I've been told Sam Simon likes my handiwork...

Sam Simon with his Mercy For Animals award plaque

If your first thought is 'who's Sam Simon?' I'm rather embarrassed to say that was mine too, although I should have known better since I've been a big fan of a lot his work over the years!

A bit of a creative powerhouse, as it turns out.

He is one of the original three creators of 'The Simpsons', and also worked on Taxi, It's Garry Shandling's Show and Cheers. Wikipedia describes him as 'an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist.'

Here's a link to his Wikipedia page.

One of the award plaques I recently made for Mercy For Animals was honoring Sam for his contributions to animal rights and welfare causes, including theirs, of course.

Like Bob Barker, he paid for one of the Sea Shepherd ships that  have been preventing a lot of whales from being killed by a Japanese whaling fleet for so called 'scientific' purposes. You may have seen some episodes of 'Whale Wars'.

The front looks better than the back! Bob Barker with Sam Simon and his Mercy For Animals compassionate leadership award (Bob already has one!)

He started out as a storyboard artist (I'm a storyboard artist), apparently has an official Rodin Thinker cast (I've spent a lot of time studying Rodin's sculpture, even traveling to Paris to visit the Musee Rodin on my way to the States), and has created, written and or directed some of my favorite TV shows.
That's where his creative rocket boosters kicked in and propelled him beyond anything I can relate to!

Writers have always impressed the hell out of me since they have to come up with a world from scratch, rather than merely figuring out how to tell the story visually (which is a large part of storyboarding).

So when I did find out who he is I really hoped he'd like his plaque, purely on its artistic merits.

Here's what I was told by the person I deal with at Mercy For Animals.

'Oh, I also wanted to share something with you. Sam Simon told our staff person that his award plaque is the most exquisite, beautiful award he has ever gotten (and he has MANY, including several Emmys!!) and that it is his favorite. I thought you would like to hear that'

As it turns out, I loved hearing that.

Sam Simon's Mercy For Animals award plaque by Steve Worthington

Click these links to visit my website...SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

New bronze plaque up for pre-order on Kickstarter

Hello, it's me again.

Nope, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth just yet, but I have launched a quick 7 day only project on Kickstarter (click HERE) to hopefully pre-sell some of my chicken and mouse plaques at a special early bird (of the chicken variety) price.

Dare I say 'going cheep'?

Now the plaque has a new quote in place of the original custom poem.

'Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies' Aristotle

'Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies' Aristotle's quote on a paper overlay on Steve Worthington's chicken and mouse bronze friendship bas relief plaque, approx 8" x 10"

The Kickstarter project page, which has a quick video and beneath that a re-telling of the story behind the plaque, is HERE. 

If you like it and you'd like one, now would be the best time to snap one up!

Either way, thanks again for looking of course!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Chicken and mouse bas relief plaque commission

I was recently asked if I could make something in bronze for a wedding anniversary.
The only stipulation was that since the couple has children with the nick-names of chicken and mouse, that it feature a chicken and a mouse, and that I find a way to incorporate a certain poem.

I didn't have long at all to get it done, so I suggested a bas relief plaque since that would entail the least possible number of complications, yet still give me plenty of scope to come up with an attractive design.
Plus, I really like doing bas reliefs for some reason.

He was fine with whatever I thought would look good and left me up to my own devices.

Perfect, that's how I like it!

I tried a few things out and was liking this sort of thing...

Chicken and Mouse design for a bronze anniversary plaque

So next up, using the method for bas relief sculpture I've described before, I made the clay and hardboard original, leaving space for the poem...

If you are curious to see the whole bas relief process and tips for achieving a convincing effect of roundness in about 1/8" of vertical space, type 'bas relief' into the 'search this blog' bar (top left of the screen I think) for several step-by-step demonstrations.

I find that sculpey comes in handy for eyes since you can bake it hard and sculpt around it.

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay

Chicken and Mouse bas relief plaque original clay detail

Next up, Lee, my trusty mold and wax man (sounds like a funny sort of man, doesn't it!) got busy doing his thing...

Here's the rubber mold. Certainly one of Lee's easier jobs mold making jobs!

The inside of the mold from which a wax plaque will be taken...

Chicken and Mouse plaque in wax (detail)

Tracing down the lettering...

Makes it *much* easier to do the lettering if you can see it clearly!

Hand lettered wax, ready for delivery to the foundry...

I'll show the rest of the process in my next post...

Emily Deschanel wearing some hot bling!

Still hot from the foundry, which must be why it's too hot for her to touch!

Emily Deschanel honored by Mercy For Animals with the Compassionate Leadership Award

Here's a few pics of it straight after I applied the patina...

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

Calf plaque finally finished...

The calf plaque against a South Western sky all finished up (approx 6" x 8")

Here's my calf plaque with the cloudy background all finished up with patina.
When I first modeled it I was a bit worried that my somewhat obsessive fascination with anatomy could have resulted in a cadaverous looking beast, but after seeing it all done in bronze I was very happy with the finished results.

Besides that, I have been assiduously testing my bronze toad bottle opener and I'm happy to say it functions just fine after numerous openings!

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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Guess who forked out $250,000 after getting one of my bronzes...?!

That's right, Bob Barker!
Mercy For Animals awarded Bob Barker their 'Compassionate Leadership Award', which (I'm both proud and honored to say) took the form of my framed bronze plaque.

Then Bob handed them a check for $250,000!

Click HERE to learn more about Bob's donation at the Mercy For Animals event.

Of course while it would nice to think he felt moved to such generosity by my touching handiwork, in reality he's a diehard defender of animal rights with a formidable track record of donating millions to causes that support those goals.

When I told Lee (who made the mold and pulled the wax), he said I should have personally called Bob earlier and offered him a 20 percent discount!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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How to make a bronze bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 3

My plaque came back from the foundry.
Lee chopped off the sprues, welded a hanger on the back (just in case it's ever taken from its frame), and gave it a once over in the sandblast cabinet.

sandblasted bronze, ready for patina

After that, it's time for me to create the patina (being sure to take all the necessary safety precautions, of course).
I gave it a soak in sulphurated potash (just a sprinkle, mixed in water) to turn it black.
Then I scrubbed it back with a scotch brite pad, and then some very fine steel wool.

After that, I heated it with a weed burning torch and sprayed on a mix of ferric nitrate and cupric nitrate, then waxed it while hot.

A quick buffing after it cooled was all that was needed before popping it into a its frame.

Next stop: Mercy For Animals.
Final destination: Bob Barker!

I've cast only two of this version (one to be given to Bob, and one for me to keep), but when I get a bunch of my non-award version cast (which has a cloudy sky instead of award lettering and will be sent to galleries) I'll post pics of that too.

This has been both an honor and a great deal of fun to make.
Thanks Mercy For Animals!

And thanks Lee for helping me get it done in time!

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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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How to make a bronze bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 2

finished plaque (added after this post was first published)

I had planned to have Lee Wilson mold my calf, pull waxes, and then I'd letter each one directly onto the wax.
Luckily I like to run my plans past Lee when they involve production steps since he's very efficient and always thinking the next step (or three) ahead to streamline the process from mold making to metal chasing, since he works on all the steps in between.

He thought it would be awkward for me to letter them directly onto the thin, delicate waxes.
And doing it twice would be no fun!

So he gave me a big chunk of wax with a smooth surface to letter on, which he would pull rubber from, and make waxes of the lettering to chop into the plaque.

That way, if anything went wrong it would be possible to assemble another wax with much less fuss and bother.

So I traced over the lettering with a ball point pen, which left a nice indentation on the wax.
And I used some white 'trace down' type paper to put in the horizontal lines.

Metal ended tool with a stalk and a ball shaped end

Rubber mold

 Lee finds household appliances handy for melting wax.
He's very careful not to pour molten wax on himself, as the hair on his arms reveals.

Trimming the edges of the lettering...

Lettering cut into place...

After the lettering  has been cut into the plaque Lee 'welded' it in place with hot wax.
Then I used a scrapey tool to carefully chase away the nasty looking weld, Lee cleaned it up with mineral spirits, I re-tooled the lettering to sharpen it up a bit and etched my name into the bottom edge and it's ready for a trip to the foundry for spruing, investing, burnout, casting and de-molding.

I'm making two: one for Mercy For Animals to present to Bob, and one for me, which will also serve as insurance against anything going wrong with the casting.

If one gets messed up somehow, there's a back-up.
Hopefully all will be well though!

Wax welding

Lettering in place before clean up

Lettering in place after clean up

Off to the foundry...!

I like the clean look around the lettering, so I decided to leave out additional cloud elements.
However I'm using the original art to make a new piece starring the same calf, but with a new background of clouds and rain, which I'll feature in an up-coming post...


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Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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How to make a bas relief award plaque honoring Bob Barker...Part 1

finished plaque, added after this post was first published

I got an unexpected call the other day from Mercy For Animals.
They saw my mice up for silent auction at the Humane Society's Genesis Awards recently.
They wanted to know if I could make a calf in bronze they could award to Bob Barker on June 4th, so they'd need it shipped by May 25th.

Mmm.
Great opportunity, but not enough time to research, make, mold, pull waxes, invest, burn out, cast, clean up and create a patina on a calf in the round!

I wondered if they might fancy a plaque instead?
That would be do-able, with hopefully some wiggle room in case of any unexpected casting issues.

'Perfect', came the reply!

I think Bob Barker is a great name for someone who supports animal activism.
After all, plenty of creatures bob up and down, and then there's barking...

I wonder if he ever just lets loose and bobs about the house barking up a storm at the same time?
I would;
If that was my name.

Anyhow, a combination of lots of calf photo's from Mercy For Animals, and my own results from digging for more, along with some anatomical info got me familiar enough with the shapes and proportions to design my plaque.

I have always enjoyed the stylistic sensibilities of a lot of Art Noveau, Art Deco, and the Arts and Crafts movements.

I wanted to incorporate that hand crafted feel to the lettering as well as the relief, so I whipped out my pencils and got busy.

I did the lettering first so I could see what space I might have left over to work with for the image.

I scanned them and jiggled them about a bit in photoshop...

Next operation: transfer the image to my masonite board and start laying on some clay!
I used some white trace down paper (kind of a white version of carbon paper).

 Oh, those black blocks are magnets. I made my drawing board from thin foamcore over sheet metal so I can have it up at an angle and keep things in place.

After taking care of the furthest away elements I used wax paper over my drawing to make the background legs since they lay over the far background and I'd get it all chewed up if I tried to do it in place.

Getting it off the wax paper is a bit tricky since I prefer a fairly soft and quite sticky wax based clay!
Popping it in the freezer for a few minutes stiffens it up a bit, and pressing the clay into my fingers while folding the paper back on itself seems to do the trick...

Anyhow, as you can see, since I'm an artist living in Santa Fe I've enjoyed myself giving it a bit of a South West feel with the distant rain and what have you.

The clouds and terrain certainly make great design elements.

What a spooky looking calf!

You have be very careful when putting elements together that the whole doesn't get disjointed, all of unrelated thicknesses and what have you.
But I find keeping a careful cross reference back and forth throughout the process allows things to work out fine...

So far so good...

Ignore everything in focus!!

 My camera thought I wanted to take a pic of the floor (it's so very interesting, after all!).
The blurry strip in the foreground is an edge-on view after sticking my smaller masonite panel onto a slightly larger one, and kind of 'grout filling' between them with clay.
I took the pic to show how low the bas relief is.

By being careful how I define overlapping planes in the sculpture I've been able to achieve a good sense of three dimensional form, in barely more than two dimensions.


I suppose drawing for a living my whole life has helped out with that!


Next time...
LETTERING!

Incidentally, there's no spoilers here since I learned that Bob knows he's getting awarded and I have been given the all clear to post 'in progress' reports!



        

Click these links to visit my website... SteveWorthingtonArt.com - Sculpture that loves you back
or my Etsy store, CritterVille

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