Now Ive begin the supporting shell for this, it will be in several pieces, each piece acts as a relief for various undercuts and opposing angled surfaces.

Multiple smaller pieces make it easier to take apart too.

Here’s a successive series showing how it’s made, with the last photo removing the rubber portion from the model;

Now that I’m done with the winged lion for the time being, it’s time to turn towards finishing the mold for the lioness roundel which I intend to complete today. The rubber portion has already been done, next comes the plaster shell.

The first public cast is already pre-sold and paid for by a previous client who purchased the wolf head roundel some time back.

I’m inclined now to start a lion model facing the opposite direction so there will be a pair. As I remember i have about 150# of the red clay, and about half a ton of the raku clay on hand. It would be a good one to use up that last 150# of the red clay on.

I’ll have to get a carbide or diamond sawzall blade to cut the winged lion, for the time being I’m only going to remove the head to hollow it out more and insert a steel pipe or the like down inside thru the top of the table so the body will have no place to go.

If I make a mold of this at some point, the wings would need to be cut off horizontally at their bottoms, the shield will also probably have to be removed with the front paws being cut at the wrists.

That way the wings, body, head and shield would each have a mold, and if this was ever cast in something like concrete it would be easier.

The original pieces could be fired in a kiln and re-assembled with mortar joints after a mold is made.

I had no plans to do more with the model past just creating it for my own amusement, but it would be nice to cast it in something permanent.

This would be an estate sized piece with a comparable pricetag, but in today’s economy I don’t believe the demand would be there for something like this.

The model ran me about $600 to make- clay, shipping and constructing the stand it needed.

Still, I’m now wanting to make something else large. I was for a time, a while back thinking of a model of this winged lion in Savannah GA that was made out of terra cotta in 1886 and which was completely destroyed by a drunk driver whose car smashed into it at high speed, went airborn and crashed into the entry of the building across the street from this which was built at the same time.

The photo doesn’t show the scale very well, but the base portion above that ring is around 4 feet long, and the lion is about 4 feet tall or more according to other photos Ive seen of it with people nearby.

Now that the lion is finally mostly dry except for the base which gave me a bit of trouble all along, I hoisted him up carefully to insert a couple of blocks to rest it on so the bottom of the base can dry out better.

The base was originally built up on top of a sheet of safety glass on top of the plywood to keep the moisture from warping the plywood. But unfortunately the glass prevented moisture from drying out of the bottom, which resulted in it drying mostly from the top and sides, and that started causing the slab to want to warp upwards and crack.

As it warped up a bit I broke the glass and was able to get some of it out but the model at 825# was too heavy and too fragle to attempt to lift till now.

But it’s no big deal I can re-contour the bottom of the slab to a flatness, having already done that to the top and side a while back to remove most of the warp. With the bottom flattened out by shaving it down, it will stand on it much better.

The cracks in the base however are a concern for structural stability

so I am keeping the hoisting straps on it for the time being, that’s a lot of weight now supported on less base and the base has cracks across it that I’ve cosmetically filled.

I waited just a little too long to cut the head off while the clay was soft enough to do so, that may need a carbide sawzall blade to do now as trying with ordinary blades dulled them in a few seconds!

I wanted to remove the head and hollow it and the body a bit more and evenly, and then attach something inside to the table for stability just in case so the body can’t fall over should those base cracks weaken further.

I didn’t want to do too much along that line earlier due to the instability and softness, but I waited just a wee bit too long.

I estimate he weighs around 600-650 pounds right now.