Sculpting Basics: Everything You Need to Know to Create Three-Dimensional Artworks

Art students and ambitious amateur artists who turn to this volume will find detailed training for creating original and distinctive works of sculpture. Karin Hessenberg, an experienced sculptor, opens with extensive advice on setting up the workplace and assembling tools and equipment. She begins instruction with a how-to course on clay modeling that includes five separate projects, four of which culminate with kiln firing. The book's second major section presents five projects that teach the craft of molding and casting, using a variety of materials that include plaster in combination with modeling clay, wire, and concrete. A section on direct building presents two projects in which various materials—wood, wire mesh, and other objects—are applied to their frameworks to create finished sculptures. A final section for advanced sculptors offers five projects for carving—in soapstone, alabaster, limestone, lumber, and a log. In total, this volume presents projects for 17 finished pieces. Subjects include a seated Buddha, a female figure, animals, and several fascinating abstract shapes. This handsome book is printed in four-color throughout and features more than 250 instructive illustrations.

Karin Hessenberg has exhibited widely in her native England and other countries, and her work is in the collections of several museums. She is the author of previously published books on ceramics and on sawdust firing, and has taught her art at various colleges in Britain. Karin lives and works in the north of England.