There is something that needs to be known about me before I tell you about my final sculpture project, I am a nose person. The first thing I notice when meeting someone is their nose. I like to compare the nose of one person to their parents' noses. It's weird, I know but I do that.
So, my last project in my spring sculpture class was a subtractive stone assignment. When my professor gave me my stone he instructed me to examine it at all angles and let it "speak to me". I did just that and my stone "told" me that it was a nose. Well, it was either the stone talking or my allergies and the impending stone dust I would be breathing later consuming my thoughts what turmoil my nose would be going through with this project. So I decide to just make a giant nose. When I told my professor, he just laughed and walked away.
So I proceeded to sketch out a nose on my stone.
After I sketched a basic shape, I used an air-hammer to start the subtractive process.
And then the heart-stopping thing happened, I broke off more than I wanted. But I did not panic. I took it to my professor to see if there was anything that could be done to fix it. We used some industrial super glue to put the piece back on.
Once I the basic shape all roughed out, I used an air-sanding disk to start refining it.
Here are my shoes after I quickly dusted them off before my next class.
The next step was the sanding, lots and lots of sanding. Starting at a low grit of 180 and stepping up to a 360 grit, to get a nice and smooth surface.
Last step was, of course, the base and presentation.
I ended up not really liking the way I put the nose on a peg for it to stand up. I like it better just sitting on its own. Overall, I really enjoyed this project even though I was dreading it because the subtractive process is one of the hardest. Making a nose made it quite fun.