Sculpting Workshop - Fall 2021

Today is the start of our 2021 Sculpting Magic Workshop. Over the past 16 years we have held something like 30 sculpting and sign making workshops.

And, from experience, we know the next three days will be intense — early mornings and late nights spent sculpting, painting, learning and (of course) having fun!

Cap-it Trucks - Part 6

In preparation for painting, we gave the foam a rough coat of sculpting epoxy followed by a final coat into which we carved the detail. The rough rock texture was achieved by pressing in some crumpled, heavy duty tinfoil. We let it cure and then applied a base coat of acrylic paint.

While the paint dried we sculpted a few more details on the jeep. The windshield 'glass' is a piece of lexan cut from a face shield.

Then it was time for some more painting.

Painting out of three different buckets of coloured glaze, we started slopping on the colour. We sloshed on the paint, spritzed it with a water sprayer, and towelled things off with a shop rag.

Once the rock and undercarriage of the Jeep were finished, we glued the wheels permanently to the steel studs sticking out of the rock. The Jeep’s body still lifts off for ease of painting.

Cap-it Trucks - Part 5

Previously, we had glued styrofoam to the sign’s basic structure. However, the styrofoam needed to be hard coated before we could sculpt the rock over it. This involved pressing a thin layer of sculpting epoxy over the foam and letting it harden. We weren’t worried about getting things too smooth at this point, only covering the foam.

The final layer of rock was sculpted under the tires and we were careful to sculpt it at the same angle as the wheels.

Then it was time to start adding cracks and fissures into the rock.

Lastly, we used a ball of heavy duty foil, which we crumpled up to press into the soft sculpt to create the rock’s texture.

At this point, the old Willy's Jeep looks pretty dramatic perched precariously on the top of the rock.