| 'America's Most Famous Highway' The 'Mother Road' 'Main Street of America' 'Route 66' |
I am working on the detail of the right headlight and bumper. The clay is firming up so I have to be real careful as I work so that I don't damage any pieces that are protruding or thin. Detail work requires really good photos, and a photographer I am not, so, Ron's input is very important at this stage. |
Finally the wheels are done. All four of them. Who would have thought it would take so long to do just 4 wheels. I have decided that they didn't need to be completely round and symmetric, in other words I have decided to keep my sanity. They are no longer attached to the fenders at the top of the wheel, and are stabilized only by the bars in between each set. (axles?). I am very anxious to flip it over and start working on the upper part of the car but have decided that the car is too heavy for the wheels to support and should be thinned some more. I have started cleaning out clay from the underside of the car and once I feel the wheels will be able to support the car, then I will flip it over to work on the top. I had a pleasant, surprise visit from Ron, and his lovely wife Roz, a couple weekends ago. Ron is the owner of the car I'm sculpting. They were on a leisurely, rainy, Sunday afternoon cruise, on our most famous 'Route 66' highway, when they decided to stop by to check out the sculpture. He's been keeping track of it through this web page and was quite surprised at the size when he actually got to see it in person. It made me realize that I have never given the dimensions on this site before. So here they are. Approx. 13.5" long x 6" wide x 4.5" tall. With the drying and firing shrinkage, I hope the end result will be about 10.5" long. |
Continuing to work on the wheels and the surrounding areas. |
The clay is beginning to dry so I am able to put in a little detail. I decided to start on the wheels since they annoyed me the most. I have learned that round wheels are not easy. I think I redid this one 3 or 4 times. I would like to add a little more detail but have decided to wait until the clay dries a little more. Meanwhile I will work on the other 3 wheels. |
I hallowed out the inside of the car to where the shell is now symmetric at about 1/2" thick. I was concerned that the sides and wheels would be vulnerable to breakage so I added support bars at the 3 stress points. Now I want the sculpture to slowly start drying. As it dries the sculpture will weigh less making it easier to sculpt in detail. |
| Moving on to phase II... Now that I have the basic shape established, I want the sculpture to start drying slowly so that it becomes stiffer. A stiffer sculpture will allow me to add detail that won't be easily damaged as I continue to work around the car. |
| There is a trick to drying clay. You don't want the sculpture to crack as it dries so it needs to dry very slowly and evenly so that shrinkage occurs simultaneously throughout the sculpture. This requires the sculpture to be symmetric. Right now the sculpture is one heavy block of clay which means the outside will dry faster than the core resulting in cracks everywhere. What I want to do is hollow out the core so that the inside can dry at the same speed as the outside. I have removed the clay sculpture from my sculpting wheel and have turned it upside down, carefully laying it on top of bundled up plastic bags. Plastic will keep the sculpture from drying too fast. I can now begin to carve out the core. I want to end up with a car shell that will be about 1/2" thick. |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
Bradley's Pottery
US Route 66
US Route 66
| This page is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Historic US Route 66. |
| This is a sculpture I am working on. This car belongs to Ronald Jones, alias 'Tattoo Man', a Route 66 'roadie' that lives in Oklahoma. This is a beautiful car inside and out! I feel honored to be sculpting it. To see more of Ron, his tattoos and his car, click here. |
© 2007
I am working on the front end this week, and, as you can see I am not quite finished. The trick here is to make the right side match the left side from every angle. Looking at the sculpture head-on like this really shows me what I have and what I need to do. I almost didn't want to show it to you, but... Ron sent me some close-up pictures this past week of the headlights, bumper and exhaust tip(s). These pictures have been very helpful. I should finish the front end this week and will probably work on the windshield and roof next. |
Pretty much have finished the front end and have started to work on the roof, and windshield area. Looking forward to putting in the windshield wipers. Hopefully I will be able to show you these on the next update. **Ron and I have a good laugh when we remember that I hoped to have this finished by his birthday last September. Boy, am I glad he has a good sense of humor. :o) |
Still fine-tuning the body and adding detail work; smoothing out the fenders and adding chrome trimming. |
6.6% of
| sales donated to Route 66 click here to see how |
© 2007