Progress on Sculpture

Progress on Sculpture

Some of you may have seen this post from a couple weeks ago, of my bear sketches.  

I am working on a bear sculpture as part of a public art program.  I am not carving the bear, but I will be painting it.  I did get to carve the veggies that go around the bear, though.  That was fun!  The bear is being carved & fiberglassed by a different artist that I am working closely with.  Once he is done with the carving and fiberglassing, he will be coating it with bondo which will serve as yet another layer of protection and will add texture.  Once he is done with that, it will be my turn.   I will begin adding details with A/B putty, and then I will paint it.  I am SO looking forward to painting it!! 

Here are some photos of the progress, so far:

The bear & veggies were carved out of styrofoam.

The styrofoam sculpture was then completely covered in aluminum foil, so that the resin doesn't "eat" away at the foam.  We used spray glue to adhere the foil onto the styrofoam.

Then the fiberglassing began.  Thankfully, I didn't have to do the fiberglassing.  It is very toxic!  I was there for the beginning, though - with my respirator on.  :)

This will need 3-5 layers of fiberglass.

Positioning the veggies...

I'm new at this, so I am learning.  One thing I have learned from the other artists, is that the veggies probably should've been carved out of one piece of styrofoam, rather than carved as individual pieces.  Because of this, the gaps behind & under the veggies needed to be filled in - so that rain water doesn't end up pooling in the recesses.  (This sculpture will be outside for extended periods of time.)  Once the recesses were filled in, aluminum foil was added again to where the veggies meet with the base.

Then the veggies were fiberglassed.

I will post more progress photos in the future, as the project continues.