A Special Post about a Special Project.

I have something I want to show you. I can’t tell you where this is (so please no guessing in the comments,) but I can show you what I did.

Back in early 2019 I was contacted by an acquaintance on Facebook (has since become a good friend!) He was working on a project for a client that involved carving Bas Relief features to be used as trim work in a building the client was then in the process of construction. Now, he had done work like this for the client before, but he is a painter, not a sculptor. Don’t get me wrong, he is a very good sculptor! He just found he did not want to spend a week at a time making iteration after iteration just to have the client adjust each one.

So he thought to himself, I wonder if Brian could do them digitally? Surely it would be quicker, I wouldn’t have to do it, and the change process would be easier too?

So we did. We had quite the adventure coming up with a process that would work.

My friend designs a layout in 2 dimensions, and sends it to me. I then digitally sculpt the objects as separate shapes that just, kind of, intersect with each other. That way, we can move and bend and adjust individual elements until the design is finalized. Once approved, I combine it all down into one single solid manifold mesh. This mesh is then carved by a CNC machine into MDF or wood to make a master. The artist cleans up the master at that point, fixing any errors or issues we missed in the digital version.

A mold is created from the master, and an MDF like material is poured into the mold to make multiple copies, which are then returned to the artist for painting before he installs them in their final home.

My work

Following are images of my digital version, contrasted with the final pieces in place! As you can see, while all the pieces are tie together similar, they are still distinct and unique, such is the skill of my artist friend. I don’t always have the greatest images of the final pieces, so I apologize for the really low-resolution images.

There was one piece that I could not get a good image of, so I am only going to post my render of that.

There was another piece that was intended for smaller spaces. I believe It had to be left out of some or all of those spots because it just did not work in the space, so I will post a render of that too. It is essentially a much smaller version of the piece above.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable project for me. The good news is that He and I have been able to collaborate on another project, which I hope to be able to show in a couple of years. These things do take a while to complete!