Back to Work!

Dear Friends,
     It has been quite some time since I have posted to my blog.  I apologize for the absence!  There was a glitch that has (finally) been cleared up.  (I hope).

     Anyway, thought I would digress from the serious work for a bit and show a 7 foot business sign that I was hired to make some years ago (lots of years ago). The folks at Moresca Clothing and Costume, one of the largest Renaissance costume shops in the country, found me on the (then) new "web" and decided I was the studio where they wanted their new sculpted sign to be made.  I was given a Middle Ages wooden sculpture, a picture of one, I mean, and told that it was their logo.  What follows was the process.

I first built a plywood wall that would be totally flat, and then added Roma Plastilina clay.  I used the tools they sculpt cars out of, large flat blades, to shape the flat sections.  Bottom left shows "butterflies" we use to help the newly applied clay to stay up.  This is an 18th century technique.

As I went on the man looked more and more like my cousin, Jack.  I made the thumb and the foot protrude beyond the circle to add interest.  The final piece was molded in the studio, which was quite a trial, because it was 7 feet in any direction and I had to basically suspend myself over the work, which had been placed horizontally to hold the rubber and plaster portions of the mold!

And here I am using screws to hold the large letters on to the sign.  Mold was cast at Empire Fiberglass in little Falls, NY by my friend Neil Baum.  Fiberglass cast was painted with acrylic car enamel and installed at Moresca, just outside of Rhinebeck, NY.

     Too much fun!