I did some more work on this model today, still not quite firm enough to do much more than rough modelling, but I expect this week I can finish it up and refine the details by next weekend and finish it then.

acanthus2-9-2014 by fb210

I am finishing my large model at this time that I had started a couple of weeks ago- the acanthus leaf frieze panel, once I finish that and it’s removed from my studio easel, I think I’ll make a reduced size mock-up of the design I had in mind and see how it “works.” When I have that started, maybe next weekend- I’ll take photos of it and post them here.

I also had plans for quite a while to purchase a larger kiln for my larger models but with one thing or another I put it off, however, I found just the perfect size kiln and the dealer has a free shipping thing going on which makes the $2700 price even more attractive.
I’ll probably purchase it in the spring, what will work out well is it’s large enough to fire a terracotta panel of the size I had in mind for the pool, so that could be fired here rather than taking it to the college in Ft Dodge or making arrangements with my former professor to fire it at another location.
The biggest issue with the kiln was finding a large enough one that didn’t go into the industrial size (and price) and it seems that once you get above a certain size there’s a sudden steep ramp-up in size and price to the next available size which runs closer to $5,000.

The kiln I’m looking at is the Olympic oval 2523-HE
Inside dimensions: 25″ front-to-back x 37″ wide x 24-1/2″ deep, built with 3″ brick fires to cone 10/2350°F

Since most of my original models have been no larger than that 37″ by 24-1/2″ this should be perfect.

For those who did not see the videos I made, here’s a couple of screen photos showing some ideas for placement of the sculpture on the pool building, the red rectangle represents the panel.
The first image is looking down the “breezeway” towards the North where the pools would be, the second image is looking towards the front of the building on the right (East) face beside the “breezeway”
there is a similar wall on the opposite side (West) that would probably work better: