I'm back with the second part of the Safari ride castle I worked on in Kolmarden Zoo, Sweden. You can read part one Here. Seeing everything coming together so quickly I was finding a new found appreciation for concrete. As a material it is one that we usually associate with flat blocks but it really is plastic and can be formed into any structure.
Where we left off last time my bear had it's basic form and already the walls of the castle were taking shape. I was pulled away from my sculpture every now and then to help out with the walls. Concrete is sprayed onto the mesh surface and then you have around 6 hours to carve in the surface detail before it sets so, with large areas there needed to be more hands on deck. I helped with the horns above the gate pillars and also brick textures which made it look like the whole thing was made from these and some of the plaster had chipped away through time. In actuality everything was a hollow shell.
The hair of the bear
Last time we looked the bear was at this stage and I was on to the final layer of cement where I would carve in the hair texture. After some experimenting I had found a technique I was happy with. As the cement would pass through it's different stages of setting I could use different tools to plaster, carve and texture the surface to my liking.
It was a slow process but I think worth it in the end to get the clumps, layers and strands of hair all running in the correct direction. Working with cement is quite similar to working with sand except to the time constraints but if you accept them you can really make that work for you.
The pose of the bear may seem usual, almost camp. This was due to the fact that I had to leave room for a sheild that he would hold. I would add this later and It was better being able to carve the whole bear first without that being in my way.
I was able to carve the whole figure but I left the paws rough till I could marry them to the exact shape of the shield.
Being able to do other things like the horns over the gate gave me time to view my bear form different angles and then make changes until I was happy, as I could be before adding the shield.
The shields for the two gate keepers were made separately and allowed to set. Charlotte Koster and Ron Muner from Holland had made the other figure of a Lion. Johannes Hogebrink had helped me at the start to make my bear but he had to go home for a while and so I was happy to finish up by myself.
This also involved making the plynth at the bottom joining it to the wall.
It was nice to get him to this stage. Of course I had to enlist the help of the beautiful Janneke Jacobs to pose with him for scale. She is another artist from Holland that did great work, especially with the painting.
It is at this point that I will have to let you into a little secret. It would seem that I have lost many photographs from the last stages of carving but I think you get the picture of how things went. First make an armature from steel then cover in concrete and carve details. When all the sculpture work was done we had to paint everything.
The final layer
Years ago I used to work as a decorative painter. I used to paint Irish pubs in several countries and make them look traditional Irish. So these skills came into play. We used spray painting and many layers to decorate the walls so that the place would have a lived in look.
My old friend Bruno MacDonald from Denmark was the main painter. He has worked a lot in Theater sets and so I followed his lead. It was actually quite fun to paint as the spring was springing and the days were getting warmer.
Bruno himself painted the bear with a kind of rocky granite effect.
The ground was also made with cement, textured with cracks and footprints from animals which we had made stamps for. The whole thing was like playing until we achieved the effects we desired. To make the cracks in the floor we hit the soft concrete with branches from trees, they worked great.
We also had to make these big tusks to hold a sign by the entrance....
And. I had to make this camel from some pictures that were handed to me. It was something the designers wanted but could not get their hands on. A fun little sculpture which was like like gilded carved wood.
I must say I was very impressed by everything we were able to achieve in two months. From my first view of a building site to the finish product ready to accept punters.
All of this was possible because of the great team that found themselves on the job. Two guys in particular were amazing to work with Sieger Schotanus and Martin Tedder. Sieger was the tech guy always running around getting things working and Martin, a sculpture come do anything sort of guy. These two were a joy to work with and chat to long into the evening.
This job gave me a great sense of achievement and also helped fill my back account for months to come because of all the long days. It was also nice to leave a more permanent mark on the world than I usually do. You can see it on my Pinmapple map.
Finally, I will leave you again with the timelaspe I made from the project.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Kolmården Zoo - cement sculpture (Part 1) 2011
Haapavesi Fire and Ice sculpture festival - Documentary
Dancing in the ice Hive - ice sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite
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[//]:# (!pinmapple 58.662826 lat 16.447968 long Kolmården Zoo - cement sculpture (Part 2) 2011 d3scr)