Hi Elia,
this is coming along nicely. If you are anything like me you will never be 100% happy but and keep making adjustments.
For you first sculpt this is a difficult subject and you will learn a lot from your work on it.
Cheers,
Keith

Thanks, Keith! Indeed, I learned a lot from it - especially how to make the folds of the clothing & boots.

If everything goes according to plan we'll mould it today so in a few days I'll be able to post more pictures.

All the best,
Elia

Good luck with the casting process Elia.
All the best,
Keith

Thank you for your comments, Keith & Nap.

We poured the silicone about an hour ago - I had help from my sculpture teacher. I've had to remove the arms & mould them separately which means there will be some minor adjustments to be made later. The silicone needs 24 hrs to so now we wait, fingers crossed and all that .

All the best,
Elia

I am sure that it will be fine but I will cross my fingers too.
Cheers,
Keith

Hello all,

here are the latest photos of the project.

Casting went better than expected: we moulded the figure in one piece and the hands separately. Detail of the sculpture was captured very well. We made block moulds instead of two-part moulds which was faster but it meant that there was a lot more retouching to be done after casting. I think that next time I'll plan ahead and probably sculpt with the moulding process in mind. Still, very happy with the result !

The positive was cast with a kind of plaster called Giluform which takes about an hour to dry. It then becomes hard and can be sanded etc. It took a couple of tries to get the whole of the front of the kilt intact. The left hand was also a bit tricky. There was a lot of retouching - mostly with Giluform and a bit of Milliput - but it's finally ready for painting.

I found a rectangular base that fitted the scale of the figure. For the ground I used self-drying clay (painted initially with a couple of washes of acrylics), static grass, sand and shrubbery (the basic stuff from modellers' shops). I'm waiting for it to dry before applying more washes and dry-brushing it. The bench was built from balsa wood.

There are also a couple of accessories to be build (from Milliput): a glengarry and a mess tin/mug and I'm not sure what else - I'll figure out if anything is missing when I put it all together.

As always, feedback is appreciated.

All the best,
Elia

Hi Elia,
I was planning to contact you to see how the casting went this week but you beat me to it.
You must be really happy with this result. I like it a lot.
The base is taking good shape and your carpentry is so good.......if I send you the wood will you please make a 1:1 scale bench for my garden ?
Well done, really good work here Elia.
All the best,
Keith

Hello all,

after a (very) long while I finally finished the figure. The pictures are pretty poor but you get a general idea of it.

Usually I use oils over enamels but this time I had a lot of trouble with the paints: for some reason, although I primed with an enamel spray, the oils just did not stick to the figure. I removed it and used an acrylic primer but it was even worse - the paint just peeled off. Any idea why this happened? After a lot of trial and error I finally managed it (I don't know how) in all areas - except the face ! This is why I added the bandage: on this side of the face the oils didn't stick no matter what I tried so I thought I'd cover it up and add a bit of drama! So the face - of all things - is not painted as it should.

Anyway, feedback would be appreciated. Hopefully, next time I'll fail better !

All the best.
Elia

Good work Elia.
A nice pose and good painting. I especially like the apron and small amount of tartan that is showing, very accurate work.
Well done you.
All the best,
Keith

Thank you, Keith!

All the best,
Elia