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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:46 pm Post subject:

She's a cookin!
After several weeks of drying, she's now ready to get her dirt particles fused. She dried perfectly without a single hairline crack and the scariest part was putting her in the kiln without breaking her. VERY fragile at this point and she barely fit in the kiln with less than a half inch to spare at the top to be able to close the lid.
I turned the kiln on low this afternoon and will start slowly turning it up in the morning (two manual dial knobs) until it is turned all the way up sometime late tomorrow evening. It's best to fire outside, but if firing in the garage like I'm doing (especially in the summer) partially open the garage door and remove everything from inside the garage that will either melt or explode if it gets too hot (since the outside temperature is about 110, the garage temps will reach at least 150).
After the kiln is turned up all the way, it usually takes about an hour to reach the shut off temperature for cone 06 (about 1900 degrees). The kiln shuts off automatically and the lid can be opened 24 hours later. It's tempting to open it earlier and take a peek, but don't do it - the sudden rush of cooler air can crack your piece inside. Let it cool down completely.

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Will Pettee · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:11 am Post subject:

For a minute there, Heidi, I thought you were going to tell us how you just put the bust out there in that good ol" Arizona heat and within a matter of minutes, presto, chango! It's all done. Wink

BTW -- This is a great tutorial thread. Really wonderful to see you take this from concept to completion.

Thank you!

Will

Tamara · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:29 pm Post subject:

How exciting! And not a single hair line crack. I wish you could have patented your idea somehow for drying sculptures. It's such a time savor and prevents the cracks.

So how did she fire? Can't wait to see the patina and finished product..... Smile

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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:03 pm Post subject:

I just crossed my fingers and opened up the kiln with a big gulp. Perfection!!! WHEW! Always nerve wracking to get that first glimpse....
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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:14 pm Post subject:

In the final stretch. Now that she's fired and cooled, the first thing I do is cement a sturdy bolt up the center where the armature pipe had been.

I'm using a 20 x 1/2 inch threaded rod with several nuts and washers locked in place going up it's length. I mixed up a batch of FortonMG and shoved it up in the hole and around the bolt to anchor it in place, squaring it up before it sets. Believe me, that is never coming out. The base will be 3 inches tall, so I left 2.75 inches of bolt out to be able to countersink the nut on the bottom of the base. I'll do the patina on Saturday while Gary makes the base and will deliver it on Monday to the client.

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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:52 pm Post subject:

Oh, let me back up a step. I forgot to say that the first thing to do when you take it out of the kiln is to lay it on it's side and suck out all the burned up paper with a shop vac. Otherwise, there will be black crud falling out all over the place when you try to put the bolt in.
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Tamara · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:07 am Post subject:

El Perfecto! Wonderful. No cracks or anything. That is a relief. Now the really fun part, finishing her up and see what you created.

What a great partner you have there. I wish my Ron could do that stuff. All I have to do is pop over to my brothers shop but he's so busy I hate to bother him. But he does have all the figured and interesting woods. Wink

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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:23 pm Post subject:

Phase 1 of the patina: Sprayed with gold engine enamel for the base coat.

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Tamara · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:14 pm Post subject:

O.K. she looks beautiful just like that~ Laughing

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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:12 pm Post subject:

He he - yeah, she does look like a golden goddess. Trouble with flat color like that is that you can see every teeny tiny flaw in the sculpture. On the other hand, it does make it easier to see the detail.
Well, here is how the patina turned out. It was a good day for it, but I did get a little sunburned. At 117 degrees outside today, I barely needed the heatgun. I sprayed, splattered, and stippled alternate layers of brown, sage, and lots of cream diluted pigments. Cooled it down and sprayed with lacquer, then applied 2 layers of clear wax - buffing between the layers. Turned out a little more on the pinkish side than I intended. Here's a close up of her back.

Also working on the base here. Three layers of walnut will make up this tiered pedestal. Added a strip of wood for the brass name plate. Right now, it's being glued up and clamped and tomorrow we will stain and varnish it, attach the sculpture, and declare it done! I know I'm lucky to have a partner who's good with tools.

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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:16 pm Post subject:

Patina'd and waxed. Since this isn't real metal, the color just sits on the surface and doesn't permeate, therefore it needs to be set with lacquer, then waxed. On real metal, you can skip the lacquer step. Only thing left to do is put it on the base and take the final photos.
Thanks for following along on this demo.

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J D · Joined: 05 Jul 2006 Posts: 16

Heidi,

She is absolutely magnificent !

Bravo !

Félicitations !

Congratulations !

Jean.

Tamara · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject:

Heidi- She turned out beautiful and the patina is so professional looking (meant in a good way). I love it! The three tiered base is very elegant for this lovely woman. She should be extremely proud to have this representation of herself. It's beautiful. Her posterity will always have this and to think that you did it gives meaning to all the hard work.

So how did you like doing this hot patina versus adding colored waxes? Is one more difficult, time consuming, or expensive than the other?

Both ways are superior, in my estimation, to glazing which can give wonderful color and patterns but covers the detail. (However, I still like little touches of glaze sometimes on a sculpt.- But that's just me- I love glitz and having the shine of glaze catch your eye dazzles me. But only on jewelry or a watch or implement there holding, definitely not on skin or hair! )

~Tamara
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Heidi Maiers · Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject:

Thanks you guys - I hope the client feels the same way when she sees it. Of course I see all the flaws and am afraid everyone else will too. Anything hand made isn't going to be perfect, I know - but for the amount of money they are paying me to make it, I try to make it as perfect as I can.

Tamara, I like this method a lot better than the metal coatings and waxes because it goes on so much thinner and there is more control in putting it on - plus it looks nicer I think. I can still add colored wax layers on top of this if I want, but it looks fine by itself. The hardest part was trying to get a consistent pattern on the whole thing without making it look splotchy. That will get easier with practice and this piece was only semi successful in that regard.

Cost is probably about the same. Time is about the same, maybe less once I get comfortable doing it this way. Definitely something you can't do indoors unless you don't mind paint splatters all over your walls.

I've done some glazing in the past, but didn't like the results at all. Mostly because the colored glazes went on too thickly and lost a lot of detail, making the piece look "coated". Also, I like a variegated pattern on sculpture rather than one flat color.
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Mark Newman · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 76 Location: Oakland, CA.

Heidi,

This came out Very, VERY beautiful. I've enjoyed this thread quite a bit,
even though I haven't chimed in too often. Your patina proces is very
cool. I must try it some time.
Thanks so much for sharing your process with us.
Very inspiring indeed.

Mark.