Day 4
Into the deep…….
With the
arm already stoned out, we now have a depth to work from. All the other depths in his body will relate to it. The shoulder
will have to be deeper than the arm, the torso too and from that to the head
via the neck and down into the legs and so on. You need to take a lot of glass
out to give the torso depth and substance - use a large wheel with rounded
profile. Because our guy is turned slightly, we need to go a little deeper on
his right side, the side that is closer to us. Onto this initial depth we’ll
model out a rib-cage, six-pack, pelvis and hips, later adding pecks, collar
bones etc. until we have a workable body. You can draw these on the ‘grey’
glass now with a hard pencil (3H). Remember, all the depths are related – the
nearer shoulder (his right) should be deeper.
In terms of
initial modelling with diamond/stone wheels, his legs present our first real
hurdle. Let’s focus on his left leg which is further away and therefore should
be shallower. It needs to be fully modelled out before we start the other leg.
Just as we carved the muscle depths in the arm, the same idea applies to the
leg. The upper thigh and calf muscles are more prominent and should have some
definition/depth. The same wheel should suffice to carve out the substance of
the leg. The right leg, when cut deeper than the left will appear to be in
front of the left. Carve out an initial depth then add muscle definition. Using whatever stone or diamond wheels you
have continue to add substance, weight, depth, definition or detail to the
figure until your happy with it.
‘Cut the shape - shape the cut’
The profile
of any wheel determines what shape cut it will make; rounded profile = rounded
cut, flat profile = flat cut; it’s not rocket science! Let’s look at that round
wheel for a second. What if I was to feed the glass under the wheel at an
angle? The resulting cut would be more of an oval profile rather than the
rounded shape the wheel actually is. We’ve moved from carving according to the
wheel profile to the wheel silhouette……..read that again. Now, think about the
form you are trying to engrave and ‘cut the shape’. Sliding and manoeuvring the
wheel around within that cut will shape it. If you can grasp that, go straight
to the top of the class.
Stone the body, engrave the clothes
Consider
this, no matter how well you engrave clothes, they will never ‘hang’ properly
if there isn’t a body underneath. Getting the right depths into a figure will
make dressing it far easier. Getting the wrong depths will make it look like
the clothes are still on the hanger! When you are doing folds and creases in
material, your wheel will have to follow the contours of the depths.
Today’s Tip - Use the plasticine to
make a cast of your work – it can help to see your depths.
Meet
the Engraver 3. Mr. Shallow
This
guy is a talented and knowledgeable Engraver; he’s worked out every trick and shortcut
you can imagine. He can do but avoids ‘depths’ (which is the cornerstone of
intaglio engraving). If he engraved a footballer for example, the ball would be
more like a dinner-plate than sphere, perfectly round but ‘flat’. He finishes
the circle first, it’s done in 4/5 swift arcs and is round but is almost a
shadow.
Lessons – if it’s worth doing, then
do it properly. Commitment (read depth) is key.
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