3D Sculptural Enlargements (and Reductions!)
Once you decide to commission our services, we need a copy of the piece, usually a resin, that we can cut up into sections if necessary.
We then digitize the model with our probes and lasers and prepare the data for output to computer controlled carving machines. The material of choice for milling is high density polyurethane foam. The piece is then carved in the foam, enlarging your piece of art to exacting degrees of accuracy. Our goal is to help the artist retain the same feeling that existed in the original piece!
The finished product in now on display in Logan, UT on the historic Tabernacle grounds. It was done in four pieces, with the boys making up one piece due to their interlocking pose.
Contact us today to schedule a session with us!
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Soon to come: Images of current projects at various stages of completion!
Mister3D can enlarge your works of art into lifesize, heroic, monumental or any other scale you need. Just send us pictures of your art piece and we will send you back a quote!
As the project progresses, the artist can start working on sections of the sculpture as they are completed. Clay is typically applied over the foam model at the discretion of the artist.
For example, the pictures on this page are of a sculpture that ultimately went to bronze. The artist sculpted an 18" tall clay model of a pioneer family. We had his foundry create a resin copy and we digitized it with a Cyberware 3030 3D Color Digitizing System. We enlarged it to 10% above lifesize. He was able to sculpt and work the polyurethane foam model and he then applied about 1/8" to 1/4" of clay onto the foam. He then put all the detail into the clay that he needed for the finished sculpture. And when he was done, he took the clay/foam master to the foundry where they made all the molds for the bronze process right from his sculpture. The foundry is Adonis Bronze in Alpine, UT.
Our most "visible" project can be seen at the North American Museum of Ancient Life. They commissioned Western Data Technologies to create 80-foot long dinosaur reliefs on the east and south walls of their new museum. The east wall actually faces the freeway, giving passers-by quite a sight!
We started with two 40" relief sculptures in clay. These were digitized with a Cyberware 3030 3D Color Digitizing System, enlarged, and then computer-carved into 2# Virgin EPS foam blocks. The 4'x8' blocks were 24" thick in some places. We then delivered the blocks, along with a map of the wall, to the contractor. To give an idea of the size, notice the tail section put together on our shop floor.
The foam pieces were then applied to the wall, covered in fiberglass, textured like the rest of the wall, and painted gray. Finally the coloring effects were applied. The curators of the museum have been thrilled at the results! No one ever forgets their visit to this museum!
This is a reduction we did from the a wax cast of the original piece. You can see how it was separated into pieces. The reduction scale factor was 50% from the 18" original. We created two copies in two different materials: one a polyester resin, the other in wax. Note original wax piece on the left with the polyester resin copy to show scale. The wax copy (right) retains an astonishing amount of detail right off the machine. This can be done within a week's time, including shipping! Give us a call to schedule a reduction!
This is an example of our custom bust work. We can do it in any scale. This was a project for BYU. The subject is Ira A. Fulton, the largest donor in BYU's history! We use a Cyberware 3030 3D Color Digitizing System for the head scanning. The process takes about 30 seconds per scan and the prep time is very short!
These are two more examples. One is a half-scale reduction. It was done in 6# polyurethane. The other was to an enlargement to a specific size in polystyrene! On these projects we used a Minolta Vivid 910 3D Scanner, and as you can see, our scans were very accurate!