Slideshow of the completed sculpture:
The first steps with clay and armature:
For the armature that supports the clay, a length of 3/4" iron pipe is screwed into a pipe flange, which in turn is screwed to a wooden base. Unseen at the top of the pipe is a T fitting and two shorter horizontal lengths of pipe. A double strand of copper wire runs thru the T, and supports the limbs and tail. The wire is strong enough to support the weight of the clay, but flexible enough to adjust the pose as needed. The cavity of the torso, neck and head are filled with paper and wrapped in plastic. This keeps the weight down and allows for some shrinkage of the water-based clay.
The last picture in this sequence shows thumbnails of just a fraction of the hundreds of reference photos used for this piece. In addition to studying the photos, I spent time with some horses and watched hours of video of horses walking, trotting, cantering and galloping.
The last picture in this sequence shows thumbnails of just a fraction of the hundreds of reference photos used for this piece. In addition to studying the photos, I spent time with some horses and watched hours of video of horses walking, trotting, cantering and galloping.