09-05-2008
![sculpture](../images/current/crane1.jpg)
As you can see, I have formed an "armateur" of sorts... from which other pieces will be attached and to serve as a guide an centerline to help me establish symmetry and balance. These pieces were simply cut from round steel stock, heated and shaped as needed, then tack-welded together for now. At this point, I am beginning to get a sense that, while the neck looked long enough in the reference painting, it isn't quite doing the job for me, so I think I will be extending it to gain better proportions. I also moved the left leg out and away from the body (again, as opposed to the painting), which will provide for better detail when the sculpture is complete.
![sculpture](../images/current/crane2.jpg)
I needed to create some sort of body for this bird. I made a cardboard template of the Crane's body in the full scale working drawing, then traced that shape onto a piece of metal. I utilized relatively thin gauge sheet metal in order that I could shape it on the panel-beater's bag you see in the photo. This bag is leather and is filled with sand.
![sculpture](../images/current/crane3.jpg)
Here, you see the two side panels after being tacked to the armateur. This segment of the project will be very time consuming, as I need to make sure the resulting "body" will approximate an actual Crane in size, shape and proportion from every angle. I will heat, hammer, cut, bend and form these panels, as well as several other smaller patch panels, until I have the shape I am looking for. Then, I will be ready to think about making feathers and attaching them...