-
Introduction
-
Stone Carving
-
Bronze Sculpture and
Casting
-
Clay Sculpture
-
Wood Carving
-
Other Natural Materials
-
Sound Sculpture
-
Light Sculpture
-
Practical Summary
Introduction
Artists jokingly oversimplify the process of
sculpting by saying it’s just a matter of
removing all material that “doesn’t belong” in a
block of stone or clay. Though that is the
right idea, it is a little more difficult than
that. Sculpting is three-dimensional artwork
created by shaping or combining hard materials,
typically stone such as marble, metal, glass,
wood, or plastic materials such as clay,
textiles, polymers and softer metals. The term
has even been extended to works including sound,
text, and light. Found objects may be presented
as sculptures. Materials may be worked by
removal, such as carving, or they may be
assembled by welding, hardened by firing, or
molded or casted. As with many of the arts,
sculpting became more of a pastime as the
practical needs for it were either perfected or
dropped for more effective means. Creating with
natural elements continues to take on some
surprising innovative aspects, such as sculpting
with sound and light. For the sake of
concentrating on hobby sculpting, this article
will only summarize some of the more recognized
areas and detail the more practical or novel
aspects.
Stone Carving
Sculpture, in one form or another, goes back
thousands of years. Some of the earliest forms
found have, because of their durable nature,
been carved in materials such as stone. The
process of sculpting is basically the controlled
removal of stone, whether it is from a single
rock, or on large slabs, such as is found in the
earliest forms known as petroglyphs. These were
images created by removing part of a rock
surface, which remains in situ by incising,
pecking, carving, and abrading. These paved the
way for monumental sculptures, which cover large
works, and architectural sculpture, which is
attached to buildings. Hardstone carving is the
carving, for artistic purposes stones, stones
such as jade, agate, onyx, rock crystal,
carnelian, or sard. Engraved gems are small
carved gems, including cameos, which were
originally used to create rings worn to imprint
personal emblems on documents with sealing wax.
A sampling of famous stone and marble sculptures
are the carved jade items of the Shang Dynasty,
Michelangelo Buonarotti’s Pieta, Bernini’s
Apollo and Daphne and of course, the Greek Venus
di Milo, whose true sculptor may have been
Alexandros of Antioch.
Bronze Sculpture and Casting
Bronze is the most popular metal
for cast metal sculptures. A cast bronze
sculpture is often called simply a “bronze.”
Common bronze alloys have the unusual and
desirable property of expanding slightly just
before they set, thus filling the finest details
of a mold. Their strength and lack of
brittleness (ductility) is an advantage when
figures in action are to be created, especially
when compared to various ceramic or stone
materials, such as marble. Typical artists
famous for this type of sculpture are Myron’s
Discus Thrower, Donatello’s David, Rodin’s
Burghers of Calais and The Thinker, and more
recently, Remington’s Bronco Buster (1909).
Casting is a manufacturing process by which a
liquid material is (usually) poured into a mold,
which contains a hollow cavity of the desired
shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid
casting is then ejected or broken out to
complete the process. Casting may be used to
form hot liquid metals or various materials that
cold set after mixing of components (such as
epoxies, concrete, plaster and clay). Casting is
most often used for making complex shapes that
would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to
make by other methods. Casting is a
6,000-year-old process. The oldest surviving
casting is a copper frog from 3200 BC. The
casting process is subdivided into two distinct
subgroups: expendable and non-expendable mold
casting.
Lost-wax casting sometimes called by the French
name of cire perdue (from the Latin cera perduta)
is the process by which a bronze or brass is
cast from an artist's sculpture. The steps
which are usually used in casting small bronze
sculptures in a modern bronze foundry are
generally quite standardized. Other names for
the process include "lost mould," which
recognizes that other materials besides wax can
be used, including tallow, resin, tar, and
textile; and "waste wax process" or "waste mould
casting", because the mould is destroyed to
unveil the cast item. Other methods of casting
include open casting, bivalve mould, and piece
mould. Lost-wax casting was widespread in
Europe until 18th century, when a piece-mold
process came to predominate.
The methods used for small parts and jewelry
vary a bit from those used for sculpture. A wax
is obtained, either from injection into a rubber
mold, or it is custom-made in wax. Occasionally,
a custom-made wax might be molded in rubber
first as insurance against the loss of the
unique wax and related labor costs incurred in
carving it. Castings for smaller sculptures,
such as jewelry, can be found in museums and
modern galleries everywhere. Some good examples
for inspiration can be found among items
associated with the Shang Dynasty (hair pins,
jewelry, and ritual items). Navajo jewelry is
sand cast, making it interesting, as well (see
“Other Natural Materials,” below). Also the
work of contemporary Bob Burkett is made unique
with the shubuichi technique, which has helped
him produce small but outstandingly detailed
pieces, i.e., beads.
Clay Sculpture
Probably the most popular
sculpture method is that of clay. Clay is
inexpensive and easy to work with, and the
possibilities for firing techniques, glazes, and
finishes are endless. Pottery is the form most
often chosen for artists trying to sell their
work because it is both aesthetic and useful.
Pottery is made by forming a clay body into
objects of a required shape and heating them to
high temperatures in a kiln to induce reactions
that lead to permanent changes, including
increasing their strength and hardening and
setting their shape. There are wide regional
variations in the properties of clays used by
potters and this often helps to produce wares
that are unique in character to a locality. It
is common for clays and other minerals to be
mixed to produce clay bodies suited to specific
purposes.
To work with clay, the air trapped within the
clay body must first need to be removed. This is
called de-airing and can be accomplished by a
machine called a vacuum pug or manually by
wedging. Wedging can also help to ensure an even
moisture content throughout the body. Once a
clay body has been de-aired or wedged, it is
shaped by a variety of techniques, such as hand
building, using a potter’s wheel, pressing, or
casting. After shaping it is dried before
firing. There are a number of stages in the
drying process. Leather-hard refers to the stage
when the clay object is approximately 75-85%
dry. Clay bodies at this stage are very firm and
only slightly pliable. Trimming and handle
attachment often occurs at the leather-hard
state. Clay bodies are said to be "bone-dry"
when they reach a moisture content at or near
0%. Unfired objects are often termed greenware.
Clay bodies at this stage are very fragile and
hence can be easily broken.
At the greenware state, the artist can choose to
decorate the piece, either with paint or an
underglaze. Cobalt blue paint, for example, is
commonly used as an underglaze decoration on the
traditional “blue and white” wares that come
from China on rice bowls, etc. An overglaze
pigment can be applied after the first firing.
This is often the method of choice because more
colors will “survive” the second, lower-heat
firing. Enamel is the method of applying
powdered glass as the overcoat to a piece of
pottery, causing a durable and shiny result.
Burnishing can be done at this state, though the
piece is most likely to survive if it is done
before the first firing, at the green “leathery”
state. The results of using wooden or bone
spatula, smooth stones, plastic, or glass bulbs
will produce an extremely shiny effect. This
can be done on the entire piece or only on
parts, leaving some spots with a matte finish.
During firing, certain treatments can be
introduced to produce impressive effects.
Common salt can be introduced to the kiln to
produce a glaze of mottled, orange peel texture.
Materials other than salt are also used to glaze
wares in the kiln, including sulfur. In
wood-fired kilns fly-ash from the fuel can
produce ash glazing on the surface of wares, and
the use of an ash and clay mix can result in
alkaline glazes, as used in Catawba Valley
Pottery in the eastern United States.
Firing produces irreversible changes in the
body. It is only after firing that the article
can be called pottery. In lower-fired pottery
the changes include sintering, the fusing
together of coarser particles in the body at
their points of contact with each other. In the
case of porcelain, where different materials and
higher firing-temperatures are used the
physical, chemical and mineralogical properties
of the constituents in the body are greatly
altered. In all cases the object of firing is to
permanently harden the wares and the firing
regime must be appropriate to the materials used
to make them. As a rough guide, earthenwares are
normally fired at temperatures in the range of
about 1000 to 1200 degrees Fahrenheit;
stonewares at between about 1832 to 2372 degrees
Fahrenheit; and porcelains at between about 2192
to 2552 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the way
that ceramics mature in the kiln is influenced
not only by the peak temperature achieved, but
also by the duration of the period of firing.
Thus, the maximum temperature within a kiln is
often held constant for a period of time to soak
the wares, to produce the maturity required in
the body of the wares.
The atmosphere within a kiln during firing can
affect the appearance of the finished wares. An
oxidizing atmosphere, produced by allowing air
to enter the kiln, can cause the oxidation of
clays and glazes. A reducing atmosphere,
produced by limiting the flow of air into the
kiln, can strip oxygen from the surface of clays
and glazes. This can affect the appearance of
the wares being fired and, for example, some
glazes containing iron fire brown in an
oxidizing atmosphere, but green in a reducing
atmosphere. The atmosphere within a kiln can be
adjusted to produce complex effects in glaze.
Kilns may be heated by burning wood, coal and
gas, or by electricity. When used as fuels, coal
and wood can introduce smoke, soot and ash into
the kiln which can affect the appearance of
unprotected wares. For this reason wares fired
in wood- or coal-fired kilns are often placed in
the kiln in saggars; lidded ceramic boxes, to
protect them. Modern kilns powered by gas or
electricity are cleaner and more easily
controlled than older wood- or coal-fired kilns
and often allow shorter firing times to be used.
In a Western adaptation of traditional Japanese
Raku ware firing, wares are removed from the
kiln while hot and smothered in ashes, paper or
woodchips, which produces a distinctive,
carbonized, appearance. This technique is also
used in Malaysia in creating traditional labu
sayung.
Some great examples of clay art and pottery are
found in the unearthed collections from the
Shaanxi Province (the Chinese Terracotta
Warriors), the 16th Century Japanese Raku tea
ceremony earthenware, and the Limoges Porcelain
coming from the Le Tallec studio in Paris.
Wood Carving
Wood carving (xyloglyphy) is a form of working
wood by means of a cutting tool held in the hand
(this may be a power tool), resulting in a
wooden figure or figurine. The phrase may also
refer to the finished product, from individual
sculptures, to hand-worked mouldings composing
part of a tracery.
Some of the finest extant examples of early wood
carving are from the Middle Ages in Italy and
France, where the typical themes of that era
were Christian iconography. In England many
complete examples remain from the 16th and 17th
century, where oak was the preferred medium in
this case
Figural carving seems to have been widespread.
The carving to represent one's god in a tangible
form finds expression in numberless ways. The
early carver, and, for that matter, the native
of the present day, has found a difficulty in
giving expression to the eye, and at times has
evaded it by inlaying this feature with colored
material.
Relief carving as a type of woodcarving is as
old as antiquity, yet it is still enjoyed by
carvers today. Though it is not as popular as
other forms of wood carving, it is gaining in
popularity because of its versatility as a
medium of artistic expression. There is
essentially no limit to this form of artistic
expression. Relief carving is a sculptural form
in which figures are carved in a flat panel of
wood. The figures project only slightly from the
background rather than standing freely.
Depending on the degree of projection, reliefs
may also be classified as high or medium relief.
Relief carving can be described as "carving
pictures in wood". The process of relief carving
involves removing wood from a flat wood panel in
such a way that an object appears to rise out of
the wood. Relief carving begins with a design
idea, usually put to paper in the form of a
master pattern which is then transferred to the
wood surface. Most relief carving is done with
hand tools - chisels and gouges - which
sometimes require a mallet to drive them through
the wood.
As wood is removed from the panel around the
objects traced onto it from the pattern, the
objects themselves stand up from the background
wood. Modeling of the objects can take place as
soon as enough background has been removed and
the object edges are trimmed to the pattern
lines.
Whittling is a form of wood carving and is the
simplest and cheapest means of creating
something from almost anything. From walking
sticks to delicate figures, about the only thing
necessary is a whittling knife and a piece of
wood. Some types of wood are softer than
others, ranging from balsam (the most common
lightweight media) to others, such as walnut and
ebony (the hardest and most challenging with
which to work). Rosewood is popular, especially
for ornamentation on stringed instruments and
inlays.
Typical famous wood carvings are found on the
doors and in much religious architecture
throughout Eastern and Western Europe, and
India. Africa and Oceania are famous for their
carved masks and animal renditions. Some
specific carvings include The Head of St. Anne
by Tilman Reimanschneider, The Annunciation by
Veit Stoss, and even a violin by Constantin
Brancusi.
In addition, very famous works of wood come in
the form of musical instruments. Woodwind
instruments, such as flutes and oboes, all the
way to lutes, viols, and the rest of the string
family range from the very simple carvings of
bamboo (such as with the earliest flutes) to
rosewood inlays and scrollwork found on lutes
and other stringed instruments. The amazing
thing about working with wood is that wood is
not dead—its cells are alive, and temperatures,
humidity, and age all affect its properties.
When someone takes on the task of carving and
varnishing an instrument (top, bottom, sides,
etc.) he needs to take into account not only its
immediate aesthetics but also how it will sound
in the coming years. Sculpting with wood for
pitch and resonance is no casual task, and it is
no wonder the world still marvels at the
accomplishments of Antonio Stradivarius to this
day.
Other Natural Materials
Traditionally, the materials used by carvers
were often indigenous to the region or procured
by trade. The most important of these materials
was turquoise, is considered by the Zuni as the
sacred stone. Jet shell (primarily
mother-of-pearl) and coral are also frequently
used. These materials and their associated
colors are principle in the Zuni sun face, a
cultural symbol which is present in Zuni jewelry
and fetishes and represents their sun father.
Other materials used are Zuni rock, fish rock,
jasper, pipestone, marble, or organic items such
as fossilized ivory, bone, and deer or elk
antler. Even artificial substances such as slag
glass are used. But historically the most-used
stone has been serpentine, a local soft stone
found abundantly in the Zuni Mountains and also
in Arizona. In recent years Zuni carvings, or
fetishes, have become popular collectibles and
Zuni artisans have familiarized themselves with
materials available from all parts of the world
in order to serve the aesthetic tastes of
collectors. Typically Zuni fetishes depict
animals such as the wolf, badger, bear, mountain
lion, eagle, mole, frog, deer, ram, and others.
There are many more subjects of contemporary
carvers that may include dinosaurs, for example,
that would be considered non-traditional, or
some insects and reptiles that are traditionally
more integral to petroglyphs, symbolism, and the
patterns of design in pottery, e.g. dragonflies
and butterflies, water spiders, and lizards.
Other animals, such as the horse, were carved
mainly for trade. The Zuni was not a horse
culture but their horse carvings were considered
by the horse cultures to the north as having
great power for the protection of their herds.
The Navajo are an Athabascan people who migrated
into the Four Corners region of the American
southwest roughly 600 years ago. When they
settled there, they were farmers and herders.
However, when they came into contact with the
Spaniards, they learned silver smithing skills
and soon became top-notch jewelry designers.
One common technique used by the Navajos is a
method of sand, where molten silver is poured
into a sand mold, and course, grainy marks are
left in the finished piece.
Silver may also be hammered or braided. Today,
the most popular Navajo materials are silver,
turquoise, coral, lapis lazuli, and malachite.
They also use black onyx and several varieties
of oyster shell. Traditionally, Navajo jewelry
employed only materials found in the area where
they lived, or traded for with other area
residents. Today, however, they have expanded
the numbers and types of gemstones they use,
taking full advantage of internet suppliers and
gem and mineral fairs.
Sound Sculpture
Sound sculpture is often the brainchild of a
composer or musician who crosses over into an
“interactive” piece of artwork. This can be
demonstrated in something as simple as a wind
chime or Aolian harp. One of the more
sophisticated examples, however, is the
Blackpool High Tide Organ in Great Britain,
created by Liam Curtin and John Gooding. It
interacts with wave energy and plays at high
tide through eight pipes attached to a dyke.
These pipes are connected to eighteen regular
organ pipes in its promenade, and when the sea
water swells, it pushes air into the pipes,
making random sounds based on a harmonic series
in B flat, a natural series of harmonics.
Another example is found in San Francisco. It
is called the Wave Organ, and listeners can sit
among stones reminiscent of ancient ruins and
listen to gurgling, sloshes and hissing sounds
amplified by a series of pipes coming from
underneath. Yet another work of art is the
Singing Ringing Tree, designed by Mike Tonkin
and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu. It is located in
Lancashire, and interacts with nature by using
wind energy to produce chorales of pipe sounds
spanning several octaves.
Light Sculpture
One of the first artistic uses
of light is the way in which stained glass can
be used to color transmitted light, examples of
this goes back to the 4th century. Most were
prominently seen in churches and mosques with
elaborate stained glass windows. Another use of
light in art is in shadow puppetry, where
projections of shadows from puppets can be used
to create the illusion of moving images. A form
of shadow puppetry is described as early as 380
BC by Plato in the Allegory of the cave. All
visual art of course, uses light in some form,
but in modern times photography and motion
pictures, use of light is especially important.
However, with the invention of electrical
artificial light, the possibilities were
expanded and many artists began using the light
as the main form of expression instead of just a
vehicle for other forms of art. As an example
artist Austine Wood Comarow works with pure
polarized light passing through birefringent
(double refractive) materials to create
interactive and morphing images. This art form
uses no pigments whatsoever, deriving prismatic
colors purely from birefringence. Also included
in the light art genre is the so-called light
graffiti including projection onto buildings,
arrangement of lighted windows in buildings and
painting with hand-held lights onto film using
time exposure.
Practical Summary
For anyone picking up any new hobby, the wisest
philosophy is to start small. See if you have
an aptitude for it. Though it is important to
have quality tools to do the right job, it is
not necessary to pick up entire sets at once.
For the first several pieces, buy them as you
need them, (e.g., buy just one carving or
whittling knife and one or two small blocks of
wood). Or, with clay sculpture, buy small
amounts of modeler’s clay or and practice on
small pieces first—you don’t need a potter’s
wheel right away. Practice imprinting with
textures using common household objects, like
spoon handles, stamps or popsicle sticks. It
doesn’t need to be expensive. If you are
finding you like what you see, start checking
into some of the more sophisticated objects, and
begin looking for studios in your part of town
that make their kilns available or a small
price. You can research books and the internet
for methods and pointers. You can network with
local hobbyists and attend workshops that come
through your area. If your sculpture techniques
are serving you well and you like your results,
try looking for that “signature” style that will
set you apart from the others. Whether it’s a
specific color or glaze technique, or if it’s
animal and tree carvings that set you apart,
pick it and perfect it. At this point (if you
choose to), you can participate in farmer’s
markets, festivals, and even gallery openings to
begin broadening your horizons. Just remember,
though, unless you’re being commissioned to work
on pieces for other people, there is no reason
your hobby should be anything but just that—a
hobby. If you fear that the task of creating is
becoming tiresome, take some time off or try
combining it with another art form or style,
lest you begin to despise it. For example turn
your project into a wind chime and see what
sounds it makes. Use your wood carvings to
imprint or adorn your pottery. A hobby should
be fun! |
