Thursday, February 12, 2015

Sculpting Weensie Stumpwork Figures

  I bet you can Guess what one of them is.....

  Having got my business taxes all in order for the accountant earlier this week (YAY!), I have been merrily sculpting on some stumpwork figures~ I must say, some of the tiniest pieces I have ever sculpted! I bet you can guess what the figure in the very front will be!  These are for my flat top casket~ the beadwork one~ I am working on two more girls today, and between their different stages of drying, I have been sanding and further carving these ladies
  This precious precious is for the lid, she is a little larger and I was able to give her a pair of very rare, tiny tiny antique glass eyes. J'adore!  I have a very few pair of these wee little eyes, late 18th c, made for insetting into wooden Queen Anne dolls. I think shes gonna be just dreamy, and hopefully Ill be painting her later on today..she needs a little more work still
Wee little hands beginning to take shape~  I really dislike sculpting hands, but I love sculpting fingers~ doesn't make any sense....
  Have you guessed what she is yet????  Yep~ a mermaid!  Quite a pain in the tuccass I may add...her blasted arms just will not cooperate, I have cut them off and resculpted them 4 times now I think.... at this scale, I cannot just sculpt an arm or hand and then bend it around into position..heck I cant even grab them at all. I make a rough sculpt, then have to let it dry, then carve with my knife and sand sand sand it into submission. I am thinking this set will be good enough, arms need more shaping, but I'm definitely NOT starting them from scratch again!  She holds a comb in her rear hand, and will hold a mirror in the front one

mmm...yes. A little. tiny. weensie. impossible to hold onto while you try and whittle it out of maple, mirror. I painted her reflection inside of it....
 And then covered it with a thin sheet of mica. It is a bit choppy down by the handle so she can grab it~ believe it or not, it was easier to cut a hunk out of it for her fingers to fit, rather than try and change her fingers..... they like to pop right off at the slightest bit of 'adjustment'

4 comments:

PTOJ said...

Hi Rachel, these are great! I have been thinking about doing a mermaid on the front of my casket, and wondering if you could sculpt one!!

allys said...

I am in awe of your talent. This is simply lovely and those tiny glass eyes are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

OMG, OMG, I LOVE the mermaid factorie ~ un, deux, trois, quatre ~ they are all going to be gorgeous ~ but I am especially loving the pose waiting for that cutest little mirror and the comb to be added ~ fantastique as usual Rachael!

Rachael Kinnison said...

Thanks ladies!
Rae~ NOT a mermaid factory! Just one mermaid....there are two guardian angels and Ladye for my lid