armature

An armature is an internal frame or skeleton which supports a modelled sculpture. A typical armature for a small sculpture is made of heavy gauge wire, bent and twisted to form the basic shape. Often the armature is designed to leave one or more pins protruding from the base of the finished sculpture to facilitate attaching it to the plinth

additive

Is the process of material being steadily and patiently built up upon to create the final sculpture.

assemblage

An assemblage

Assemblage (art)

Assemblage is an artistic process. In the visual arts, it consists of making three-dimensional or two-dimensional artistic compositions by putting together found objects...

 is a sculpture constructed from found objects. Typically an assemblage does not disguise the original objects used, rather it either tries to show them in a new light, or forms a figurative sculpture from the collection of shapes.

carving

Carving is one of the oldest sculptural techniques. It is a subtractive process; starting with a solid block, the sculptor removes material using chisel

Chisel

A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...

s and other tools to 'reveal' the finished form. Traditional carving materials include stone, especially marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

, and fine grained wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

s.

casting

Casting is a method of producing one or more copies of a sculpture. Typically, the original sculpture is modelled as usual and covered with a moulding material which sets hard when dry. The mould is then separated to release the original sculpture. Once the mould is reassembled, the casting material is poured in to the void and left to set. Traditionally, molten bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 is used as the casting material, but modern alternatives include resin

Resin

Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...

. When the cast sculpture has cooled, or cured, the mould is again separated to release it, and reassembled ready to cast the next copy.

The cast sculpture may then require some finishing work to remove mould lines and other imperfections. The sculptor may also wish to patinate the work to produce the final piece....

Ciment Fondu

Ciment Fondu is a proprietary product made by Kerneos (previously Lafarge Aluminates) for industrial use but widely adopted by sculptors. It is a type of calcium aluminate cement

Calcium aluminate cements

Calcium aluminate cements are cements consisting predominantly of hydraulic calcium aluminates. Alternative names are "aluminous cement", "high-alumina cement" and "Ciment fondu" in French...

 used for constructing moulds or outdoor works. Typically Ciment Fondu needs to be used as a composite material

Composite material

Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

 reinforced with fibre glass, building up the mould in series of layers. Fast setting, it achieves its full strength in 24 hours.

cold cast bronze

A modern method of casting sculptures in which the casting material is a resin

Resin

Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...

 mixed with powdered bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

. The finished sculpture has a surface which looks very similar to a traditionally cast bronze

Bronze sculpture

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...

 although it tends to be much lighter.

direct carving

Direct carving is a 20th century term used to describe a less planned approach to carving in which the sculptor carves the finished sculpture without using intermediate models or maquettes. The sculptor either works from memory or works while observing the subject. In some respects it can be seen as a return to the direct approach used in primitive art. This style of carving as also referred to as taille directe.

Hydrocal

Hydrocal is a US Gypsum product composed mainly of Plaster of Paris and a small amount of Portland cement. Hydrocal, like its similar formulas Hydrostone, Ultracal, Duracal and others are all used for casting sculptures and other art objects as well as molds. Considerably harder and stronger than straight Plaster of Paris, these products are for indoor use only as they rapidly degrade in the rain.

kinetic sculpture

Kinetic sculpture is sculpture which is designed to move. The movement can be driven by interaction with the viewer, or automatically using motors or air currents, as in the case of a mobile

Mobile (sculpture)

A mobile is a type of kinetic sculpture constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium. It consists of a number of rods, from which weighted objects or further rods hang. The objects hanging from the rods balance each other, so that the rods remain more or less horizontal...

.

M

maquette

A maquette is a small scale model for a finished sculpture. It is used to visualise and test shapes and ideas without incurring the cost and effort of producing a full scale sculpture. It is the analogue of the painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

's cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

 or sketch

Sketch (drawing)

A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work...

.

For commissioned sculptures, especially monumental public sculptures, a maquette may be used to show the client how the finished work will fit in the proposed site.

modeling

Modeling is one of the most common techniques for sculpting. It is an additive process in which material is steadily built up to produce the finished figure. Unlike carving, the sculptor often also has the option of correcting mistakes by removing or reshaping material. Modeling requires a malleable or plastic material which is later cured or fired to set it hard. Typical modeling materials include clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

, wax

Wax

thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...

, plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

, and papier-mâché

Papier-mâché

Papier-mâché , alternatively, paper-mache, is a composite material consisting of paper pieces or pulp, sometimes reinforced with textiles, bound with an adhesive, such as glue, starch, or wallpaper paste....

.

Frequently the modeling material has limited structural strength and will need the support of an armature.

mould

A mould is a reversed impression of a sculpture which is used to cast replica sculptures. The material used to construct the mould needs to accurately reproduce the surface detail of the original sculpture, while also being strong enough to keep its shape during casting and resilient enough to retain detail after multiple castings.

Typical moulding materials include rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

, especially latex

Latex

Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...

 rubber, plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

 and composites such as ciment fondu.

papier-mâché

Papier-mâché is a construction material that consists of pieces of paper, sometimes reinforced with textiles, stuck together using a wet paste (e.g. glue, starch, or wallpaper adhesive). The crafted object becomes solid when the paste dries.

patina

A patina is a natural or applied surface finish to a sculpture piece. Natural patinas may occur by oxidation due to long exposure to air or earth — the most common of which is verdigris

Verdigris

Verdigris is the common name for a green pigment obtained through the application of acetic acid to copper plates or the natural patina formed when copper, brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. It is usually a basic copper carbonate, but near the sea...

 on copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

 or bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

. Artificial patinas can be created by application of chemical pastes or (below melting point) firing in a chemical atmosphere

Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...

.

plasticene

Plasticene is an oil-based clay used for modelling sculptures; its chief advantages over water clay is it does not shrink, crack or dry out and can be worked on over a long period of time.

plaster cast

A plaster cast is a copy of a sculpture, which is cast in plaster

Plaster

Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...

. A plaster cast can accurately reproduce the details of the original sculpture, but is usually much less durable.

pointing machine

A pointing machine is used to accurately transfer measuring points from a model or maquette into stone or wood, in order to carve an accurate copy. This is called the indirect method of carving.

roughing out

A term used in stone carving to rescribe the process of carving out the basic shapes of a work before any detail is created.

sand casting

A method of casting typically used for casting iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

, in which the mould is constructed from compacted sand. By its nature, the mould can only be used once and needs to be reformed for each casting.

truth to materials

The term truth to materials relates to 20th century direct carving in which the sculptor responds to the nature of the block being carved as much as the subject. Changes in colouration and imperfections revealed while carving the block are incorporated as features in the finished sculpture. Since the sculptor doesn't know in advance what imperfections will be revealed during the course of carving, a more flexible and fluid approach is required.

External links

• Comprehensive glossary of art terms