Nathan Drake

3/9/2011

Overall Objective: The Holy Bible has a strong personal significance to me. In this project I took the challenge to make a hyper-realistic sculpture of a 400 year old leather book. On the inside, the test tiles acted as scientific glass slides in a slide rack. There is a unique contradiction between science and religion. I made the decision to represent both as they both greatly affect my life.

I tested several different techniques to find the best surface treatment for the book. I used a plastic bag in the leather hard stage to give the natural leather grain look. I stressed different areas of the clay to give the appearance of extremely worn and used leather, especially at the crease. I created the wood grain slide racks by pressing the clay against a wood board with a raised grain. The pages were created using a long sharp kitchen knife.

My main goal was to create a realistic replica of a old leather book.

Application:

Leather: 1 part Andrew martin Black Stain 3 parts water. Brushed on with hake brush, then rubbed with dry sponge. Repeat as necessary to give depth and age to leather.

Iron Wash brushed on liberally then rubbed with dry sponge.

Pages: Undiluted Andrew Martin Black Stain base coat, apply Gold leafing after glaze firing. Burnish gold leaf with hake brush to break and show black in cracks.

Wood: 1 coat AM Black Stain wash brushed and rubbed, 1 coat Rutile wash brushed, 1 coat Shop clear glaze sprayed on. Nail heads are a drop of iron wash.

Results:

I was very happy with the results. The iron wash and black stain wash convey old stained leather, accenting the creases and grain. The pages turned out exactly how I pictured them in my head. The wood slide racks gave interesting results, they were on different shelves so might have been fired slightly different. Overall results very good.