It's been a while since the last post, but I've accomplished some color work since then. Things have been a bit hectic lately (though not because of the season), so progress has been a bit slow. I sure hope they improve soon! In any case, I think I've finished coloring the leaves and possibly the fox. I've also put some color on the mat and backing. You can see the fox and some of the backing in the photo below. I believe it's close, but I think I need to assemble it and possibly play with the color a little more after assembly. [Hover over image to enlarge]

Before putting more color on the fox, I decided I needed to see how things would look put together first. The photo below is how it looks so far. I was originally planning to "hide" the fox in the leaves fairly heavily so that the interest would be in discovering the fox and looking for its details behind the leaves. I got a few inputs from other people and the consensus is that the fox should be relatively unhidden -- mostly because the detail in the fox is the primary interest of the viewer. I'm uncommitted to that approach, but I am thinking about it. [Hover over image to enlarge]

I spent some time this weekend preparing the backing and a "mat" (not a typical mat...I made it from MDF, but it will be placed in the frame just like a mat). I was finally able to put some color on the fox today. It's only a base coat, but it's definitely showing some signs of life. [Hover over image to enlarge]

Very little progress on this since the last entry, but I did stain the fox. Staining highlights the cuts and individual impressions in a textured piece of leather. Some people are interested in seeing it. The downside of doing so is that many of a piece's imperfections are emphasized, and if you look, you may find some in the photos below. For the most part, my 2-D pieces are usually executed well enough that such imperfections are hard to find. Not the case for the 3-D pieces. As a result, I haven't been confident enough with a 3-D piece to leave it in a stained state....it will also be colored with acrylic. [Hover over image to enlarge]

Finally, sculpting of the fox is done. The fur texture was added as the top layer of leather dried. Ears were also tooled and added on and the back of the ears have been filled with a leather and cement mixture (referred to as "leather putty"). Now it's on to color! [Hover over image to enlarge]

After much time and frustration, I finally got the fox sculpture core the way I thought it needed to be (I would later find that I missed a bit). The light areas on the first photo are areas that are built back up using a mixture of leather dust mixed with an adhesive. Due to the thickness of the top/finish layer of leather, the core needs to be cut down further than the finished state of the sculpture. Then the top/finish layer of leather is molded onto it and textured appropriately. It turns out to be a challenge to get the core to the right shape to account for all the folds and bends and textures on the top layer. I'm looking at a different way of doing this next time. (I really don't envy stone sculptors at all!!) [Hover over image to enlarge]

The next photo shows the initial top/finish layer of leather covering most of the core. The core was screwed to a piece of plywood. A hole was cut in the piece of leather to cover the core. The nose was inserted through the hole and the leather was molded to the core and nailed to the plywood to keep it in place.


Finally, the nose was covered with two more pieces of leather and properly sized and molded to best hide or camouflage the seams (we'll see how that works out later!!).


The next entry will show at least the texturing of the piece, if not the whole fox assembled (notice the ears are missing!).

Progress remains slow, but I'm still making it. Other things keep jumping on my plate! Here is the fox being sculpted into its rough form. Still plenty more to do before I'm ready to start wrapping it with it's top layer. [Hover over image to enlarge.]

Finally back in the studio (albeit intermittently) after a time-out to build a web site. After two failed attempts at building the core of the fox by experimental methods, I went back to the tried-and-true method of laminating it up with saddle skirting (first photo). Being paranoid, I thought it best to make the nose a little more rigid than the leather could provide, and drilled a 1-1/4 inch hole through the nose to hold a dowel (second photo). Aside from providing more support for the nose, it's also good for holding the screw that will fasten the fox to the backboard (not that it's required, but it's a little more assurance). Now I get to sculpt down to the final shape. [Hover over images to enlarge]

I've managed to whittle away at the pile of leaves the last few days. They all have some green on them now. I still need to go over them again, at least once, but progress should be realized much faster now. The fox sculpting, on the other hand, is promising to go much slower. We'll look at that one at a later date. (Hover over image to enlarge)

Yes, it's been a while. Partly because I haven't done much (at least it seems like it) and partly because I haven't been ambitious enough to post anything. Here are the leaves again. They've all been textured and I'm starting on the color. After some time figuring out the best way to paint them, I decided to start with a yellow around the edges and then overlay green on top. In the photo, you can see leaves in several stages. On the left is a large pile with only yellow on them. In the center pile, I've started adding green. To the right of the paper palette is a small pile that has green added to the back. The majority of the backs will be hidden, so I'm not too concerned about detailing them. (Hover over image to enlarge)

Now that I've finished the branches, it's time to move on to the leaves. It's hard to believe, but I have about 5 hours into them already. There are approximately 200 -- and they're not done. To make sure I wasted as little leather as possible, I traced them all onto the full hide (2-3 oz.) before cutting them out. I used three sizes of leaves and traced them all out. I used the belly side of the hide -- perfect use of the belly since it's not good for much else. After cutting all the leaves apart with an X-acto knife, I used a rolling knife with two different blade styles to shape the leaves. Now I have to put the veins on them . (Hover over image to enlarge).

Here they are traced onto the piece of hide. I couldn't get back far enough to take a picture of the whole thing.

Cutting them apart....cut, cut, cut, cut.....cut, cut, cut...

Finally, they're all shaped. The pile on the right is the scrap from about (just under) 5 square feet of leather.

I finally finished the wire part of the branches for this piece (I hope). Each one was about 1-1/2 hours to put together. I waited until I finished them all before patinating, then did them all at once. The set-up is shown below. First photo shows the branches degreased and ready for dunking. The little bottle has liver of sulfur. Second photo shows the water being heated on a giant propane bunsen burner. (I'm thinking you beer makers will recognize this part.) I think I heated three pots of water before I was done. When the water was heated, I put it in a big tub, dumped in some liver of sulfur and started dipping branches until they got dark enough for me. The last photo shows the final color. (Hover over image to enlarge).

I took a short break from branches yesterday to do a little painting on a business card holder. I didn't do much, but I thought I'd show it anyway. This thing has been sitting around for about two years now. It's time I finish it. Here are some of the pieces that will be used in the finished piece. At lower left is the base that sits on a desk. On the right are two "logs" that will hold the business cards. Top left is a wolf...he serves no purpose. He just looks pretty! So far, everything is leather except for the base. I constructed it with cardboard and then covered it with leather. I may try to finish this one up in the next couple weeks. But then again, I may spend more time on branches. Stay tuned to find out! (Hover over image to enlarge).

The frame for this piece is now at a point where I can use it. It's not complete, by any means, but I can now use it to gauge the size, number, and placement of the branches. Now I can get back to the copper work to build the branch structure. The frame itself is made from weathered cedar fencing. It's built to a depth of about 3 inches. The first photo below shows the sides angled back rather than squared with the face of the frame. The "mat" is merely poster board. It is only there to give me an idea of where the mat will be. The second photo shows the back side and the support within the shadowbox to hold it all together. (Hover over image to enlarge).

It's taken a little while to get back to the patina effort, but I finally did it. The photo below shows the result with liver of sulfur. It's a nice dark color and should suit the look I'm after. The branches below are actually for a different piece, but I used them as a test case for this piece. I've also started on a shadow-box frame for this piece. I'll post a photo when it's closer to completed. (Hover over image to enlarge)

I thought maybe I'd starting bringing everyone along as I work through a piece. I'll defer judgment on success until I try a few! At any rate, this piece involves a fox hiding in some leaves. I'm trying to use copper wire as the branches. The leaves will be in leather and the fox will be minimally sculpted. I've been playing with a copper patina home-brew for a while and I thought I had the method all worked out. I finally decided to test it with a piece that would be a little closer to what I actually need to use. The patina isn't taking. The photo below is where it's at today. I've got 2-3 more things I can try before I go back to square one. I sure hope I don't have to do that. (Hover over image to enlarge.)

I think I finally have a composition for the bighorn piece I've been thinking about. It will be about 2 x 4 feet and will be primarily composed of leather. The pieces will be assembled on a wood backing. I'm now thinking I may need to make the sheep more three-dimensional than I originally planned, so I need to play with some processes before I can actually get moving on putting this one together. (Hover over image to enlarge)

This little endeavor now appears to be approaching ridiculous. After attaching all the leaves to the branch, it would appear that I need twice as many leaves for a single branch. I think I'll be working on this piece between other pieces so I don't get too discouraged from lack of progress. I'm not giving up...just changing the pace. (Hover over thumbnail to see a larger photo)

There was too much life taking over this week, so I didn't accomplish much. I believe I have all the leaves finished for the branch I've been working on. It's surprising how much time is involved in cleaning them up. With luck, I'll actually mount them on a branch this week! (Hover over image to enlarge)

My next wall sculpture involves a number of tree branches, leaves, and other assorted ground foliage. It has been quite an experience trying to figure out how to put these things together. It has also been very, very slow. If I do this again, I might try a different method. Here are a few leaves of leather and stems made of leather-wrapped wire. These still have a little work left in them to cover the stem ends, then they get attached to the branch - also leather-wrapped wire. (Hover over image to enlarge).