Soooooo... hey there.  Welcome to my very first blog.  I'm starting a new sculpture and I thought it might be a good exercise for me to record the process, start to finish, and in that, maybe someone out there would find it interesting too.  I would, though, like to start by saying that I'm a sculptor, not a writer, so bear with me here.  Hopefully this won't be a train wreck.  We'll see.

I'd assume anyone reading this probably found the link on my webpage or my Sandman Creations facebook page, but for anyone who doesn't know my work, I create wire sculptures, usually filled with lights and covered with fabric.  This way, the wire work is backlit through the fabric.  I break out of that box from time to time and do some other stuff, like playing with shadows or incorporating other materials into the pieces, but it pretty much all revolves around steel wire.  For me, working with wire is all about curves.  I am forever on a quest to find the perfect curve.

This new project has been bouncing around in my head for about 5 1/2 years now... twisting and turning, expanding and contracting, morphing and evolving.  It's a nude figure, all wire, with no lights or fabric.  As for the pose, it's been a long arc.  It started as a spritely young woman, hands on her bent knees with a beautiful pair of wings stretching out behind her.  Over the years, it eventually transformed into a more moody and dramatic pose of a woman (sans wings) having just woken up, luxuriously stretching as she takes a step forward on her toes.  Graceful, gentle, languid, and sensual.  I guess the closest thing I can relate it to would be some of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings of the mid to late 1800s.  Two in particular were a huge inspiration to me.  Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton completely captured the feel and mood I wanted, as did Midsummer Eve by Edward Robert Hughes, which was also what the original fairy pose was somewhat based on. But the most important thing was the mood of those paintings.  That's what I wanted.  Whether I can translate any of this into wire... well, that remains to be seen. 

I came up with this idea while I was working on another of my sculptures, a giant sea dragon, back in 2006.  Unfortunately, at the time, my welding wasn't clean enough to do something this exposed the way I wanted to.  I've spent the time since dialing my welding in, as I made dragons, butterflies, octopi, assorted aquatic beasties and giant shadow casting mandalas.  I finally reached a point earlier this year where I realized I was ready.  When it hit me, it was actually a fairly scary moment because that meant it was time for action.  Now I had to do it.  But that's how I felt when I was beginning all of my large pieces and I've learned that being almost as terrified as I am excited is the perfect place for me to be when starting a new project. 

Over the next several weeks, I locked in the pose, built a giant lazy suzan so I could take 360 degree photos of my subject, and hired a model.  The photos have now been taken, materials have been purchased and my work area organized.

And here I am.

I started this weekend, working on the base. My friend Jovin had given me an interestingly shaped wooden stand about a year ago, knowing I'd find a good use for it in some upcoming sculpture.  He's the same person that gave me a 1956 Oldsmobile car door, which I immediately wrapped a giant octopus around.  He's got a good eye and a great aesthetic.  As I started moving forward with the design of this piece, I realized that this stand would make a perfect base.

I'm not sure exactly how much this sculpture is going to weigh, but I know I'm going to end up using a fair amount of steel, so I decided to weigh the box down a bit.  I cut open the bottom and added some really thick walled 2 in. by 3 in. box tube. 

Next I attached two steel plates on the top where her toes would be making contact with the base.  The base will eventually be covered in fabric, the only fabric on the piece.  Something mossy.   

The night's work wasn't too exciting, but it felt really good to actually be making progress on this, after 5 1/2 years of anticipation.

I was out most of the day yesterday, but last night I did a little more prep work with the photos and set up a speedrail stand to catch the wire as I'm working.  Since I'll be starting down at the feet, and using 10 and 12 foot lengths of wire, when I begin working my way up I'm going to have a lot of extra wire flopping around.  Now I'll be able to clamp it on to the speedrail. 

So I guess I'm almost ready to go.  Today I'll start prepping some of the wire by grinding it down a bit with my Dremel.  It's a bit tedious and time consuming, but I like the texture and shininess that gives it.  After that and a little more studying of the photos, that's pretty much it.  I'll be ready to start bending wire.  Wow.

Standing back and looking at my shop, all set up and ready to go, with stacks of wire and my tools at the ready, put me in a really great mood last night.  I have butterflies in my stomach, and that "night before vacation" feeling in my chest.  It's been so long since I've felt this.  It's pretty great.

Well, I guess that's all for now.  I hope to post photos and updates pretty regularly.  I'm guessing this is going to take me about 4 to 6 months.  Probably closer to six.  Really tough to say at this point. 

Alright, talk to you soon.