Week 21

During Week 21, having shaved ample material from the back section of the sculpture I was in a decent position to begin Tig welding. This being an introduction to Tig welding for me, I had not done myself any favours by choosing aluminium. Aluminium has an oxide layer which needs to be brushed away with a staleness steal brush before welding can begin as the exterior of the aluminium has a far higher melting temperature than its core, therefore its not the easiest material to weld.

Fortunately due to the damaged nature of the skulls surface I wanted to maintain a few cracks and rough edges to show scars from past traumas.

Therefore I would weld small sections, then file it down, weld another patch and so on and so forth, whilst leaving small cracks in appropriate places, suggesting severe head trauma during the creatures life showing that the beast has been exposed to conflict during its life.

Once I had welded the two pieces together I crisped some parts of the joint using the tig welder to blend the smooth sections with the rougher surface of the sculpture.

Furthermore to hide the margin more successfully I used small chisels to work the lines of the skull back into the material.

As documented below:

Once I had finished the welding I took a step back and looked at my sculpture, and I couldn't help but feel that it was lacking some how. The aluminium felt really flat, as if the details melted away even if you stepped only a metre away.

Therefore I decided to add a layer of black wax polish, by doing so I would darken the whole object, yet the wax would cling to the recesses along the details emphasising the marks across the surface. This would hopefully age the object as well, making the work feel less like a block of metal, but more like an actually deformed skull of a great beast.

Below I have documented the application of the black wax:

Below is an image of the finished piece, Even now I struggle to accept that it is finished, it has taken five months to reach this stage, and even though at times this project has really pissed me off I still feel that I need to keep working on it. One thing that I am certain of however is the success of the black wax. By applying the wax I have converted the block of metal into a more dynamic piece. Ageing the material beyond its time. All that is left now is to create an exhibition around this piece. However I want something unconventional. I have considered taking it to the local beach and doing a one day show. Where I film the piece as it rests on the waters edge as the waves wash sand over it.

Furthermore this week we were introduced to the new project next week called interchange. In which all year two students have to choose two classes outside of our chosen course one on the Wednesday and one on the Thursday. Below is the booklet with the two corresponding pages describing the classes I have chosen:

I chose the z brush introduction as I saw it as an entrance to a digital platform, now that my work has become very sculptural I thought it would be appropriate to try a transition to digital media. Furthermore I chose the Photoshop class as once again I saw this as an appropriate transition to digital media.