The casting of the ‘Maximus’ horse skull with Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) is now complete, and the piece will soon be displayed within the Grosvenor Museum, Chester – as part of an exhibition drawing inspiration from Roman chariot racing.
Final stage: Once the sculpture has been stained, gold leaf is applied to the raised filligree.
The casting of the ‘Maximus’ horse skull with Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) continues, safely and with social distancing…
Part 1: Using dremels, drills, knives and files, fine detailing is added. The surface of the plaster cast skull is worked, filed, and sanded to a fine finish.
Part 2: The filligree molds are prepared, for the filligree designs to be cast onto the plaster skull.
Part 3: Once cast and set, the filligree designs are then worked over, for a fine finish. Soon, the gold leaf will be added.
Stay tuned for the next part of the process, as ‘Maximus’ nears completion…
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Art, Casting, Chariot, Chester, Cilcain, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Grosvenor, Grosvenor Museum, Horse Skull, Maximus, mold making, nick eames, North Wales, Plaster, Roman, Sculpture, studio, Working studio
The casting of the ‘Maximus’ horse skull with Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) continues, safely and with social distancing…
Part 1: Molds of Florence’s filligree designs are made in latex, and then reinforced with layers of plaster. Casting begins in plaster on the lower jaw mold.
Part 2: Test casts are taken of Florence’s filligree designs, with gold leaf added.
Part 3: Casting of the full skull continues, and the caps start to be joined together.
Part 4: Once the caps have been joined and cast, de-molding begins. Here, Florence can be seen chipping away the scrim that reinforces the joiner’s dogs.
Stay tuned for the next part of the mold making process!
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Art, Casting, Chester, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Grosvenor, Horse, Horse Skull, mold making, nick eames, North Wales, Plaster, Roman, Sculpture
The casting of the ‘Maximus’ horse skull with Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) continues, safely and with social distancing…
Part 1: The final caps of the piece mold for the skull are prepared for a vinamold pour – with the seams filled in with clay, vaseline & white spirit applied, joiner’s dogs fitted, and runners & risers added. The pour then takes place. Once the vinamold has set, de-molding begins.
Part 2: These photographs show how the piece mold has been constructed; in particular how the intricate shapes around the nose have been held in place (to create the needed grooves/hollows in negative). The vinamold caps are brushed down and cleaned, in preparation for test casts to be taken.
Part 3: While test casts are taken from the vinamold caps of the jaw, Florence creates a filligree of her own design, in clay, directly onto the face of the skull itself (which has previously been restored, repaired and reinforced). The filligree design is directly inspired by Roman chariots. Latex will later be used to take molds of the clay filligree.
Part 4: Test casts are taken from the jaw, to test the strength, thickness and finish – the plaster is combined with different types of fibres for each test cast. This process will inform the full cast of the skull. In these images, the test caps seen were cast with jute scrim.
Part 5: Another filligree, of Florence’s design, is created for the sides of the jaw – modelled directly in clay over the bone. Clay walls are then run around the areas on both the face of the skull and the jaw, for molds of the filligree to be taken in latex. After that, the latex is built up in several coats, and then reinforced with cotton scrim.
Stay tuned for the next part of the mold making process!
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Casting, Chariot, Chester, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Grosvenor Museum, Horse, mold making, North Wales, piece mold, Plaster, Roman, Sculpture, studio, Vinamold
The casting of the ‘Maximus’ horse skull with Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) continues, safely and with social distancing): The most fragile areas of the skull are reinforced with clay and vinymold, to allow for clean de-molding of the caps without damage to the skull itself. The caps are then prepared in plaster.
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Casting, Chariot, Chester, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Grosvenor Museum, Horse, mold making, piece mold, Plaster, Roman, Sculpture, Skull, studio
The casting of the horse skull with fine artist Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) continues: Following some subtle reinforcing and restoration, the skull (which has been named ‘Maximus’ – “Are you not entertained?”) has been clayed up, and the first caps of the piece mold are underway, in plaster.
We’ve been joined by Nick’s colleague, Tim Johnson, who has been assisting in documenting the process and working with Florence.
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Casting, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Horse, mold making, Roman, Sculpture, Skull, studio
Nick is working with fine artist Florence Bigglestone (@floss_art) this month – safely and with social distancing – to restore and cast a horse’s skull. The cast skull, in plaster, will then be painted and embroidered by Florence to represent the history of chariot racing in Roman Chester. It will be exhibited in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester as part of an exhibition.
These photos show the beginning of the restoration and casting process.
You can check out more of Florence’s work on her Instagram.
Posted in Events, Figurative sculptures, Working Process
Tagged Casting, Chariot, Chester, Fine Art, Florence Bigglestone, Grosvenor Museum, Horse, Plaster, Roman, Sculpture, Skull, studio
Installation of ‘The Sisters’ will resume when restrictions are lifted!
Best wishes, and keep safe! 🙏
– from the socially distancing sculptor.
These are the stages since the last post…
