Reduction Carving & Lost-Wax Casting
BIG QUESTIONS:
- What are some of the causes animals become extinct?
- Identify Animals that are threatened?
- How do your choices (consumption & production) affect the animal kingdom?
In the last 500 years, human activity has forced over 800 species into extinction. The current rate of extinction and the loss of biodiversity is occurring very rapidly, and the causes of the crisis are largely due to activities of a single species: human beings. For this project you will research and depict a specific animal that is considered endangered or threatened. Through research you will find out more about the animal, its habitat, its habits, and what humans can do to help preserve and protect. You’ll also collect visual references of the animal from various points of view (frontal, profile, back, top, etc.) in order to create a 3-dimensional wax carving of the animal. Using the wax model, you will follow the steps to sprue, and secure an investment mold of your animal. Molten pewter will be poured into the mold revealing a pewter cast of your original wax model. The collection of these precious animals will be a symbol of all we stand to lose if we don’t take actions to preserve and protect the habitats in which we all live.
Examples: Wood carvings & Pewter Casts
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Collect References to Help Sketch the Design
Criteria:
- Use the reduction/subtraction carving technique to form your wax animal
- The model is 3-Dimensional, freed from its block and goes beyond flat or cut-out shapes.
- The choice of the animal’s pose creatively plays into the characteristics of the animal (i.e. dynamic (twisting) or static (regal seated pose)
- The model’s forms are realistically proportioned *Remember level 1 cannot add extensions to the wax.
- The model and the cast are physically balanced (doesn’t fall over easily).
- The model incorporates a variety of small details and textures.
LEVEL 1
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LEVEL 2
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Reductive/Subtractive carving only
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Add a construction element that is fuse onto the animal (antler, tail, etc.) that extends beyond the original block.
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Terms to Know:
Reduction/Subtraction Carving- removing unwanted areas in order to reveal the form- once you take it away it’s GONE!
Additive Wax Sculpting- Forming the soft wax and then joining/fusing multiple sections together to create the sculpture.
Physical Balance- Having the sculpture stand upright without support.
Proportions- How one part of the body relates to the whole figure (i.e. length of legs in relation to the length of the body or size of the head)
Realism- Designs that accurately look like the animal, proportions, details, textures- NOT CARTOONS
Planes- The surface and direction or angle of a surface.
Undercut- An area of a sculpture that is concave and surrounded by an overhang material (nostril)
Negative Space- The area around the sculpture, space between the legs, or between the arm and the body.
Dynamic- A sculpture freed from its block, twisting into space and expressing a sense of motion, interesting from all sides/views.
Static- A sculpture confined in its block, appearing rigid and frontal.
Additive Wax Sculpting- Forming the soft wax and then joining/fusing multiple sections together to create the sculpture.
Physical Balance- Having the sculpture stand upright without support.
Proportions- How one part of the body relates to the whole figure (i.e. length of legs in relation to the length of the body or size of the head)
Realism- Designs that accurately look like the animal, proportions, details, textures- NOT CARTOONS
Planes- The surface and direction or angle of a surface.
Undercut- An area of a sculpture that is concave and surrounded by an overhang material (nostril)
Negative Space- The area around the sculpture, space between the legs, or between the arm and the body.
Dynamic- A sculpture freed from its block, twisting into space and expressing a sense of motion, interesting from all sides/views.
Static- A sculpture confined in its block, appearing rigid and frontal.