Giant Sea Horses - Ipswich Art Trail by Sculpture Studios

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I knew I picked the right music for this one. Welcome to Sculpture Studios. A great little project here, commissioned by Jack and Sophie from Ipswich Central. Ten larger than life seahorse statues to be placed around the town of Ipswich for the public to search for over the summer. The seahorses relate to the town's coat of arms where they're often referred to as Neptune's horses and they stand either side of the centre shield. Though we're missing the very initial stages of the polystyrene carving, we more than make up for it in this project video. So you guys are in for a real treat today. Stay tuned or stay Neptune! Here we are making a nice little seahorse here for an art trail. Carved out of polystyrene, created a sort of plaster render on the surface of this so we can lose the surface detail. And it's going to be split right down the centre here so we can lay it down on boards and make a silica rubber mould. And then create 10 inch fibreglass with metalwork that scrolls up through the middle of it with a little base. Now this was actually carved by Chris here in the studio. We're very very busy and we've got about a month to make 10 of these in total. And they're all going to be artworked up in fancy colours as well. Using a variety of sandable paints and soft water-based plaster fillers like you might have seen us using in our other videos, the seahorse is sanded down and the overall shape is approved by the client. We like to send photographic updates so there are no surprises and we can check everything's in order before we proceed to mould making. We begin the mould making process by splitting the shape straight down the middle and building a clay wall around the edge of the seahorse. This creates a little moat for the excess silicone rubber and saves wasting the material by having it run over the table. This is first applied in a liquid layer as you can see here to achieve all the detail before being built up in thicker more buttery layers. So do you want to tell us what you're doing here Jess? What will your avid YouTube fans out there? At the moment making a silicone mould. We're doing it in two halves and these halves are never going to actually have to join. It's just so that we can get a really nice quality of each side and then join them ourselves later with fibreglass. We're doing it in silicone because it does release the fibreglass and gel coat easier. So we're currently on number four of our layers. We may go to five depending on how this next one goes because we have to take away any undercuts. Because even though the silicone does pull around it, it makes it far easier to demould when it's just a solid lump. We'll also give this a fibreglass jacket so that the silicone holds its shape so that when we take out the main bulk from underneath it doesn't just go all floppy and fall apart. Often when we create a two piece mould like this we just put a divide line around the entire perimeter of the shape all in one piece and then create a mould on either side. As Jess said it doesn't need to go together. We're using a flat bit of plasboard here that will give us a nice flat back to each mould. This has been waxed so that the mould can just pop off the job and it will be a nice flat surface on the other side. Once the two casts come out we can simply join them and make up the seam line and because we know it's on a dead flat background they should fit nice and perfectly together. Thank you very much. You're welcome. The silicone rubber is given a good 24 hours to set properly before a gel coat and a fibreglass jacket is applied on the back. Once everything's cured and has all been trimmed and cleaned up so it's safe to handle, the polystyrene pattern on the inside is removed. There's now no need for the original carving so we can get rid of that and any excess plaster filler or polystyrene or paint is cleaned up from the inside of the mould. We always make sure the rubber is placed back inside the jacket to help it keep its form and to not get stretched. We're going in with a white gel coat first as this creates a nice smooth external layer for the cast rather than the fibreglass matte texture that will eventually back this up for strength. This white gel coat also provides a solid white base layer for any artwork that's going on top. Now that we have the mould, we're hard at work laying up 20 halves to create 10 seahorses. These all need to be gelled, laminated with multiple layers of glass fibre, extracted from the moulds, all the edges trimmed and the two halves joined and the seam lines all filled and cleaned up before the surfaces are even prepared for painting. The nature of the seahorse shape means they'll be pretty sturdy anyway, but for installation purposes, with these being positioned upright on a base, we're creating metalwork to be installed inside. So what are you doing here Kevin? Sorry, little horse. Filling the holes in these, just where the mould and bits to fix. What are you laughing at? Little horse. What were you expecting? This is a good point in the process to invite the client down to the studio to see the work in progress. This way we can meet them face to face, get their opinions on the bases that are yet to be created and the artwork for all 10 seahorses. In the past, when we've created sculpture for art trails, we often leave them white and blank. This way, various companies, schools, clubs and organisations can paint them up and sponsor the art trail, but for this project, the majority of these will follow the same rainbow-like artwork as per the original concept image. The next step is to go over the gel coat with a 2K white primer and this prepares the surface for the car body paints. Now, I did say that we would redeem ourselves somewhat for not capturing the carving process at the very start of the project. And let's face it, some of you aren't even here for the work, are you? Well, I said you'd be in for a treat, so well done for anyone that's watched this far. Here goes. Well, here we are at Sculpture Studios for the Dusty Derby race here today. The spectators are out in full force, a mixed crowd that are really behind all the races and behind... Glorious day for racing. The sun shining, the studio's relatively job clear and a much-deserved bit of bunking off work is well and truly in order. Quick walkthrough of the horses we have on the course. First up is Christine Aguilera, the youngest of the runners and she's brought her mum and dad to come and watch today, which we think is lovely. Next up is Rainy Up Scotty, a long-time resident of the course and he's already been hit in the bar. We'll see if his go-hard or go-home strategy plays out for him. Sadarot, the lightest of the bunch, has been landed with a lump of a jockey. He's really been hitting the gym hard for today, the horse, not the jockey, so we wish him the best of luck. Horse meets Scandalous on a triumphant return from the Middle East after being held captive for nine months. Looking forward to a bit of a comeback. And Filikon Kami, the last of the runners today, a seasoned professional here at the Dusty Derby, though his last win was back in 79, so we're wondering why he's here. But his blood sugar level's stable and he's ready to go. Time to place your bets and yes, it looks like we've got one non-runner, Liam the jockey, looking into what's up with Gerald and we don't really know what's going on there. The course has a slalom and a sharp hairpin with a mad dash for the finish. Round the bins and into the sunshine and it's round Ronaldinho roundabout for the return journey. The ground is firm to bloody hard as, let's face it, it's all on concrete. Everybody's lined up and we're all ready for the off. Disqualified! Get out! Get out! Cheater! Kieran! You won! Well, there we go. That's enough of that. Now back to work. No, I meant back to work, not back to work. Oh, for God's sake. With all the seahorses now in their primed white stage, Aidan and Jess have got a prototype artwork approved by the client and this will be the model on which all the others are based. Speaking of bases, fibreglass stands have been created for the bottom of each sculpture and these will have pebbles airbrushed on to stay in keeping with the airbrushed look of the seahorses themselves. Once Jess has gone over each sculpture with a near identical artwork, remember these will never really be seen next to each other as they'll be dotted across town, they're now ready for their lacquer. Not only does this lock the paint down and seal it, but it really gives the seahorses a bling factor sort of finish where the gloss catches the light and essentially gives them a wet look and brings out the colour. When everything is finished, these are all wrapped up and sent to the harbour town of Ipswich in Suffolk. From here they're distributed all around the town in both key and more hidden spots so some of them you really need to hunt for. But you get a town map to help you out, navigating you to all the seahorse locations and this gives you a great tour of some historical landmarks as well. Much like the other art trails that we've created pieces of sculpture for, this provides a fantastic day out to go and look for them. We'd like to thank Jack Cripps and Sophie Alexander and the rest of their team at Ipswich Central and we hope to work with these guys again. Please feel free to leave any comments below as they're always appreciated and hit the subscribe button for our latest videos. You can like Sculpture Studios on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and for more of our work visit www.sculpturestudios.co.uk Thank you very much for watching.