Also by Bruno Lucchesi and Margit MalmstromTERRACOTTA: The Technique of Fired Clay Sculpture MODELING THE HEAD IN CLAY

Sculpture by BRUNO LTTCCHESI Text and Photographs by Margit Malmstrom

WATSON-GUPTILL PUBLICATIONS/NEW YORK

CONSTRUCTINGTHE HEAD MASS

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I. Lucchesi makes his own ar-mature by forcing a hollowbrass curtain rod over an ironrod anchored to a base. He bendsthe top of the curtain rod tosupport the head mass. Wesuggest that you use a commer-cial head armature as shownin "Tools and Materials."

2. First he packs newspaperaround the top of the armature.If you use a commercial headarmature, pack the newspaperinside the wire "egg." Havinga paper core will enable youto construct a head that willeventually be hollow, whichis necessary if you intend tofire your sculpture (see detailsunder "Firing" on page 27]. Ifyou do not intend to fire yoursculpture, simply pack the claydirectly into and around thearmature.

3. He places a paper bag over thenewspaper to hold it in placeand twists the bottom aroundthe rod. Again, if you use acommercial head armature andwant a hollow core inside yoursculpture, proceed in the sameway.

4. Now Lucchesi lays large slabsof clay over the paper core (seeabove). Even if he had startedwith clay packed into the arma-ture instead of paper, he wouldadd slabs of clay at this stagein order to speed up the build-ing process and get rid of ir-regularities in the clay surface.

5. Where the slabs join andoverlap, he works the clay to-gether with his thumbs, press-ing it around the rod to form theneck.

6. He starts to map out the fea-tures, here indicating where theeyes will be.

ROUGHING INTHE FACE

Roughing in the Face / 37

7. To quickly establish the pro-file, he lays a length of rolledclay down the middle of theface, from top to bottom, push-ing it in with the heel of hishand to rough in the nose, lips,and chin.

8. With his thumbs, he sweepsthe clay back from the midlineof the face.

9. Now, with a wire-end tool, hedraws in the line of the eye-brows and lips.

10. Then he gouges out the eyesockets with a large wire-endtool.

38 Roughing in the Face / 39

11. He presses into the sockets,sweeping his thumbs up and outfrom the bridge of the nose.

12. To move the modelingaround to the temples andcheekbones, Lucchesi sweepsthe clay back and around the fa-cial contour with his thumbs.

13. He depresses the eye socketsto make a cavity into which hewill place the eyeball.

14. He rolls a ball of clay andplaces it into the socket.

40 Roughing in the Face / 41

15. He gently presses the secondeyeball into its socket.

16. To make the eyelid, he rollsout a small coil of clay andpositions it over the eyeball(see above).

17. He rolls another coil for thelower lid and presses it intoposition.

18. Here Lucchesi uses a plastertool to further define the eye-lids and work the clay into thesurrounding area.