Gentleman Jack Mini - Part Three

 Work continues apace on the project, and here is the update.

This is a close up of the face. It is completed with the exception of a catchlight (white dot) in the eyes and a tiny bit of Liquin to give them a nice wet gloss. This kind of close up shot is murder, there's no hiding anything, but overall, I am pleased with how this worked out. My only concern is the less-than-smooth texture left on the face due to the 3D printing process. I'm not sure how to over come that, as filing the face down results in a loss of detail. I will have to ponder this for the next time I do this.

I have also painted her hair, hat (except the hat band), hands, book, neckstock and waistcoat. The waistcoat isn't quite finished; what remains is the pattern, the buttons and watch chain (which will be interesting, as it is not part of the sculpture). I need to wait for the paint to dry before I apply any of that.

Once all of that is complete, I will move on to the various blacks of her hat band, coat and skirt. I like the satin gloss of her hat, which reflects the fact that it was made of beaver fur and not felted wool.

I am also really pleased with how the diary turned out--a nice swipe of Naples Yellow shows some lovely wear on the edges and where she opens it. 

Gentleman Jack Mini Part Two

Progressing on to the next stage of the Anne Lister miniature, this is the more-or-less finished base. This was done using some very simple modeling grass, as well as various vegatation tufts produced by The Army Painter. I used four different kinds to add visual interest and variety to Miss Lister's Yorkshire setting. I also added some stones found in my back alley. I positioned these specifically so that they "point" to the figure's feet and lead the eye towards it. The pathway is Sand manufactured by Citadel.

Not too shabby.

Moving on to the figure itself, I needed to do some add some details in order to make the figure more closely resemble the photo image I am working from. Which is this:

Suranne: Call me!

I felt I really needed to add to the miniature's nose, which is one of Ms. Jones' defining features. As well, integral to the image of Anne Lister are the "croquettes", the false hair pieces you can see at her temples, very fashionable in 1835. We know she wore these from her portraits, and the actual hairpieces are on display at her ancestral home, Shibden Hall, near Halifax in Yorkshire. The nose, croquettes, collar and neckstock were all modeled from Milliput epoxy putty. 

After the putty set, I went on to give the figure an overall acrylic basecoat.

From here, I will start on applying oils, as I did with the boots and gaiters. I like to work in oils, especially in this kind of scale, because I prefer the freedom the wet-in-wet method affords me. I will probably start (as many modelers do) with the face and flesh tones.

There is also a fairly high gloss on the neckstock that I didn't anticipate. I will have to correct that with the oils, otherwise it will look as if the cravat is made of vinyl.

The challenge with this figure overall is the large, unbroken area of black in the coat and skirt. Not all blacks are the same--the textiles they are made of will reflect light differently, but they still have to look black when I apply highlights.

So I have a number of challenges to meet with this project, and I am anxious to see how it goes.

Stay tuned!

Gentleman Jack mini

This series of posts concerns my process in modifying, painting and basing an historical miniature.

One of my latest obsessions is with Anne Lister, a landowner and diarist in Yorkshire in the 19th century. She and her wife, Ann Walker, are considered "the first modern lesbians."

They are very much in the public consciousness right now because their exploits have been dramatized in the show Gentleman Jack. Lister challenged the cultural mores of her time by being gender nonconformist and as openly lesbian as one could be within her rigid society. In the show, she is played by British actress Suranne Jones, on whom I currently have a wild crush.

*swoon*

So, I wanted a mini of Anne Lister, but there aren't any suitable ones on the market. And although I can carve soapstone and alabaster, I am not actually very good at sculpting. Therefore, I was pretty happy about being able to make one at Heroforge (heroforge.com). I was even happier that my friend, Rob, offered to print them off on his 3D printer. (I say "them" because I want to do two. One is for me, and I hope to send the other one to Suranne.) 

I've done lots and lots of historical, D&D and fantasy minis in the past. But I wasn't prepared for what I got, which was this:

YIKES!

Those of you familiar with 3D printing will recognize the supports left in place during the printing process, but I could see right away that I had a lot of cleanup to do before I even thought about priming. I used an x-acto blade, side cutting pliers and chisels to get that crap off, but I nevertheless managed to break her legs off. This, in retrospect, was actually a good thing, as it allowed me to work on them separately. Also, I didn't like how her face came out of the shrouding, so I took a head off one of the others and stuck it on this one.

Now, this is the figure all cleaned up and primed. There is also a basecoat of black on her top hat, coat and skirt (she was famous for wearing black). I also had to sculpt a new collar and neckstock to reflect the ones she wears in the show, and which are authentic to 1835. The figure shows her holding her salty, steamy diary, which detailed her sexual exploits in a code she referred to as "crypthand."

The figure is quite large, almost 5.25" from the base to the top of her hat. I am really looking forward to this project, as the large scale lets me imbue the figure with much more detail than the smaller ones typically allow.

Below is what I have done so far with her legs and the base.

The boots and gaiters are almost finished. I basecoated with black acrylic. Then I did the books in a burnt umber/ivory white oil mixture, highlighting with Naples yellow. The gaiters were fashioned from a rough black canvas, so I rendered them in a French ultramarine/ivory black. You can see the difference in the highlights. (This is a shitty photo, but trust me, the highlights and shadows are there.) I have added the silver gaiter buttons and will also apply a matte varnish to the gaiters to take the oil's gloss down a bit. 

I have laid down some pretty basic acrylic colours for the goundwork, as well as some lumps and bumps made of epoxy putty (just to add visual interest to the base). I will add some sand to the pathway and various grasses as well. Then I will probably dust her boots and gaiters with a bit of earthy pastel dust to reflect that she's been out walking for a few hours (she was also famous for her upright walk).

I hope this is entertaining. Stay tuned for updates.

Medieval Oil Lamp Part Four: Polishing With Pumice

Using the pumice stone has been an interesting experiment!

Polishing materials of the medieval period include bone, wood, horn and some metals, such as copper. These were used chiefly in the the polishing of gemstones. Tenth century Islamic jewelers were grinding up poor quality diamonds for use as a polishing compound. Larger projects, such as arms and armour, employed the use of a bow lathe and in the Scandinavian countries, walrus tusk as the polishing surface.

Below are the two pumice stones I used (toothbrush for scale). 

Wikipedia tells us that pumice is "...a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough textured volcanic glass". The word pumice is derived from the Latin pumex, meaning "foam". In fact, pumice is so light, so lacking in density, that pieces of it are found floating in the the waters surrounding active volcanoes.

In the last post, the lamp looked like this prior to polishing (click to embiggen):

After a bit of working, using all the facets of the pumice stones, I was able to get this level of polish (again, click to embiggen for detail).

Note that while some of the deeper tool marks remain, the polish is high enough to allow the natural colour of the soapstone to come through.

And to further underscore the effectiveness of the pumice stones, this is a photo of the lamp wetted on the right side, to show what it would look like with a wax or other polish applied.

This is probably as polished as a medieval stone lamp would have ever gotten, so what we're looking at here is very close to a period piece of work.

(Also, nice piece of stone, huh?)

When carving the dragon on the other side, I will continue my polishing experiment with a piece of bone or antler.

Stay tuned!

Medieval Oil Lamp Part Three: Fixing Mistakes

As promised, this post will examine one of the ways to correct mistakes in soapstone carving. 

When I was cutting away excess stone from this piece, I accidentally went too far with the hacksaw. I could have cut it away and made a smaller lamp, but felt instead this presented me with an opportunity to show students how to deal with these little mishaps.

Below is a photo of the lamp with the mistake in it. You can clearly see a vertical hole in the sculpture, just above the tip of the dragon's wing. (I have already fixed the very top of the hole.)

WTF?

Luckily the materials required to fix this are ready to hand.

Steatite/Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, composed mostly of talc (used in baby powder and cosmetics). The fine white powder you create while carving is talc, and it is this substance that can be used to correct minor repairs.

In a small container, add Elmer's white glue to some of the talc collected from your workspace. I use a painting palette and a toothpick, as below.

You don't need much. Add just enough glue to make a fairly thick paste. Using the toothpick, apply the talc paste to the hole or crack in your sculpt. Wipe away any excess with a paper towel. Keep applying the paste until you are satisfied that the hole is filled. Make it flush with the surrounding stone.

When I was finished, the hole looked like this:

Ta-dah!

Later, we will see how it looks when there is some polish applied to the lamp.

*A word on talc before we proceed.
Talc is a very fine particulate that easily penetrates your sinuses and lungs. When working, always use a mask or respirator in a well-ventilated area. Also, keep your workspace clean. Work on a surface--such a piece of newspaper-so that you can frequently dump the talc into a garbage can or other receptacle nearby. Periodically wipe the workspace down with a damp cloth. DO NOT DUMP TALC DOWN THE SINK! It will turn to concrete in your pipes and create huge issues! Instead, either put it in the garbage, make cosmetics or spread it over the garden to modify the soil.*

Carrying on, I now want to add detail to the dragon. Using an embossing tool and a small chisel, I sharpened the dragon's features, including the face, contours and wings. In a few hours, it went from looking like this:

To this:

There are still lots of ways to add some texture and visual interest to the dragon in terms of working details into the tail and even the jawline. So in terms of finishing this particular dragon (there will be a similar one on the other side of the lamp), I still have some work ahead of me.

Ahead: One period polishing method was to use pumice. I bought a couple of suitable pumice stones at a rock and gem show yesterday, and I am going to experiment with them to see what kind of polish it offers. I will document this process and share it with you in the next post.

Any questions about the process so far? Write to me at talairanperigord at gmail dot com, or look me up on Facebook.

Medieval Oil Lamp Part Two: Bas Relief

With the basic lamp and the reservoir done, the next step is to rough in the embellishment.

I wanted an image of a dragon right out of a medieval manuscript. For this, I cannot recommend Pinterest or Google Images highly enough. I know in the past Pinterest has not been considered a particularly reputable source--one thinks mostly of manic brides and foodies in search of recipes when the name is mentioned.

But I find that this is rapidly changing. More and more historians and medieval artisans are accessing Pinterest, with the result that we find more images that are cited and linked to museums or papers. And if you do encounter an image with no information attached, it's still typically only a matter of time before looking at "Images Similar To This" will take you to the information you're looking for.

The image I settled on was this one. I was especially interested in finding an image that was horizontally oriented and which would be simple to modify.  

Dragon, Guirard des Moulins, Bible historical, Paris, first quarter of the 14th C, BNF Department des Manuscripts Francais, Folio 239

I like this little guy because he has a friendly, cat-like face and is pretty simple in terms of his body shape. Because soapstone is so soft, it is often frustrating to find that crisp detail is difficult to achieve, and this dragon is basic enough that I can add texture and detail to create some visual complexity and contrast.

I scratched out the basic outline using a pencil and an embossing tool. These are easily removed--erased--with a few swipes of a rasp or riffler if you make a mistake or decide you want to make changes. When satisfied with the overall dimensions, I traced the outline with a small chisel. I concentrated on removing the stone around the dragon, so as to cast the design in bas relief. At this stage, I was only interested in the silhouette and none of the interior details. After about three hours, the lamp looked like this.

Rather than letting the tail curl underneath as in the source material, I extended it around the lamp's corner, and gave it a decorative loop (below).

From here, I will remove stone from around the edges of the dragon, sharpening the image by undercutting it slightly. At the same time, I will continue to even out the lamp generally with rifflers. When I feel I have achieved this to my satisfaction, it is time to start on details on the dragon's face, wings and paws.

In the next blog, I will show you my progress and also how to repair a soapstone project when an accident occurs. It doesn't happen often, but it's good to know.

Medieval Oil Lamp Part One: A Brief History of the Oil Lamp

My next project is a medieval oil lamp. 

Oil lamps are an ancient technology reaching back thousands of years across every culture. They consist of three essential parts--a stone or ceramic reservoir (or later, metal or glass), a wick (variously made of cotton, wool, seagrasses, hemp) and fuel (oil or animal fat). We are fortunate in that we have many extant examples of this technology across many cultures throughout the medieval period from which to draw our inspiration.

The image above shows the wide variety of shapes of oil lamps found at an excavation of 10th C. Thetford, UK., and the image below is that of a soapstone lamp found in House Seven at the Norse dig in Jarlshof, Scotland. The lamp dates from the 11th - 14th centuries CE. Holes drilled into the ends of the stone indicate that it was intended to be suspended. (Hey, that rhymes!)


Surprisingly, I have found little in the way of western European lamps once the Norse invaders were assimilated into the local communities. We know there were several methods of lighting available during the Middles Ages--braziers, rushlights, and candles (tallow or beeswax). Oil lamps seem to be missing somewhat from the archaeological record, but enough of them survive to assure us that this technology persisted throughout the medieval period, and indeed, into the present day.

Medieval oil lamp, Museum of London

This image is of a medieval oil lamp (possibly alabaster or limestone) found in the Museum of London. It is different from its Norse predecessors in that it is embellished on the side with heraldry. Possibly, this embellishment is an Islamic influence, sustained through contact made with that culture during the Crusades. Typically we find that Islamic lamps are much more figurative and elaborately decorated than those produced by the northern craftsmen of the same period.

Islamic oil lamp

I have made oil lamps in the past, specifically a Norse longboat and a whimsical (and modern) bear. I am drawn to them as a project because they are at once imminently practical and handsome. I find that there is so much scope for interpretation because they are so simple. 

With this project, I wanted to make a western European lamp of the medieval period that was embellished as above, and still authentic enough to be suitable for reenactment without slavishly reproducing the original. I chose a piece of soapstone in a colour that appealed to me and roughed it out into a rectangular shape. (I regret I did not capture images of the rough stone. Bad artisan! BAD!) The shape is deliberate because while I find the goblet lamps very pleasing aesthetically, I want most of all for the lamp to be safe. There is very little chance of something this broad and low being knocked over.

This is the lamp worked down to its basic shape. It is roughly 3.5 inches long, 2.75 inches wide and 1 1/4 inches tall. The reservoir is approximately 3/4 of an inch deep. The shaping of the rough stone was done the usual way using rasps and rifflers. This process has been chronicled in earlier posts, specifically this one detailing the creation of a soapstone gaming piece.  In the above image, I have included the u-bowl gouge used to make the reservoir.

As always, kids, safety first. Wear protective equipment (respirator/mask), gloves, and always work away from your body. Those gouges are bloody sharp (or should be! Take care of your tools!)

It is my intention to carve a dragon along both of the lamp's long sides and possibly some foliage on the short ends. Our next post will be about the images I am using and how I will render them in bas relief on the lamp.

And for those of you wondering what colour the soapstone is? I'm going to be difficult and not reveal that until the end. So stay tuned!