Making Small Armatures for Figurative Sculpture 

I am glad that my short film was of help to you. It certainly doesn't cover very much in the way of armatures. As scale will dictate the size and choice of materials.

I am glad the video is of help to you. I am currently taking video of some of the projects I am working on, however my main effort is in actually creating the sculpture not making films, so I get lazy sometimes and don't set up the camera. Some of them are more technical; i.e. enlarging a figure sculpture) to 7 feet using a 3d pantograph machine, making a plaster waste mold and plaster cast. Below are two films: A short film on the making of the Comerica Park Tiger Sculptures in 1999/2000. The other my working on the small models (seen above) of the runner Joe McCluskey to a 3 foot model. If you have questions feel free to post them. Thanks. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pFe_LOi_6qY.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q0kR8AxtXC0.html

Thank you very much for responding.

Great video! You're a natural. If you make more videos, and I certainly hope you do, focus on creating good-quality audio. The camera mic is never worthy of making quality tutorials, unless you stay right on top of the camera. PLEASE, don't be like 90% of the people doing tutorials online. Make sure you're getting a nice full audio signal. I have the volume nearly all the way up on this video and it's tinny, more room than voice. You have a lot to offer the world. You are a great teacher. I would love to see you make more videos. You're one of the better speakers, confident and direct. Keep up the good work.

Thanks. It is just one way simple way of many to make armatures. At some point I will show how to construct an armature for a 2-3' tall sculpture. I.E. Larger gauge wire and piping to support the clay. If you look at my Joe McCluskey enlarging videos you will see how I made an over life size armature using steel, wood and foam.

@@michaelkeropian2954 I'll certainly look in on those videos, I'm sure I'll find them instructive. This is the first time I've tried sculpture/carving in a more formal way - normally I grab a bit of wood and an angle grinder and hope for the best. This time I'd like to take time and enjoy the longer process. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, very decent of you. Cheers mate.

I generally use any thing from 1/2 to 3/4" plywood. The wood in the video may have been a pressboard all can be found in your favorite lumber store. I would not recommend using a larger armature for a runner in the same way I did in the video with no support. Certainly a pipe or similar support would be needed for larger armatures and sculptures. As I said it was one method for smaller figures maquette. Whenever you have one support it will wobble. For example I would not use this method if I were using water based clay since it would crack when drying and too small. Next time I do a larger model I'll video the process of adding an L pipe to the board.

In regard to the plywood base. I generally add (2) 1 x 2" x 3/4" strips of wood to the bottom of the board. They are called feet and are applied cross grain not with the grain on the board/base. This helps prevent warping. On larger boards for bigger sculptures I use 2x3" and place them vertically (not horizontally). This creates a very flat surface on which to work.

Send me an email at Keropian.com I can't post pictures here.

Sometimes I just drive a nail or screw a sheet rock screw into a 1/2 -3/4 " board for support so the clay won't fall over while working on it. For example I am working on these 4-5" heads and need to tilt the sculpture to look at it from different angles, having a vertical screw in place prevents me having to hold the clay in my hand. Good idea when traveling with a clay as well. If I were making a vertical water based clay figure (intending to fire it) I can't use and armature that is so involved. So I use a vertical threaded rod thickness according to the size of the sculpture as a temporary support. Once the clay has done some setting it can be removed from the rod.

Depends on how tall and what sort of the sculpture you are doing. Too broad of a topic. Water based clay is generally added thicker to an armature thus it will be heavy so the structure and armature beneath it must be strong.

@@michaelkeropian2954 Thank you.

in the past I would hand out 9” armatures to my students in life class. working with just the armature I would have the model take numerous poses from 1-3 minutes the students would try and match the poses. very much like a drawing class would croakiest.

there are a number of videos on smoothing sculpey. i have only used it on small sculptures. to smooth out plasticine I often use a fine grit screen like 320 or 220 . this helps put the forms together. Todays sculptors in general omit a stage when making their sculptures. That stage is working in plaster. Figurative sculptors that wanted a smooth surface would have a waste mold made of their clay. they would sand or refine the forms in the mold then add a separator and cast a plaster. this too they would rework and smooth. once the plaster was completed they would have the foundry make a mold from which a wax would be cast for bronze. Today there are many clays and polymers used and there are few sculptors using this technique or sculptors working in plaster as a finishing stage.

I would not suggest firing any clay in a kiln with an armature inside. The water based clay would crack well before in the air drying process then shrink more when fired. You would be asking for a mess. At KAC where I teach most of the students working in waterbed clay "Make'm and Bake'm". Meaning the only armature we use is a Vertical threaded rod bolted into a wood base. It is used as a temporary support for the clay. We are currently working on a standing figure pose and the rod is used to support the clay while working on the figure. As the figure progresses and forms modeled additional clay is added to support the figure ie legs or hip. Once the clay has been sculpted and has begun to dry, the clay is removed off the threaded rod and is ready for the greenware shelf and can dry thoroughly for firing.

I am using Chavant Classic (w/Sulphur) plasticine. You can certainly use water based clay on an armature like this, but at this size it will dry and crack quite quickly. When I went to school we always used water based clay on three foot tall armatures with no problems. They just have to be maintained and covered when not working on. I have a 30 figure that I used water clay on and it does shrink and crack with the armature inside. But wetting a cloth and draping the sculpture with it will bring the clay back to its former moist state, it just needs to be maintained.

Thank you!

I use a threaded rod armature for vertical figures in water based clay that I intend to fire in the kiln. Once the clay has hardened enough to support itself then I remove the clay from the threaded rod and hollow where necessary before allowing it to dry to leather hard. If you fire slowly you should have no problem. The problem in firing is many people try and rush it. I do two pre-fires up to 220 degrees with the lid open, then close lid and go up from that to about 1980 bisque.

Well I guess all these runners have it wrong. I was following images of Joe in action.

I assume you mean metal as an "armature material" and I assume you mean by "burn" you mean "fire" or clay that requires you to put in a kiln in order to make it hard. This is ceramic clay or natural clay that you find in the ground that is cleaned and can be purchased in powder form (just add water) or already in working condition. It is not recommended to fire the above clay with an armature for a couple reasons. Water based ceramic clay shrinks when it dries. Any thing that is in the clay like metal does not shrink, so naturally the clay may crack around these materials. The clay also shrinks when firing the clay in a kiln. You can expect about 13% shrink in your ceramic or sculpture, from the drying of the clay + the firing of the clay. Now with this said, I have seen sculptors fire ceramic clay with armatures (steel) and a mix of fiberglass in the clay with pretty good results. However these were large sculptures and there was some cracking but because of the fiberglass and rebar 1/4" to 3/8" it resulted in pretty good results. Hope this answered your question. If you have a specific work of art you want me to look at I can better troubleshoot and give you better advice.

@@janmalin4025 Thank you so much this helped me a lot!!! I just need to figure out how to stabilize the sculpture so it doesn't break...

I won't be baking plasticine or water based clay with a full armature like this in the sculpture. If the clay were made with Sculpey you could bake it with the armature inside in a conventional oven. So when using a more advanced armature with plasticine or waterbased clay a mold will need to be made and a then a cast in either resin, plaster or wax for bronze. A simpler armature can be used as a temporary support for a sculpture destined to bake in a kiln. The latter armature is removed and the clay hollowed before firing. And armature like this might be silly a vertical rod attached to a board and the clay can easily be slip off the rod before firing.

Depending on the size of the sculpture you are making would determine the type of armature to use. The one in the video is very small so I didn't really need a larger support. I can't add images here so difficult to show. My go to armature for a standing figure is a series of threaded pipes made into an upside down (L). Straight pipes of various sizes, and elbow and a T- pipe. The lowest straight pipe is threaded into a flange that has four holes. I figure where I want it to be placed on a board and drill the holes for the flange. I bolt not screw the flange to the wood board using nuts and washers. If you send me an email I can draw it out for you.

@@michaelkeropian2954 thank you so much for replying back. Will you share your email id ?

If I understand you completely. In the end credits of the armature video, I posted a couple pictures of a 12" armature for a horse. To get proper proportions of a dog I would find an image of a dog in profile and adjust the armature accordingly. Study animal anatomy. Im sure there are online sources showing a pitbull maybe anatomical sketches or better yet skeleton. Then adjust your armature accordingly. The armature is constructed basically the same as a human you just need to likely make the legs shorter etc. Remember that the fore legs on an animal are basically arms. Man is erected upright by his Gluteus Maximus.

I think where people have some confusion is where and how do you use aluminum foil if you insist on using it. Use it merely as a filler to take up space as you would foam, not as an armature that would support the figure. The aluminum or steel armature is like your skeleton. Without it all the muscle; no matter how strong you are would fall apart without a proper skeleton or structure beneath it..

Cliff you're giving me no info here. Let me know what you are working on.