Armatures

I need to make an armature which basically is a skelton or frame for my clay sculpture.
After a few days hunched over a piece of clay, I realised I need to be sitting in a comfortable position with my project in front of me on a good base.

I'd never made/used one, so I had to go find out.









After a quick internet search, I found mostly structures similar to the image above.
Bruno Lucchesi from the book I was following wound aluminium wire around a wooden dowel attached to a wooden base.

I used a couple of brackets and attached then to a pole and gaffa-taped it to a board. Attached wire to the end of the wood, filled with newspaper and covered in tape.

A multitude of mishaps all happened once.
I realised I didn't have enough clay to cover the head, so it became a face. As the clay weighed too much on one side, the brackets began to pull the tape up.

FAIL! I ended up working with my first project - the face, on my knee hunched up.

On my hand project, I decided to make a skeleton hand after a suggestion given in one of the library books. Use a thick aluminium wire for the main structure and cover it in thinner wire and the clay will stick well.
As I applied the clay, the armature would poke through at times. I had used too much wire! It wasn't too bad. I made the hand a little chubbier and it held the position well enough for me to work on it.-

Next project - full head with shoulders.

After luckily speaking to one of my lecturers, I was soon off to see a sculptor with some questions about armatures. He welds steel rods onto steel bars and makes his armatures that way.
I found and bent a steel rod into shape, but am unable to get access to a welding facility.
So the steel way wasn't for me.


With some help from my tutors... I made this..

hehe, well how else am I to determine shoulder to head ratio?

I added a little too much chicken wire and again had the problem of the wire poking through when I worked the clay. This time I had to stop. I had done about 4 hours work on the basic face and contours and when I reached the eyes, I was unable to dig in due to wire. My impending holiday to Australia atttracted my attention and couple of days later without sufficient hydration, the head dried up. I tried to rehydrate for 5 days - to no avail.

FAIL !

You would think by now, that I would put a ridiculous amount of care and attention into making a proper armature for my Medusa head...
*coughs*
I found the edge of a railing in the wood bin, L shaped with dowels glued along oneside.
I know a good thing when I see it..
..removed all dowels bar one, drilled a hole at the end of the remaining one, attached a wire and some chicken wire and slapped on the clay.
Its not bad except it needs a wider base. If both sides of the head weren't symmetrical.. It would tip over.
It's not perfect but it's doing the job.

I noticed in an Art Supply catalogue in the props workshops that you can actually buy armature for £15.

certainly - the constuction of the armature has been the most problematic endeavour throughout my project.