Monthly Archives: February 2017

Learning to sculpt: an ongoing relationship with epoxy clay.

Sculpted goat foot candleholder by Suzanne Forbes Feb 28 2017I finally finished this terrifying goat foot candlestick!

WIP goat foot candleholder sculpted by Suzanne Forbes Feb 28 2016I started it in 2015, at our first apartment in Berlin.

I had seen something similar on some luxury housewares or design website, and I was like, I can make that! Plus, it’ll be great sculpting practice!

It’s built on a tall narrow glass caper jar, the lid of the caper jar, tin foil and wooden rings from the craft store.

It was months before our stuff arrived in the shipping container, so I used what was around!

Once I had built the base, I had to cover it with fur.

Each row of fur tufts has to harden before the next one can be sculpted (unless you want to be really careful, and I never manage to be careful enough; I always wind up squishing what I just laboriously sculpted).  So each time I worked on a project that used epoxy clay, I would save a little bit at the end to add a row of fur tufts. There are roughly fourteen rows, so that’s a lot of projects!

Once I added the last row of fur last night, I started a new project.

bug bricolage art by Suzanne Forbes 2017 WIPI bought this rococo mirror* made of some weightless extruded foam plastic during my art supply mission on Saturday.

used a glue gun to quickly affix the bugs and flowers and fill in any space between them and the frame. Then I did a first pass with epoxy clay.

I used it to reinforce the attachment of little legs (it’s very strong) and sculpt new curlicues to incorporate the bug shapes.

When we get a warm sunny day I’ll hit the whole thing with white primer for plastic (which I finally found here, in the excellent DupliColor brand) so I have a uniform surface and can add detail better. Then add paint and Swarovski crystals!WIP bug bricolage art and sculpture by Suzanne Forbes 2017

Done with that, I hauled out all my other sculpture projects from 2015 and started finishing them up!

Diana bust WIP sculpture by Suzanne Forbes 2017Diana bust WIP sculpture by Suzanne Forbes 2017One of the wonderful things about epoxy clay is that you can apply it directly over practically anything, including baked polymer clay, like the mantis.

You can read about the start of the mantis here, and you can read in great detail about my experience beginning to sculpt and learning to use epoxy clay here.

It’s so much easier to work on the hair of my Diana bust now that I’ve had all this experience making fur!

I’ll keep you guys posted on the process of all these projects, unless I get derailed by some new obsession and they go back in the queue!

goat foot candlestick by Suzanne Forbes Feb 28 2017 WIPWhile I was painting the goat foot with many layers of metallic paints, I mixed up too much blackened gold-umber-bronze.

When the only tool you have is a brush full of bronze paint, everything looks like it needs to be painted bronze. I changed the zombie hand I resculpted at Halloween from glitter black to bronze and FINALLY dry-brushed highlights onto the ram’s horn mirror I bought for our hallway before we left the US. Always be finishing!

*You can see the reflection of one of Daria’s drawings in the mirror, from one of our earliest art trades.

A four-hour portrait painting of Victoria Victrola in Berlin!

Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes Feb 27 2017When you live in Berlin, your friends tell you when their friends are coming to town.

victoria victrola by Suzanne Forbes Oct 2008Our latest visitor from the US is Miss Victoria Victrola, a Bay Area based musician, entertainer and event creator.

She is well known in the Bay for her music and her delightful tea parties, enjoyed at such events as the Edwardian Ball. (There’s an upcoming one with Edwardian Ball house band Rosin Coven too!)

When Whitney sent me her contact info, I thought, she looks familiar! I’ve drawn this woman at an event somewhere!

 

I looked through my hundreds of drawings on flickr and found one I’d done of Victoria doing a living statue performance in 2008, as seen above.

So I asked Victoria if she would pose for me again, and she came by on Sunday afternoon and we made this lovely painting.

Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes WIP Feb 27 2017

Her attire, a true vintage suit and hat, was so charming.

Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes WIP Feb 27 2017

She works one day a week at OverAttired, the exquisitely sourced and curated vintage clothing shop of my friends Sam and Monica.

Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes WIP Feb 27 2017

We had a wonderful visit, catching up on news from our community in SF, Oakland and Berkeley. After we’d finished the sitting and gone downstairs to the pub for some hearty German fare, I explained that I would finish the picture the next day.

Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes WIP Feb 27 2017

The final adjustments to a portrait, like tuning in on a radio station, are best made the following day with fresh eyes and hands and a clean palette. Above is the picture the way it looked when I picked it up this “morning” (around 2pm, after coffee) and below is after the final corrections.Victoria Victrola by Suzanne Forbes CU Feb 27 2017

I’ve been painting on board for the first time in decades and really enjoying it. A smooth surface is so receptive to detail. I’m very grateful to Whits for connecting me with Victoria, and to Victoria for a bright dose of gothic rococo vintage chic and charm in late winter!