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I want to make a lifesize sculpture of my dog that I can have a concrete mould made from for a garden statue. Can someone tell me what materials I should use? Like, what kind of clay, what should I use for the bulk of the sculpture, etc? I've made small clay sculptures, but never anything on such a large scale....I don't think sculpey is what I'm going to need. ;o)
okay, so I would need to use an air drying clay, not one that needs to be baked or fired?

as you want to make a mold of it, you don't have to construct it so it will fire. If you can weld, I would recommend to weld a basic armature together of the correct proportions as the finished piece will be heavy (how big is your dog, dwarf pincher or irish wolfhound?). Then you can use newspaper/straw or whatever other filler you can think of. Chickenwire is useful to keep filler in place. After you modeled approximately what you want with your filler you can put your clay on. If you have a receipe for oil based clay you can make some of that. It's more expensive, but it gives you more time to work on it - which is however not necessarily a good thing. I prefer paper clay as it is easier to fix if it gets to dry, but normal clay will do only you have to be careful so it stays workable.
If you want to have a ceramic piece (which I agree will be nicer than concrete), preferable make your own paper clay. First figure out how big the kiln you have available is. If necessary plan to construct different sections to be put together after firing (look at the work of Viola Frey).
Make slabs. Usually you will have to let them dry over night a bit, so they are not too floppy. Then I would construct the body as a hollow piece. Use pieces of slabs as internal struts to give it stability (obviously never enclosing a space completely, poke a hole through). The key is working slowly but steadily, letting each section dry somewhat (not completely) to stabilize before you build up on it. Then if the body is reasonably firm, I'd build some support to fit (e.g. from bricks) so I could build the legs. Support anything (e.g. head or tail) by pieces of wood or whatever you need until they are hard enough to support their own weight. You can build quite large sculptures (I mananged 5-6 feet high) without any internal metal or wood support structures this way. Which makes firing possible - if you have access to a kiln big enough. Universities can have kilns of the walk in size.

2006-09-22 19:17:45 by Dana

SculptureCiti® www.sculptureciti.com is an art studio supplying original and unique, hand carved statue replicas, stone statues, garden statues ...

It's a park with slightly eerie large sculptures. These are so big you can almost walk into them. The most famous is a giant face with it's mouth hollowed out. It was used as a location for several films but the only one I (shamefully) remember it from at the moment is a horrid little film called Meridian.

Please help - this is driving me batty. Tried searching google but it's hard to find without the name of the artist or city it's near.

I think you might be thinking of the Park of Monsters (Parco dei Mostri) in Bomarzo.

Directions and pics linked below.

Hope this helps!

2006-04-14 20:31:53 by aiygent

Price: $43.95 $34.00

A unique garden sculpture with brass bells that resemble flowers growing from within a faux rock
7 Brass bells, faux stone base
Brass bells produce a very gentle sound when brushed with a hand or filled with rain water or place birdseed

Before you were born, before anyone you knew was born, before history was remembered; there was a rather special family. They could be called royalty, and in fact was known as the Firsts. Their last name wasn’t First, it was Fino it was an appropriate name, meaning dark. There was Aodh that was pronounced “Aid” he was the youngest son at sixteen, Angus he was the oldest youngster at nineteen, and Ailis who was the very youngest at fifteen. Those were the children of Eilis and Ciar Fino. If you had seen them walking down the street you would have thought them a bit odd, but that’s it. You would never guess what they were, but if you did you would just hope that you didn’t run into them when they were arguing, which was what they were doing that night.
The last son strolled across the threshold and past the sculptures and garden knickknacks that his mother liked to collect. Aodh stopped by the largest sculpture and looked at his house with a smile on his face. The house was called Domus of Diabolus; it was named by Ciar and meant The House of the Devil in Latin. It was four floors high and built out of dark red bricks, that tonight were made even darker by the amount of rain. He continued up the stairs as he stood on the mat he shook out his hair; hoping to get some of the rain out of his black hair. He got to the knocker, but he ignored it and twitched his hand and the heavy wooden doors flew open. He navigated to house passing spacious, ornately decorated rooms, and flowing staircases that lead to the upper levels, at last he reached the large dining room that – like most of the rooms in the house – they never used. Just like the other rooms it was expensive and fancy, even for a family in the sixteen hundreds. When Aodh arrived they were already around a beautiful cherry wood dining room table that held a crystal bowl of multi coloured candies with matching wooden chairs. The maroon carpet beneath their feet was soft and inviting, as was the dark stained wood paneling that was on the walls, that made to room open in the summer and cozy in the winter, there were the paintings that Ciar had done so long ago of forests and of nature that brightened the room. Aodh stopped admiring the room for a moment and focused on his family, he knew that they could never be or be mistaken for a real family but tonight was one of those times that they really could. They all had pitch black hair, which was – at the moment – tipped with fiery red, and black eyes. That was the night that two innocent, unsuspecting children’s lives were going to change forever. Those two children had never met the Fino family and were sleeping in their soft beds two hundred miles away.
Aodh had called the meeting and although everyone knew what was happening; it was inevitable. There are no secrets in this family, Ailis often grumbled. His eyes swept over those in the room. There was Ciar sitting at the head of the table looking just as calm, and in control as ever, his face was impossible to read, but tonight it looked as if he was trying harder than others to hide his thoughts. On one side of the table, the far side was Angus and Ailis, Angus’s face was furious and disbelieving so Aodh skipped over his brother quickly and looked at his sister. Ailis was looking acceptant and happy...no, it was stronger? Excited? What could she possibly be excited about? His eyes followed around the table to Eilis, his mother for a long time was taking her natural place at the foot of the table, on his right. She reached for a yellow candy and was looking depressed; maybe depressed at this unusual news? Everyone was standing waiting for him to arrive; now that he had they all sat down. The meeting had begun. Aodh sat down at his place and put his feet up on the table tilting his chair back and crossing his legs. Getting comfortable, he sensed that this would take a while. Another glace at Angus agreed with that. His eyes wandered around the room before they returned to his father; he was looking expectant. Their eyes locked and Aodh could read Ciar’s thoughts for a moment: We know, son. So what new information do you have to offer?
Aodh broke away from his father’s gaze and prepared to speak. I’ve got to start this somehow, Aodh thought so he just started talking. Later that night Aodh would think back and realize that not one word he had said was a lie, and not one thing that he had spoken was stretching the truth. Ciar had leaned forward and had his head in his hand, a sign that he was thinking, speculating. Aodh had learned that he would not be pushed or persuaded by anyone or anything, his mother was much like her husband; she would listen and then look over the ideas and decide in her own time. Ailis was sitting back; totally at ease and smiling slightly at him, beside her Angus wasn’t so optimistic. He was the farthest from positive; he was staring at Aodh with a murderous glare and, even though Angus normally tried to hide it when he was mad. Now
Now it was in full swing; behind his black eyes there was fire burning steadily and was growing with every passing second. As Aodh began to speak he turned to him, most nights he tried to ignore his brother’s anger, which was normally flaming at something or another, he could feel his own eyes burn up at seeing what Angus was so mad at; the truth. He struggled to keep the begging tone out of his voice, and succeeded to making it an almost undetectable undertone. Almost. Everyone could hear it and listened up; no one had heard him beg or even ask hopefully, he was always so sure and persuasive. But the difference between every other time and tonight was, he had never tried to persuade Angus before.
“Listen to me,” he started, “I’ve watched them; there is something with that girl,” he pronounced it gurl with the accent that they all had, “I’m not sure about the boy,” his brow crumpled trying to remember what he had seen that little boy accomplish.
“Are you saying she is one of us?”
Angus’s sarcastic question brought him out of the past. Aodh looked up and Angus was nearly laughing with the impossibility of it; but Aodh had never believed in the impossible. Angus on the other hand had always had a one track mind; once he made a decision there was no backing down. He also had a short temper, so he and Aodh had often fought over opinions and facts. But tonight they both knew that there would be a fight, and Aodh had vowed to fight to the death.
“Not necessarily,” he continued, the little patience that he had was warring with his desire to get the truth out to Ciar and Eilis, and get them to consider what he had to say before the fight erupted. His patience, or rather lack of patience seemed to be winning, as he raised his voice, “But she has showed some signs; strength and speed beyond the humans,” he could see that Angus was past seeing reason, past trusting him, then again he had passed the latter line long ago. Aodh lowered his voice to a dangerous whisper, he
Aodh lowered his voice to a dangerous whisper, he knew that his eyes and temper were almost as red and as short as the man’s sitting in front of him, “I have seen her summon fire.” Angus’ fists were tightening; his tolerance was practically gone.
“You little liar,” Angus snarled.
“What did you say?” Aodh uncrossed his legs and stood up in less than a second, nearly leaping over the table his face a foot from his brother’s. His face was a mask of shock and anger – the two of them were odd, one minute they could be princes of the secret world of vampires, the next they acted like two children; mad about being called a liar – his voice was even quieter and more dangerous, but Angus surprised him in an abrupt one hundred eighty degree mood swing; he smirked, which was the closest thing to a smile that anyone had ever seen out of him. If you had put a mirror between them there would be no difference; Aodh looked more like Angus’s twin than his younger brother; both of their eyes were
literally burning with anger, both had silky black hair with bright crimson edges that matched their eyes, the red tips were slowly creeping towards the roots as they got steadily angrier. Those were the two things that normally set them apart, but now they made them identical.
“I said, ‘You-’” Angus started to repeat slowly, as if trying to explain something very simple to someone very young and very stupid, but was cut off by a biting word of advice by his younger brother.
“Do you like the way your head is facing? Or would you like me to adjust that for you?” Aodh asked with cold politeness, which was a voice that he only used when he was beyond furious. Angus usually started the fight way before Aodh got to this point, but there was something with him tonight. Usually did not apply to tonight. Angus was even more entertained and answered with an evil grin – tonight was a night of firsts, Angus smiling? That was like “when pigs will fly” – he wanted a fight and it looked like he
Oh, that will come later; I can promise you that, dear brother, Aodh thought. Angus and Aodh, they were a good match, Angus’s pure, raw strength against Aodh’s abilities. From anyone else’s perspective it looked like Aodh was out of control in his rage, but he had inherited his father’s ability to completely cover his real emotions. All Aodh really cared about was finding out the why. The why was what Aodh normally could figure out with ease; but tonight Angus was keeping whatever made him mad just out of his brother’s reach. Just then Angus made the mistake of letting his guard down for a second and Aodh could feel the hole in Angus’s shield; Aodh swooped in and he saw the why; for some reason Angus wanted her dead, while Aodh wanted to keep her alive, to be her protector. Angus tried to switch thoughts to something else, to anything else, but that required mental strength when someone was picking through your mind. Aodh rifled through the thoughts looking for anything about her; when
he saw Angus’s wildest daydream; to hunt her down and force something out of her, prove that she had some sort of power and be proven wrong, which he would never admit to, or the kill her. Easily. That sent Aodh into exactly he looked liked, he was being sucked down in a spiral of rage that he couldn’t escape; he didn’t know why he was reacting so violently but it seemed incredibly important to save her. To teach Angus a lesson, and to show him a small taste of what was what to come; Aodh grinned with pure hatred, that matched Angus’s own – Angus hated it when his mind was invaded – and with that he grabbed his brother’s arms, Angus was lifted out of his chair and off the ground. Aodh didn’t see or even take notice his parents or his sister; all that existed was Angus and Aodh’s power that had served him so well. He let his anger, his fire surge into his hands and then he let the fire go, burning through his brother’s jacket, clothes and finally reach his skin.
“If you will hunt her,
,” he whispered, “I’ll fight for her, brother.” To the death. He sent the last words into Angus’s mind. “I’ll swear with this blood,” he continued whispering even quieter, in a language that no one knew. He pulled his left arm and, still whispering, scratched his right arm. Angus could see the black blood flowing from the slash; his eyes widened in shock he was now seriously worried; a Pledge Scar was grave. A Pledge Scar could physically not be broken; now when Angus acted Aodh would disappear from wherever he was and be in front of him, fighting. And he would probably win. Angus had yet to win simple argumentive fight between the two of them – and the worst that either of them had gotten was a broken arm – when the time came Angus knew he was screwed.
“Peace, Aodh.” The words took some of red away from his vision and as he looked up he saw Ciar, it was his voice that rung out; clear and with the warning he often had to give. Ciar looked stern and fatherly trying to keep his kids
from fighting, Eilis looked no different from before, except there was three coloured wrappers on the table in front of her, she had seen it before and knew that no one would get hurt, yet. Ailis looked concerned and nervous; she had heard the last words. Unless, Aodh sent to Ailis, Angus backs down. I just might have to kill him. But all the same, his expression softened as he let go of his brother, when he looked back at Angus he saw that there were holes in his jacket and his skin was nearly burnt black, Aodh didn’t even realize how mad he was. He turned to his sister; she was agreeable and seemed to already have acknowledged the truth. The most of us took her word for the truth; it was the only thing that could make Angus hesitate, even though Aodh wanted a fight himself he didn’t want the rest of them to suffer for his beliefs. Ailis’s hair had lost all of its red and was now completely black, meaning that she wasn’t as angry as the rest of us; even Ciar’s hair was still burgundy.
“Ally,” he called Ailis’ old nickname; hopefully a sign that he was serious. “Close your eyes and look into my mind,” he instructed, he closed his own eyes and let his mind run over his day of surveillance of the girl; her bedroom was quite cold, she had shivered and she held out her arm and a spark had erupted out of her little hand and had become a flame – it looked like she had done it many times, she was somehow practised in the art the Aodh alone knew – the door creaked open and the flame instantly went out as the boy poked his head in to come to see what she was doing, later she had ran to the store in two seconds which was a ten minute walk, and around midday she had lifted her huge Irish Setter dog into a bathtub with her small five year old arms. Aodh returned to the present and showed each of his parents the same. Their stony faces became a strange mixture of sympathy and almost respect. When he approached his brother, Angus snapped back and refused see the truth.
Aodh shrugged, it was his loss, and faced his parents, which they were in more ways than one. He felt like the cat that had caught the mouse and had outmanoeuvred the other cat. He couldn’t take the silence, and his parents looking at him so intently.
“Well? Do you believe me now?” as he asked the simple question he just noticed that both of their hair had grown slightly redder. “What are you mad about; I just showed you the truth? You have proof. Now, what are we going to do about her?” he rattled off his thoughts at high speed, not bothering to wait for an answer. His parents exchanged glances and once again, at him with that funny expression.
“Son,” his father started, slightly anxious of whatever was on his mind.
“What do you think is wrong with her?” Eilis finished the question bluntly.
“I don’t think anything is wrong with her,” he honestly didn’t. Something had happen though. And for now, even though the question was becoming like a leaky faucet, something, something,
something. What? He asked the tap. Its intelligent response was something, something, something. It could drive a man mad! He told himself that he acted towards Angus the way that he did because he was curious. Aodh had calmed down slightly, but apparently, Angus hadn’t.
“You must admit that there is either something with her or something wrong with you!” Angus called out.
“I will admit that there is something with her. Nothing is wrong with me,” he flared up, he tried to calm down and turned to his parents, “But sadly I have no idea as to what. I intend to find out, though,” Aodh finished brightly
“Do you intend,” Ciar’s voice distorted around the word, “to tell her what we are?” That type of talking was normally reserved for the humans, so now I’m human? Focus, he reminded himself, this is important, Ciar’s voice harsh and mad? So that must have been what was on his mind. Oh. Ohhhhhh... if I want to keep her alive, I’ll have to give up my whole family? Ciar was big on keeping the
secret, but would it be so wrong to tell her what she is? Just last month, Ciar had executed some poor bloke in England for being cut by a partner and forgetting to cover it up. Well, that ought to answer my question, but they’ll come around, right? Angus, would come around in a few decades, but Ciar? He was known as the tolerant, but tough leader that our country had always needed. Tonight he’s sure filling in the tough part. But whatever happened to tolerant? He looked his father in the face and spoke without planning on what he was going to say.
“If I must I will, even if I have to leave all of you,” his words were hard, but once they were out of his mouth it sounded like every so-called truth was a lie. Whatever they were expecting it sure wasn’t that, but the person who was most surprised was Aodh himself. He hadn’t anticipated what he would say, or how true it would feel. They were shocked, especially Angus. Good, God, look at his whole head turn red! His hair was very nearly on
on fire and his face had gone red with embarrassment and fury. Ailis knew one way or another that it would come to this, she simply looked sad that it would come so soon. Eilis looked ready to faint at the very idea of her family being ripped apart. Ciar was hurt the most, but knew that the words that I had spoken, the words that hurt everyone must be heard and the hard truth said.
“Are you sure?” Ciar nearly whispered. His face would melt a heart of stone, but Aodh’s was much harder than mere stone, he didn’t even hesitate; he found out that the easiest and truest way to say this was instinctively.
“Yes,” Aodh answered curtly. Eilis really did faint at these words, she just sank back in her chair and her eyes slowly closed. Angus was ready to attack; his hair became brighter than any crimson you could imagine, he crouched prepared to spring at Aodh, before Ciar and their mother’s limp body.

I'm sorry it's so long. plz read it and add in ur age and gender = audience. rate out of 5

age:14
gender: girl


rating: 4/5

very descriptive! the characters are ones i would want to continue reading about. but it is a lot of stuff happening in a short amount of time. but you have something good here, make some adjustments before you send it to the agent.

good luck maybe i will get to buy it in a bookstore someday!

2009-03-17 15:39:41 by Proud Twi-Hater

Price: $42.00 $42.00

Metal leaf motif with inset glass mirror-piece
May be used as decoration or plant trellis
Indoor/outdoor use

I've got a large amount of clay dug up from my garden. Basically, I want to know how to make my own clay pots/sculptures/what have you with the clay in my yard. Thanks!
Please note that I want to know if water/clay-straight-out-of-the-yard, sculpted and baked in the oven will work, or if I need more than clay and water, or more temperature.

First off: clay out of your yard will not work in your household oven. You probably need at least an oven which can reach at least 1200 F.
There are many different clays around and what's important is that they sinter (the clay particles fuse) at different temperatures. Some are good to use a comparatively low temperatures others need really high temperatures. Needed temperatures range between 1200F to 2200F.
The option which which you are most independent would be to look into pit firing. Just google the term and you will find websites which explain the process to you. This is in general only good for low-fire clays. But if you are willing to experiment give it a try.
If you want to have your clay fired in a kiln at a ceramic studio they probably not going to do this or they will require you to run some tests (like put your clay into a claypot which is known to work. For if you fire the clay at a temperature which is too high for it, it will melt and make a mess which can be a lot of work to remove. If you want to get your clay fired in a ceramics studio it would be best if you take a class. You probably will first have to use your clay, but once they think you know what you are doing they may let you use your clay. Also taking a class will save you some frustrations.
If you want to teach yourself, go to your public library and check the art section to find some ceramics book. It would take too long to explain everything to you.

2008-02-12 09:38:55 by phoenixsavant16

Gee, I could copy and paste Wikipedia as well.
What does that mean?

I've done my own research on both candidates for the past year.
I've been reading about Clinton "doings" in the news for years.

I will never be swayed by "opinion" over my own research.
I also don't expect to change anyone's mind because I say so.

You want facts on Obama, do your own research.
Try his website or some of the websites that lists all the candidates

Just a couple of sites I've visited.

2008-02-20 12:48:35 by Foxy69