I sketched out the form for Protoa Beta on its backing cardboard several months ago. The photo demonstrates all the places my knees depressed the structure of the card. While it’s not ideal, the papier maché layers should ultimately cover these defects. One thing I’ve found with the Protoas is that after the initial full size sketch is drawn, I come back to it later and find I don’t like the “explosives” (what I call the outer jagged edge), and have to fix them. The following photos demonstrate the linear progression of how this was edited before finally cutting it out. The act of cutting also allows for slight editing as well: in case the drawn lines aren’t straight, I use the blade to make them true. Additionally, in the above photo, previous explosive sketch-lines are still faintly visible from edits I made before taking photos.
This design is the only one I hadn’t finished revising or cut out. I decided to work on it because it’s one of my favorite Protoas and Alpha taught me that they take a great deal of time to build. I’ve decided it’s thus worthwhile to complete my favorites first.
ii. Protoa Beta WIP 20210911 ©2021
iii. Protoa Beta WIP 20210911 ©2021
iV. Protoa Beta WIP 20210911 ©2021
I spent significant time working on pen and ink drawings of fruits and vegetables over the week too. It’s helped me think about loosening up my hand and how to emphasize shading. It’s a very useful excercise for training both the hand and eye.
Pumpkin, 20210910 | Sennelier Sepia Ink and white charcoal pencil on Strathmore Toned Grey sketch pad ©2021
I continued my Sisyphean efforts to make my silver hammered earrings. This morning I ultimately cut the ends off of both, having splintered the silver at the core. I took a quick look at a silversmithing q&a forum (orchid.ganoskin.com) and worry I damaged the grain in spite of regular annealing. I’m revising my plan for these. No more tapered end. I’ll solder earwires on after forming the spirals and hammering them into flatter hoops.
Ear Spirals WIP 20210913 ©2021