figuratively speaking

Oh, no posts last week. Life got a little crazy, and I hardly got into the studio at all! I hope to post on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's Sunday now, and I'm going to show what I did get to work on this week… Then I'll get back to the regular schedule.

I 've never thought too much about sculpture. It just didn't seem too relevant to what I was doing. Maybe I was wrong. Understanding how a three dimensional shape fits into space is very informative to any two dimensional drawing. "Feeling" the space, the weight, the contours -is all important to drawing correctly. Making these figures is very entertaining. I've become absorbed in the process. Forget fabric, forget drawing:  right now, what exists for me creatively is how to make believable figures. Is this leading to anything? Yeah, I hope so, but I am not concentrating on that. I am following a path that might be a complete diversion - one side of my brain says "whoa, what the heck are you doing, wasting time like this - aren't you supposed to be sewing or something?" But I am drawn to this, feeling like it is important to realizing my vision. I will quiet the doubts and instead focus on the task at hand.

 I have a small wooden model that I am using as reference for size and I've bent wire to resemble  the head and torso shapes. Can't tell you exactly what kind of wire this is - I think it is something that I got at Home Depot or JoAnn Fabrics. I've experimented with bulking up the figure with pieces of foam core or chunks of tin foil. I like the tin foil, because I can twist and press it into the shapes I want.  I've used some florist's tape to wrap around the body, softening the edges of the tinfoil and holding the whole thing together.

Now I've made a few of these. They are pretty scrawny looking. But I think the clay will add the bulk to the extremities that these are lacking.

I've found a non-drying clay at A.C. Moore Crafts. I didn't want a traditional clay that would harden as it was exposed to air, as the whole concept of these figures was to be posable. It's called EZ Shape Modeling Clay. It's easy to shape. I don't like the way it smells or the way it feels on my hands - it leaves an oily residue that's hard to remove. I've found that if I use a moisturizer while washing my hands, it helps to remove it. I think these little people are going to be a big help!