Studio and sculpting...

I don't think either Justin or I have felt at home at the new studio space yet...which I suppose is ok, because its temporary (Once we open the Sculpture Gym our studio will be there...wherever there is...!) But I am of the mindset that a studio has to feel like home, atleast a bit, with certain creature comforts (I got the creatures handled...now I just need the comforts!) This space has hot water, a glorious wonderful fabulous thing, considering that the last studio did not. (Washing out plaster buckets in the winter with freezing cold water really sucks.) We also have a nice courtyard out back, which I love. But getting things settled on the inside has been slow...we've been busy so I get it, but still...I feel like there should be a place for everything and everything in its place by now and I'm starting to get restless. That said, we're working on nice-ing it up for POST so I'm sure I'll feel alot better come next weekend.

 

All my whining aside, I started sculpting a piece in the studio. A tiny lil' baby rabbit (in a crow mask) but so far he's coming along. I'm doing this piece as my $50 reward sculpture for our Kickstarter page (Justin will be making something as well, giving everyone a choice within their choice...(too many choices? Nah...maybe a little...) So anyone who makes a $50 donation and chooses the sculpture as a reward will get one of these little guys cast in hydrocal. There's a snip on my blog about the idea behind this guy, so if you are interested feel free to have a look.

I'm still trying to decide whether I want his head to hang over the edge, like in the above photo (meaning it would have to be placed or installed hanging over the edge of a shelf, mantel, pedestal, etc, or set on top of something) or if it should just be flat on the board, like below. Any thoughts on this?

I had a second round of sculpting last night in my Sculptural Forms class at Fleisher. My student Nikki brought in her dog Sammy and a group of us sculpted him. Mine is still in progress but so far I'm having fun with it...

Cx5? Never heard of it...

Has anyone heard of this stuff yet? It sounds like another version of Casteline. A friend of mine told me about it and I admit that I'm intrigued because of how much Justin loved working with Casteline.

Here's a blip from the website:

Cx5 is a premium sculpting material that handles like clay when warm, but is hard as plastic when cool. Though neither a clay nor a wax it exhibits the best properties of both. 
It will never dry out. It is light, strong and completely self supporting. It does not need an armature, regardless of the size of the piece. It can be machined at low speed or slow feed, or with water as a cutting fluid. It can be filed, sanded and polished.
It produces perfect bubble free castings and has finishing properties superior to any wax on the market today. It was designed to replace all finish waxes and eliminate the need for creating waste molds. 
Cx5 is proudly manufactured by Adam Beane Industries in the USA, with environmentally responsible ingredients.
Cx5 is coming to market this year, 2011. Sign up for the mailing list to get release date announcements.