it with the wax as it wouldn't still be warm so I had to heat and seal it in sections, as the images above indicate. One dilemma I came across was that the brush strokes used can be seen on the surface of the metal and also some brush hairs were left behind, as shown:
Brush strokes
Overlapping Wax sections
Hairs on metal
I also realised that the surface textures of the metal were slightly less noticeable once the metal had been coloured, as shown:
Arm texture
Close up
Foot texture
Hand texture
Face/side texture
Close up
One added bonus (in my opinion) from the process, about a third of the way through the colouring it started to rain slightly. The droplets of water on the surface of the metal evaporated and rusted the metal slightly before sealing, making the surface covered in small coloured spots that look a bit like freckles, as shown:
Once the metal had cooled and was brought inside I buffed the surface with an old Woolen jumper to try and remove some of the signs of the brush strokes. This made the metal shiny but didn't mask the signs of the brush.
Here are the final photos of the work once it had been set up in the exhibition space:
Sculpture once hung
Lit sculpture with red, blue and white lights
Side view
Close up of overlapping shadow hand
Hand shadow projected onto other wall
Overall shadow projected onto the ceiling
Side shadow projected onto side wall
Thank you for looking at this post, I hope you enjoyed it.