Sculpting Garden Gnomes

    As it turns out, Jency's granddaughter is a very talented young person. She is sculpting Ferny Reading. I don't have a copy of what she is sculpting for us right now, so here is the Constable Warren Garden Gnome. The Garden Gnome line will begin with seven characters being released, one with each book. The initial release will be signed and numbered, although the format is yet to be determined.

   You see below the mold that was made from the original Constable Warren, made by Elsa Acton. That mold is a number of years old now, and it's condition leads me to believe that I need to make new molds, out of different materials. I'm thinking that we should create the mold in a digital 3D environment and then we can print out new molds as needed if and when the working molds get destroyed. So I will be working to scan Ferny Reading and go from there for this, the second Garden Gnome.

  Ferny Reading is mainly intended as a display sculpture used to market the books in book stores. But I am thinking along the lines of resin sculptures instead of concrete. We can certainly make concrete, but the distribution of concrete will either have to be pick-up at the studio or delivered to garden centers. Direct mail order of concrete is out, due to the weight and the risk of damage. With resin, my design will include a plug on the bottom, whereby the purchaser can fill the Gnome with sand to give it weight.

Elsa and her little buddy Constable Warren

   As we proceed with this end of the project we will be sculpting at least two collections; The Garden Gnomes (designed for, well, gardens) and Figurines (designed as smaller souvenir items).  I will be updating this post and adding to it as things proceed.

Here is "Ferny Reading" a sculpture by Serena King. It's a work in progress, but it looks great so far!

UPDATE 7/26/23:

   We have acquired the supplies to set up a casting operation. The puppet shop has been used for casting faces (for the puppets) and the first "Constable Warren" Garden Gnome. Having advanced to this next Garden Gnome "Ferny Reading",  it is appropriate to focus on improved mold making, since we will be creating numerous Garden Gnomes and figurines from "The Gnomes of New Hope".  Besides the fact that IMS is principally a prototype shop, setting up for manufacturing, with a kiln, is a good idea, to give us latitude. Clearly, unless we find a supplier to produce the figurines and such at a workable price, our best bet is to set up to do this in-house.  I certainly am willing to discuss these sculpture with an outside agency, so if you do this kind of work, you are welcome to contact me via email. In the meanwhile, we are setting up the sculpture studio to include mold making and casting these figurines in various mediums. 

LINKS to previous posts;

Garden Gnomes, Articulating Figurines & Puppets