SCULPTURE - "Frog Rider" pt.3

Today is the last of my two-week vacation, so these sculpt-in-process posts will start to slow down some. As I said last time, there were some structural issues that developed with the way I designed the leaping frog. While Sculpy is great for some things, it's not quite strong enough to handle the pressure that this pose put on the wire armature. So I started to find multiple cracks in the weight-bearing areas. It was necessary to cut away the original sculpt, add some new support wires, and re-sculpt the damaged parts.

Here are the finished repairs...additional grass blades, and some more water splashes on the front leg. I wish I could have kept the original minimalist approach, but that's the way it goes. What looks good in a sketch, may not work in the actual sculpting process.

There were still some hairline cracks all over the base...perhaps the sculpy was too thin in places. And there was a crack all around the ankle in the water-splash (left leg) that needed to be filled in. So I decided to use a thick coating of Elmer's Wood Glue over the whole base. I thinned down the glue to a watery consistancy for painting on the rest of the frog.

The next stages will be the addition of the frog's armor. Since I cannot bake the frog any more, I'll have to change up my techniques. I will add on bits that are sculpted with epoxy putty, or glue on sculpy parts baked separately.

Till next time...