"The Shapeways Project" ~ Part 3

 

 

With bear show preparations behind me, for a little while at least, I was able to get the sculpting done on the tree.  This took a lot longer than expected, but I'm happy with how its going. 

 

 

In the last update, I showed you my wire armature that I started with.  This proved to be really sturdy and worked out well.  If I had to do it over, I probably would have bulked out the trunk a little bit more, but it wasn't a big deal.

 

 

 

I started sculpting at the trunk.  I chose to use Paper Clay because it is light weight and it air dries.  I usually prefer Pro Sculpt, but there was no way this tree was going to fit in my oven, LOL!  As the paper clay dries, it does tend to crack, but I wasn't too worried about that since it would only add to the look of tree bark anyway. 

Once I got the trunk sculpted, I let it dry for a couple of days to be sure it was solid before I started on all of those branches.

(Sorry about the messy table!)

 

 

Here is a close up of the bark details I tried adding.  There was a lot of trial and error, but hopefully the painting process will show everything better.

 

 

Once the trunk was dry I just started adding clay to the branches.  This took quite a while because I found that I could only do a couple at a time before I would have to let them dry overnight.  I was just bumping them too much and then I would have to go back and fix things.  A good tip is to add wood glue to the armature before you add the clay.  I love Gorilla Glue and highly recommend it.

At this point I decided to add the frame to the base as well.  I wouldn't have been able to get it on there once all the braches were added.  

 

 So this is where I am now.  Sorry about the glare, it was late last night when I took this.  All these branches took me about three weeks!  That is mostly dry time though, and I didn't have time to work on it everyday unfortunately.  I have pesky things like laundry and cooking to take care of, LOL! 

Next up is painting.  That won't take me nearly as long. 

I'll be back with another post soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

*Jeannette