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my minotaur boy!! pls click on the photos for higher res! my thesis is focusing on trans men and creatures (how original ik) and this was last semester's final. i spent a lot of time looking at sculptures of the theseus/minotaur story, and yknow? a LOT of them are erotic! i'm pretty sure i saw some of them on tumblr a decade ago, and that's led to this now!

as you'll notice, the minotaur has a big t-dick! i wanted to give him breasts and an enlarged clitoris to present a very masculine trans figure. the boy on the bottom is also trans because i say so . the piece is about looking up to older, bigger, hairier trans men and seeing something awe-inspiring and beautiful. the minotaur was locked up by a cruel father for being different, and i think modern adaptations tend towards a sympathetic asterion (his name in one version)

making this piece was. so much effort. it took me about 3 months to get it all together - from clay model (plasticine) to 3D print to silicone mold to wax cast, and finally bronze pour into the shell mold. and then a TON of filing, sanding, dremel-ing, and various other metalworking techniques that probably took years off my life.

i started with sketches and made theeeeeee ugliest model ever:

then used a 3D scanner to get it digital, then spent a goooood month or two making him pretty in blender! then i spent an agonizing few weeks trying to get it print-ready, and fiiiiiinally did

^^^ an early resin printed draft of the model - you can see in the final that i added lots to theseus after some feedback, but sadly the nosering broke off every time i cast it so i just. let that be <3

then came the moldmaking, and then the wax dipping!! the yellow stuff is shell mold (ground up ceramic bits and algae soup, sticks to the wax, then silica sand in varying sizes on top) which gets the wax melted out, and bronze poured in!

then it's all metalworking, cutting stuff off, and working with hot metal. they don't tell you about all the bronze dust and how annoying it gets wearing a respirator AND goggles. but it is for me health, me boy. here's him all cleaned up before the patina:

and then i spray him down with various chemicals to make it "patina" (aka rust) in pretty colors. wait a few days, then apply paste wax to seal it and give it that shine!

then we get what you see above!!! the blue was actually unintentional, and i'm still not super sure why it looks that way.. but it's pretty so idc <3

HELLO i am writing this about one full year after making the draft for this post. this was part one of my thesis work, sorta, kinda, and i was excited to do bronze again!

as always, designs start with bare ideas and sketches. i use my ipad to bring images together and come up with some plans. since i already knew what i was looking for in terms of modeling, i was able to go straight to blender from my sketches this time, unlike T4TM (see prev bronze)

idea was uh, i want to make a trans guy werewolf in a cool pose. i was thinking about trans male bodies and cool ways to draw attention to it, and utilizing bronze to focus on texture and shape.

blender is actually very good if you give it the time it needs to learn it. highly recommend it if you're interested in ever 3D modeling, it is absolutely worth your time to understand basic shape-building and control schemes - you will thank yourself later

(having a screen tablet helps a lot with sculpting digitally, painting strokes with a pen and pressure is leagues more controlled than mouse - but a lot of the time i ended up just using a mouse anyways lol)

BIG desire to get deeper details in fur and teeth this time around

^ an early look at it using the surfaces modifiers, adding reflections, and using the drawing tool to paint on "wires" that would be binding him, in my mind, with real wire when finally made

TO THE 3D PRINTER WITH YOU NOW:

once again i was back to destroy the computer at the campus' tech lab. thankfully with smaller size and resolution it printed pretty well - the hardest, but most fun, part is always removing the printing support structures.

put the plastic pieces together, and was able to see my creation in 3D space for the first time! seeing it physically let me know what to adjust, what looked awkward, most of it being issues of BALANCE and MOVEMENT

as you can see, my original idea involved a tv-computer sort of angle, i wanted him wrapped in wires and struggling against them

but... like..... after a critique session i realized i was doing to much.

like the great Coco Peru's quote of a quote of advice, you need to look in the mirror and remove one accessory before you leave the house. or in my case, strip away one idea, one element, before moving to final versions. i got rid of the screen (though still made waxes for my own enjoyment lol) and just went for the body, focus on the pose and emotion

like before, i made a two-part mold (in the wildest way possible casters pls dont look at me) using silicone and plastilina walls. the silicone is then given a plaster exterior shell, the 3D print removed, and wax poured in. Usually a Normal Person would make this hollow, but i was struggling and just made it a heavy as shit solid cast lmao (i wasn't paying for it LOL suckers!)

REALLY WORKING WITH MY HANDS NOW:

the wax model!!!!!!! one of the most fun parts along with the most frustrating. adding flues and vents for the molten bronze to flow and breathe through is delicate work, and knowing i'll have to remove them later makes me want to work as gently as possible. he looked something like this by the end of it:

then given a ceramic shell (process outlined in minotaur one too), wax is melted out in a kiln, and bronze poured in. our department had a crucible and a large outdoor kiln, because all this is so toxic to breathe in. pictured below are the filled bronze molds (alongside some of my classmates)

once freed from the shell and sandblasted to remove all remaining ceramic bits, the vents are cut off and detail work with a dremel and hand tools begins!

my priority was to keep intact the 3D printing lines as much as possible (seen mostly on the topmost surfaces, the shoulders neck and head). i believe it's cool and important to be able to tell how something was made, and the longevity of bronze vs. the "longevity" of plastic and prints

at this point i had the opportunity to document it with my DSLR so here are a few photos taken after some work done on the surfaces. the stomach unfortunately suffered the most during the final sculpt, some close encounters with an angle grinder meant i had to shave down some of the tummy, which ended up losing its texture. very sad.

some alt images pre-final patina, taken on the kcai campus outdoor tables:

did a preliminary patina test with some salt water and chemicals. didn't end up liking the blue look, and eventually i stripped it down again via sandblasting and chemical remover, then gave it a black chemical patina, which i liked much more!

and what you see at the top is the final product! very pleased with the final even though it didn't end up exactly how i planned. if you want to see the evolution of this idea though, check out my next post, struggler part 2, though not bronze, still a cool piece!

language is standard galactic (the minecraft enchanting table one)

image one:

js0n, he/him - 19

a boy from the "real world" trying to go back home

smokes lots of dried herbs

learns by trial & error

likes:

friends

oranges

men

dislikes:

resting

sand

skeletons

image two:

h00f, he/him - 20

dead man trying to end his existence

dimension-hopping agent of evil

wears his clothes threadbare... (and then some)

likes:

sweets

???

dislikes:

himself

long lines

forests

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js0n and h00f are my ocs from before i was even a guy, and i think my personality is based on them rather than the other way around lmao. my two halves. these aren't their "story clothes", just very embellished versions of the normal ones

lmk if y'all would like to see/hear more about my guys! i've got a good few years of doodles i may post eventually...... check out #4664-tag if youd like to see my older oc work tho!

hello!!!!!!!!! if ur reading this i love u!!!!

i’m getting into 3D modeling!! it’s really fun! i’m going to be spending my junior spring semester working on a 3D animated concept/pilot thing…….. and hopefully next year i’ll be doing some real game design! exciting

this is a new reaction image for me:

i’ll probably upload the model of h00f shown here at some point soon; it’s preeeeeeeetty rough, intentionally low poly tho, more of a test bc i wanted to paint objects in procreate

he also has a 'brother' / companion piece, a lil h00f sketch that mysteriously appeared next to it to mock the weird pose