This sculpture inspiration is a red chalk drawing from Antoine Benoist (1632-1717) of a columnar statue of the Queen of Sheba, erected at Saint-Denis Abbey since the 13th century. The original sculpture has been destroyed during the French Revolution.
The sculpture is 1.15 meter tall, designed at scale 1:2.
Making such size in clay requires an inner frame, here made of wood, to reduce the fragility of the structure. The wood frame has been completed with paper to limit the volume of clay.
The naked silhouette is then formed with clay. Then the drape, the details of the face, the hands, the crown are added and finely sculpted. After finalizing all forms, the clay is smoothened and textured with wet brush.
After partial drying of the clay model, the silicone molding can start, first with a liquid layer to fill any hole and angle, and to avoid the formation of bubbles. The second layer is thixotropic, being more pasty to generate thickness.
Once dry, the silicon mold is flexible, foldable and without natural shape. If unmounted, you could withdraw it like you would do with a sock. To be used, as mold, it needs to be supported by rigid frames, here made of glass fibers and resin. This blanket is built in 6 elementary parts, separated with plasticine to ease the separation and avoid any undercut.
After cutting the fibers emerging at the surface of the resin and preparing the holes for screws, the resin cast is dismantled. The silicon mold is cut in two pieces (front and back), cleaned and re assembled within the resist blanket. The empty volume is filled with plaster reinforced with sisal fibers. Once the plaster is dry, the resin blanket is split into its 6 parts, the silicone mold is withdrawn and the plaster released. The damaged details are trimmed and restored.
Thanks to Agathe LAMY and Cathy MALIER for their great help !