Tamara Bonet Sculpture, Bronze and Ceramic Figurative Art
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Sculpture Enlargement

Sculpture Enlargement

Hi all,

Here are some pictures below of my sculpture enlargement for Beautiful Dreamer.  The foundry had such a difficult time with all of her small detail that I decided to enlarge her.  The sculpture enlargement is 40% greater than her original size- so she should be around 17 inches tall.   This will still allow her to look delicate and petite.  Going too large would have taken her out from being a bedroom or mantel piece.

I thought the enlargement would be mold ready but there is much work putting the detail back into her.  It will be a learning curve to work with the product that she was cast in.  It’s some sort of plasterlike product which can be infiltrated with epson(salt) water rather than a superglue binder.  By simply using  espon water I will be able to rework the surface.  If glue was infiltrated then the surface would be a harder shell and scraping it to refine would create problems when trying to smooth it out. 

  • Enlargement company, Duexpan, said that I can try a variety of products (spackling or joint compound,  Home Depot’s American Finest white matt paint, Michael’s craft store puddy).  
  • Paint could be sprayed on with an airbrush and then sanded with 800 on up to 2000 grit.
  • Compound or puddy can be liquified and then brushed on. 
  • A dremel tool with files can be used to sharpen edges.

 Kelly at Sattelite models was so kind to explain the enlargment process to me.  He is very kind and generous with his knowledge.  I’d trust him with my enlargement (although I did use another company-Deuxpan- for this one; price being a factor). 

There are 3 types of scanners:

  1. Hand held- Data soft- not crisp but will get the job done okay- if you want to rework some.
  2. Laser type- good for detail but can’t capture sharp edges of shiny or reflective edges, so these will be rounded off.
  3. Structured light scanner- the best and very high resolution- will capture detail well. 

It’s best to send the enlargment company a plaster or resin (wax is okay too but may warp/melt in shipping) for scanning purposes.  I sent a bronze (costs more to send) because my plasters needed much work.  However, in hindsight, the enlargement company said it would have been less work to work off of a poor plaster and rework it in the computer after the scanning process.  This is because bronze is so shiny that it leaves a lot of areas missing in the computer scan. 

After the scan is worked out well then the printing process takes place.   Z Cor printer machine (Model 650), prints out, layer by layer, a plaster-like product.  As it builds up, slowly the sculpture emerges in 3D.  The newer Z Cor machines have finer quality and a larger format to put the piece into (so that larger sections of the sculptue can be made reducing error and labor).

Here are the pics showing how she looks before putting the detail back into her:

Hair tendrils, face detail, ears, flowers after 3D print scan, need refining.

Hair tendrils, face detail, ears, flowers after 3D print scan, need refining.

Hair and skin look bumpy and need lots of work.

Hair and skin look bumpy and need lots of work.

Detail of hand enlargement.

Detail of hand enlargement.

Chaise legs were scanned seperately so that each is identical.

Chaise legs were scanned seperately so that each is identical.

Side view of bronze and sculpture enlargement.

Side view of bronze and sculpture enlargement.

Sculpture enlargement 40% bigger.

Sculpture enlargement 40% bigger.

Thanks for lookinig and I’ll post finished pics when I get her all refined.

~Tamara

3 Responses to “Sculpture Enlargement”

  1. doris says:

    hello Tamara, it is very interesting to learn about how sculpture enlargement can be made. thank you for sharing. it seems almost as much work as doing a new sculpture. … but i know you have the patience and energy to make the enlarged sculpture same beautiful as the original one …
    i missed why you have to make a sculpture enlargement… i mean, you already have a bronze in the original small size, does this not mean you have a mold from which more replicates can be made easily ? just curious, to understand your motivation.

  2. Tamara Bonet says:

    Thanks for your comment Doris. :-)

    Yes, it is a lot of work but much less than trying to do it all over again from scratch.

    I do have a mold for the smaller version but the problem is that she is difficult to reproduce in bronze at every stage because of her size. Just pouring the wax is difficult because when it goes in melted and hot and is swirled around, many air bubbles are created due to so much fine detail and crevices.

    The foundry I sent it to would not even work on the wax because he said it was too much work. He claimed the mold was bad but I know it is not (I’ve poured good plasters from it).

    Then in the bronze stage, she’s so detailed that there is not good spot to cut a cooling hole. Usually this is done in the head but not good on her to have to weld in her hair. With no cooling hole, it causes her head to warp and problems in the bronze elsewhere too.

    If any area of the dress or chaise lounge has an imperfection after the bronze pour, it can’t be fixed nicely because those areas have a pattern to them that can’t easily be replicated with metal tools.

    There’s just so much more to this piece that makes it difficult but now that she’s larger, the foundry will be much happier (and me too)! I think her detail will show up much better and thus be appreciated more at a larger size.

    ~Tamara

  3. doris says:

    thank you, Tamara, now i can see where the problem is. yes, if you were to reproduce her in so small, it would be more costly, and hardly someone would like spend the money… good is, you learned now for future projects, to consider these issues in your sculpture… thanks again, for explaining.

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