Delphine an 8 Foot Outdoor Seahorse Sculpture.

Delphine is an outdoor sculpture made of Crete Chae Clay . This is a recipe I developed when I decided I wanted to make larger work with a clay like material that did not have to get fired in a kiln and could withstand public installations.

The forms are welded steel rods, wrapped in housing lath and then sculpted over with my mix of crete chae clay .

I do a lot of sketches first and then weld a metal rod armature for my basic form attached to a metal plate with holes for bolting the work to concrete pads for display. Once the armature is formed I wrap it tightly with metal lath and fill some area with foam to balance the weight in pieces such as Delphine that might otherwise be top heavy . In this photo I have started the first layers of crete chae clay and sculpting.

I continue adding and sculpting until the entire form is covered and then go back over the surface adding details and texture, smoothing, finishing the surface and allow it to cure and dry then follow with colorants

Color is hand painted , sponged and sprayed onto the sculpture using exterior grade paints, stains and cement dyes then coated with a weatherproof sealant.