Sculpture Assignment 3 and 4

The nature of these assignments was to create a replica of

item in clay and then duplicate it by making a mold.

Inspiration:

My inspiration came from a series I’m doing for illustration about flowers and trees that have held special meaning from my life. The realization that these flowers would not be on earth without the pollination process of bees drove this project.

Process:

My initial replication was more precise in form. It was created based upon my initial sketches. I created it out of polymer clay and another with air dry clay. Each bee had a head, thorax, and abdomen. I was able to fit a set of legs but they were unsuccessful when I tried to use the mold for replication. Therefore, my bees in the final depiction have the three body parts and wings.

I used two separate methods to build the mold. The first was where you measure equal portions of blue and pink liquids then combine to create the silicone used for the mold. I placed my clay bee into the bottom of a paper cup and covered it with the purple silicone. The waiting period to dry took several hours so time management was key to completing the project on time. The next class period I removed the clay bee and had the imprinted hole to fill with plater. While I waited for the plaster to dry I created a second mold from silicone caulk using the same paper cup. The next class I repeated the process using each mold several times. In total, I created five bees from my molds. To finish the project I sanded down the extra plaster and painted the bees. I was afraid they would look to kitsch but in the end felt it was necessary to make them look as realistic as possible. Since bees from the same hive have similar color patterns, so the bees I created look alike.

Importance:

Bees are important to our survival. Without them flowers and crops wouldn’t get pollenated. In one day a single bee pollenates over 5,000 flowers. I wanted this project to represent and remind us of the importance of what bees mean to us as humans and our survival.