12 July 2010
Onto the last stage of the piece, the lotus. I started by first doing a paper rough to get an idea of size and how deep i wanted the lotus to be.

The paper lotus was reproduced with a heavy weight card and then covered in plaster of paris. The depth was about right but the shape was not as rounded as i hoped. Also i wanted the lotus leaves to be thinner. By the time i would have added clay, baked and sanded the leaves i recon they would have been crude and much larger.

Back to the drawing board and i found a bowl that was the right size to fit the cobras in.

You can faintly see the dividing lines on the green piece of paper underneath the bowl. This gives me a guide for the leaves to be placed. I then added the new leaves but i seem to have gotten the size wrong and never account for the overlapping. Thus i got to start the leaves again and this time i will have the chance to add more form and shape.

Once the leaves are all perfect and placed correctly i hope to lay the clay on-top of the bowl to retain the shape. If all goes well then some light sanding after baking. I just hope the leaves dont crack or break after baking and during the sanding stage.

21 July 2010

Started by making some template leaves  and placing them around the outside of bowl to get the correct shape. Im hoping it will bake alright when i turn it upside down.

Made a minor mistake though as the leaves are about 2cm short and so when i place the cobras in them the final lotus the leaves will not cover as much of the body as id like. I also noticed i made a small mistake with the last leave as it does not overlap the first leave correctly. It should all look seamless. Im happy with the flow of these leaves I’m not looking for a perfect lotus but rather a lotus, flame, fire thing….

22 July 2010
I covered the bowl in some non stick spray and ended up dropping it, shattered to bits into the clay. Agh, now i need to find another bowl with the same radius and depth.

26 July 2010

Decided to redo the leaves and add a small indent for where each leaf sits into the next. Makes everything proportional. Also made a cardboard template to help get some consistency. Then placed each leaf flat on the table and transfered it to the bowl. Smoothed out any bumps and refined the tips. With a small dent in the bottom from another bowl to make sure all the pieces stuck together firmly.

05 August 2010

Whooooooooop!

Yip finally i think i have got a grasp of baking clay. No cracks and the clay came apart from he bowl with no problems. The tape on the bowl works as a guide for how long the laves have to be. Really happy with final result and the “swirl” effect.

Next some light sanding to get rid of some imperfections on he tips of the leaves. Then a coat of paint on the outside. Im not going to paint the inside yet as placing the cobras in and taking them out is going to cause the PVA paint to chip. Wish i had some airbrush equipment to do a thorough job.

08 August 2010

All 4 pieces

Development

Current state of things.. 

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos
> The Boy / Cobras & Lotus Prototypes

Heres a few updated pics of how the sculpture is coming along. Full colour photos coming soon..

The above shot is the inside spiral of the cobras body/tail. Some of the paint has not dried properly and so earlier today i removed it with a little piece of sandpaper and tomorrow i will paint it again. The little black hole you see on the body is a place for the trident to sit in so it does not slip, see below.

After 3 coats of paint on both The Cobras and The Boy, he ended up squeezing into his rightful place. So i had to sand the edges of his legs down slightly and repaint, now he fits nice and snug with a little room to maneuver.

3 July 2010
These are some sketches from the last few days.
Left – Initial head sketch for the drawing below
Middle – Some quick sketches of the boys smile 
Top Middle – Lotus leaf prototype draft (more on this later once the Cobras are perfect)
Right – Rough sketch

4 July 2010
A quick sketch i did in pen. Might look good as a tidy b/w vector.. Still need to add the trident in though.

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos
> The Boy / Cobras & Lotus Prototypes

Now available in the Cabein Shop

You can read more about the design process on the original Reaper post.
> http://www.cabein.com/cabein/?p=614

I spent about  a month or two working on the first cobras back in Oct 09. Making a wireframe armature, adding detail and eventually sanding the clay down to a smooth surface. Heres how it was looking…

Iit looks like the wireframe was not build correctly and there were some weak spots resulting in some deep cracks where the heads met the body. I say deep crack but i eventually took the head off to see how weak it actually was.

That was around December 09. After having a break for a few weeks i sketching and planning round 2 of the Cobras. I also decided to make them a little taller than the previous version.

13 February 2010

I started by building a new wireframe and adding a few layers of  paper mache to help strengthen the whole armature and hopefully reinforce any bits that might need extra support. I learned a great deal form the first ones about production and balance.

Last night I finished the paper mache part of the process and im really happy with the new form and spiral body. Getting the spiral right and having two extruding heads to support has been tough.

I think it’s safe to move onto the clay part of things now but i am a little nervous about how thick the cobra heads will turn out and if the armature will survive the vigorous sanding process later.

22 February 2010

Started adding the first layer of clay to the painted armature and tried to get it as smooth as possible. This processes took months in total to get the right form and smooth out any bumps.

In the pic below i tried adding a tongue but it made me little scare.

14 June 2010

It was difficult to get the back of the smaller cobras head smooth as there was very little space to work with in between the two. With the larger cobra it was also very difficult to get the form of its hood smoothed out in areas where i could barely get a finger in.

Final sculpted cobras before backing

15 June 2010

I baked the cobras for about 15mins and ended up with a few hairline cracks around the coiling body and cobras hoods. You can see some of the repair work on the back of the large cobra’s head below.

!8 June 2010

All cracks and breaks have been fixed and i have just finished a few coats of paint.
Got a little excited and started on a lotus prototype made out of paper.

Final repaired, sanded, 4 coats of base white, final sanding, finished Cobras
Sorry about the latest photos its a webcam photo as my camera is damaged, i hope to get some good quality pics up soon with additional notes on the process.

 

Would have been nice to have airbrushed the sculptures, but i just dont have the required equipment.

These sculptures have  traveled over 3 continents over the last 2 months and in all taken a year on and off to get to this stage. Mostly my free time and some late evenings. Its all a little D.I.Y but learning as i go along.

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos

Really happy with the way these have come out. Vibrant colours and deep blacks..yummy…

The Reaper will be available on the Cabein Shop by the end of this month.

Started this painting around February 2009 as a rough to get used to painting again after a very long time. The paper i used was too thin and started bubbling up as you can see. I also think the pencil lines could have been done lighter and one less coat of yellow to make it all more delicate. This is just a rough.. But the final pience will be part of a series of two paintings.

Good for getting back into painting and experiment with technique.

Rough sketch re-drawn on A0 paper

A4 rough to get a feel for the right colours & tone

First lick of paint.

Second coat

Click on the image above to view larger version

After this process i feel much more confident that i can produce the final painting on a thicker paper stock with more detail and much tidier. Colour in the lines and watch out for any dribbles…

The video for the forthcoming track “Outlaw”. Remixes coming soon.

Taken from the album “Phasmatis In Machina” out on Shiva Soundsystem Recordings, Sept 14th.

Directed by Shaft Uddin – www.silentcity.co.uk
Art Direction by Kunal Anand @ Cabein
Produced by Nerm

Photography by RJ Fernandez edited by Cabein

I recently finished an annual report for ASTI (Acid Surviovor Trust International). A great charity doing some amazing work helping victims of acid violence around the globe to overcome the trauma and get back on their feet.  The lives and faces rebuilt after acid attacks..

> Telegraph Article

> View PDF version

Started this little fella on Friday 24th July 2009, as a test to see how long it would take for this new clay to harden.

Ended up getting quite involved and now i got most his body done. Also did a rough blue-print a few months ago to get an idea of proportions & scale.

Started with his upper body and then his legs. By doing the body first im hoping to get an idea of how big the overall sculpture will be and also how big his head should be. I think i may have some trouble with balance depending on how his head comes out.

May take me a while though. Im still not sure if this clay will be solid enough for his trident… or the cobras without some reinforced mesh (maybe part of a bent coat hanger) or something. For The Boy’s limbs i just ended up using some matchsticks to add strength…

Heres where The Boy comes from…

June 2005

My Nephew

A bunny in disguise?!?!

Sketch 2009

( The Boy Lamp???)

Blue-print and body + ear bud trident prop

O and a random martian

I realised The Boy’s head may cause the sculpture to tip over. So iv added a stake made out of a cut up credit card and some clay around it for a point to balance his head upon.

Decided to break off his hand as well. His head would have got in the way of his trident . Next sand it down and then onto the head again.

2 August 2009

Its all coming together..

Not entirely sure how his hair is going to come out but his head at this stage looks a little alien. After some sanding and shaping he should look more grumpy and sulking : (

4 August 2009: Sanded down and added some features to his shape of his face..

Working with clay is rather delightful. Starting off with a lump of what could be described as mud . Moulding it into rough shapes and then working it bit by bit into what i have in mind. I usually have to leave the clay to dry for an hour or two and firm-up so its easier to work. As it’s drying im constantly smoothing out detail with a paint brush, ear bud, sharp pencil and a sewing needle.

Frown

Eyes

Working with clay is a matter of adding and taking away until you get the desired form & shape.

I really wasn’t sure how his hair would turn out. Once it was done i was a little disappointed but after some sanding and tidying up im now content with the way its turned out. Instead of a boy he looks more like a little manga styled alien. But this will change with sanding..

It also helps to have a proper sculpting tool for detail, instead of using found objects around the house.

3 levels of sanding to get the clay smooth.

Hair sketchs

About 10.5cm tall.. his only lil..

14 August 2009

There goes his other hand… Now this wasn’t done in some sadistic fashion. But rather a better way to sand under his arms and also reinforce them with wire as opposed to matchsticks. Lesson learned…

16 August 2009

Heres a few tridents i made. Some with metal wire in the middle and some without.

1. Had a central wire to help give it some rigidity with the side forks done first and the middle added after.

2. Just never look right but was strong enough with a wire for the handle.

3. Had a nice shape and was very thin, probably my favorite, but brittle and the forks eventually broke off with some testing.

Im happy with the weight and proportions of the final trident. It also has a 3rd eye made by using the end of a pen refill.

As for The Boy, i just need to finish his right arm and smooth him down with white paint. Some of the older layers of clay have turned darker so its hard to get a uniform feel of the surface on both The Boy and trident..

Right now his drying in the garden after having his right arm wire re-informed with some no-more nails as it seemed weak.

20 Augusy 2009

Third time his arm has broken off so now sanded the joint down to the body and going to have to do the arm and wire support in 2 stages.  Almost there…

27 August 2009

The boy is finally complete after 2 coats of white paint. Well almost, next make  a mould and then paint him in his proper colours.

Click here to view large file 2.7MB

30 August 2009

After the frst cobra it all reminded me of a lingam

The second cobra is covered in tape as a guide to making the second wire frame.

I kind of like the way The Boy has his arm outstretched, greeting (as if ready to shake your hand) when he doesn’t have his trident.

8 Steptember 2009

SOOOO SHOULD HAVE STARTED WITH OVEN BACKED CLAY

Just got some today and its perfect for what i am trying to create. Lesson learned once again.. Need a day to plan on how im going to sculpt the 2 cobras and how they will join to the body.

Currently wondering whether or not to add scales and get more detail and how the scales will flow across the cobras and main body…

13 October 2009

Haven’t had much of a chance to update the blog and these cobras are much harder to mould with a wire frame underneath than i expected.

Heres some pics for now

They body is still incomplete

You can get an idea of how its all coming together once The Boy is in place.

9 November 2009

 

I eventually decided to add some texture of with scales on the body.

 

The body of the cobras has been a challenge in itself, partly because of the way i initially started the base. It was tricky to build the looping body on-top of the base but it seems to have worked out ok.

 

Took 2 attempts and some rough sketching to figure out the best way to move forward. The body does not look like the one i originally sketched in the blueprint.

That said, I’m quite pleased with the way its turned out so far.

 

A little luck and some determination.

 

Next sanding to define and smooth the overall shape.

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos

Some wedding invites i designed for a friend