Little lost gem

I found these images of a pewter skull on my phone earlier and had totally forgotten to post about it haha! So here is a Skull made from Pewter, I will also talk about the process of making this skull.

So to make this skull I had to get a small amount of wax and mold it into the shape I wanted, which in this instance was a skull. The amount of detail varied from person to person but I wanted to at least have the teeth and nasal cavity so I marked them in.

Once I was happy with how it looked I had to attach a leg to the bottom of the skull so the wax could stand in the Plaster and the was could run out when melted and the Pewter could be poured in to the cast.

I then had to make the plaster which was done in the following steps:

1. Pour two cups of water into a bowl
2. Add a starter amount of plaster (roughly a cup full)
3. Start mixing the solution, if you need to add more plaster do so until its consistency is that of double cream
4. Once ready pour it into the last
5. Knock the cast to remove air bubbles and leave to set.

Once this was done I had to wait for the wax to be melted from the cast, and once it had I then had to heat the pewter and pour it into the cast which due to the heat began to crack, so concerns were raised as to whether it would be successful.

Once it set I was free to break the cast with a hammer and chisel and the skull was done.

End of term

Okay everyone so, here it is finally the end of term! I didn't really have much of an idea of what to blog so I am going to be posting my latest work!

First up are my sculpture series 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'.

'Conquest' - Foam on Steel

'War' - Foam on Steel

'Famine' - Foam on Steel

'Death' - Foam on Steel covered in Wax

My next Final Piece - Something to think about

Okay, so I have finished the first part of my Traces project and have already undergone the second! Today I thought I would share some of the thoughts and processes behind my next piece.

So first of all I have decided to carry on with the mounted skull I made and blogged (the post was released on 10/10/13 go and check it out if you haven't already!!!) and have decided to create a small series of skulls with the same idea in mind.

Where did this idea come from?

This idea came from the thought that my mounted skull was the best piece I've ever created and that the idea as a whole could  be advanced so much further.

What will it be about?

This piece will again be carrying on with my thoughts of the imminent apocalypse (be it in my life time or in future generations) but I had done some research on the apocalypse such as ways it could happen, where it all began, where the term 'Apocalypse' derives from and the apocalypse in the bible.

What will make this piece different to the last?

Okay, so what will make this piece different and individual is the fact that it has a theme running through it. They will be named after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (a Biblical reference) who are for Horsemen named Conquest (Not to be mistaken for Pestilence, I will explain this later), War, Famine and Death and are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment. They ride on White, Red, Black and Pale horses respectively.

How will each skull represent its respective persona?

The skull I have already made I have decided will be Famine. The reason for this being Famine is a widespread scarcity of food but I obviously can't mount it on nothing so I am using the rusted steel to represent Malnutrition, Starvation etc. as the steel that is rusted is obviously unkempt and has started to dissolve and rot like the body of an organism suffering from malnutrition.

I have also created War. When creating War I really wanted the piece to look emotional and so brought up all of the thoughts and ideas that make me angry and hateful and used them to destroy a piece of steel.  I feel that the look of the piece says what war is:

• War is Brutal
• War is Hate
• War is Greed
• War is Spite
• War is the killing of Man for unnecessary gain

I began to make the mount for Conquest yesterday also. Conquest is sometimes known as 'Pestilence' (like in the video game Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare and also Television show Supernatural), 'Strife' (In the video game Darksiders) or 'Victory' which is correct in some translations however his true name is Conquest. So it seems popular culture is trying to manipulate the names of the Horsemen for an easier was to present them. Conquest carries a bow and arrows that are lined with disease so this is where the name 'Pestilence' has come from and trying to find a way to present this on a mount was difficult, I began to think about germs and disease and how I could represent that. I think looked at Amoeba and germs in general under a microscope and thought of ways to recreate that so I decided to mark the steel with a spot-welder to represent bacteria and then later used two different blowtorches to burn the metal and created what looks like germs spreading across the mount.

I have yet to begin work on Death's mount but I want to make it very rigid and sharp and uncontrollable to represent the way death can come and kill you instantly, but I also want a black tar like substance on it that drips off to show it also comes slower and more painfully for others.

So there you have it! This is my thought stream and idea plan for my next final piece for Traces 2! Thanks for reading :)

Until next time!