Nose Job for Oxford the soft coated wheaten terrier

In addition to applying the second coat of clay to the dog sculpture I decided to add his nose. The nose is basically complete and fully detailed, I will work the facial hair around the nose later.

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier receives the second coat of clay

Today I applied the second coat of clay; while focusing on the client's request to give Oxford the wheaten terrier his full show coat. Areas on the back side of the neck and chest were built up to give it the correct profile.

In comparing the sculpture to the image below, I may have added too much clay on the chest, as well as t he back of the neck. I will wait for the client to instruct me on how much to shave off.

Before, I forget... The clay is Chavant NSP Hard and I purchased it from one of Chavant's clay distributors, AFASupplies.com. They are a new online sculptor art supply store.

Applying the clay to the dog armature - clay to bronze

This video show the procedure for applying the clay on to the dog form/dog manikin. I melt Chavant NSP Hard in a crockpot and use a brush to  apply the layers of clay. Set the crockpot to low, too high of a temperature will burn your clay. Four pounds of clay took about 3 hours to melt.

This dog sculpture will undergo 3-4 coats of clay before I begin the detail work.

Results of the first coat of clay.

Bronze Dog Staute foam armature ready for clayup

This post will show how I use images to help me line up the foam to the dog confirmation. This is extremely important when the client is looking for correct body proportions...etc. The clay-up/skin that is applied with a brush will only be about 1/4" to 1/2" thick; therefore, I try to get as close as possible with the foam armature.

The goal is to try to keep the sculpture as light as possible. The legs need to be able to support the weight of the clay.

I will not be supporting the legs with aluminum rod for this soft coated wheaten terrier, since his legs are short and stocky. Aluminum rods are some time used when the foam legs are not strong enough to support the sculpture. For instance, rods were used on the life sized bronze poodle.

Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier study head-shots

The client has supplied me with these excellent head-shots of his Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. The images will assist me greatly in capturing the likeness of Oxford.

Dog armature work-in-progress

More work on the Styrofoam dog armature. Due to the annoying noise of the rasp against the foam, this will be the last video on this phase. 

Dog Sculpture armature made of Styrofoam

Here I am trying out my new sanding gloves. I discovered that they are not as course as I would have like them to be; however, they do appear to work well for smoothing the surface.