Model-making by David Neat

Author:David Neat
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847977298
Publisher: Crowood
Published: 2014-01-07T05:00:00+00:00

The larger-scale frame section on the left was made by piping successive layers of polyfilla onto the plastic template. Each layer is allowed to dry before the next is applied. A surprising depth can be built up in this way without the need for cutting and carving.

CHAPTER 6

CREATING SURFACES

Personal preferences

Are you someone who likes to build up or to break down? Do you prefer to utilize a found surface such as a textured paper or to work from scratch? Do you tend to want to keep surfaces simple and make the paint effects do most of the work, or do you prefer it when the texture facilitates the painting? You may say quite rightly that it all depends on what kind of surface is required and that you might employ a different technique for each individual case. However, that option depends on your knowing the full range of what’s possible with a wide variety of materials. Generally, people tend to stick to favourites and those they have had most experience with. Their choice may be a reflection of something within the individual personality and integral to other aspects of that person’s work.

We’ve already examined one specialized method of creating surface effects – making latex skin casts in Chapter 3 – and touched upon another – using Kapa-line foam – in Chapter 2. These are my personal preferences. I tend to try to make Kapa-line foam do whatever I want, regardless of whether there might be an easier method, just because it’s familiar to me. However, it’s never too late to become acquainted with something unfamiliar and hopefully this chapter will encourage that.

It also depends a great deal, of course, on what you have to hand, because whereas materials for construction are usually anticipated beforehand and bought in specially, materials for surfacing tend to get overlooked until the time comes. In order not to just ‘make do’ with whatever happens to be in the studio or in the kitchen, a well-stocked arsenal of possibilities might read as follows:

■ Fillers: polyfilla, acrylic texture medium.

■ Special papers: textured vinyl wallpaper, sandpaper, velour, marbled papers, embossed prints.

■ Scatter materials: granulated cork (fine, medium, coarse), vermiculite, sand, poppy seeds, mixed herbs.

■ Cladding materials: obeche wood, cork sheet, Kapa-line foamboard.

The question of how accurately a surface should be represented in scale is an important one. Take sand, for example. If we were to represent it exactly to scale, grain for grain, we would have to use a powder so fine that it would have no visible texture at all. The way sand as a mass is shaped by wind or water is another matter, but the basic texture of flat sand is best represented by fine sand itself or fine sandpaper, regardless of the fact that this is not strictly true to scale. A road or pavement surface of asphalt is a similar case. We can see that it has a certain texture, but at the scale of 1:25 this could, strictly speaking, be accurately represented using paint alone.

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