Editing Sculpture (section)

==Materials and techniques==
[[File:Mesopotamia male worshiper 2750-2600 B.C.jpg|thumb|[[Sumer]]ian male worshipper, alabaster with shell eyes, 2750–2600 BCE]]
The materials used in sculpture are diverse, changing throughout history. The classic materials, with outstanding durability, are metal, especially [[bronze]], stone and pottery, with wood, bone and [[antler]] as less durable but cheaper options. Precious materials such as [[gold]], [[silver]], [[jade]], and [[ivory]] are often used for small luxury works, and sometimes in larger ones, as in [[Chryselephantine sculpture|chryselephantine]] statues. More common and less expensive materials were used for sculpture for wider consumption, including [[hardwood]]s (such as [[oak]], [[Buxus|box/boxwood]], and [[Tilia|lime/linden]]); [[terracotta]] and other [[ceramic]]s, wax (a very common material for models for casting, and receiving the impressions of [[cylinder seal]]s and engraved gems), and cast metals such as [[pewter]] and [[zinc]] (spelter). But a vast number of other materials have been used as part of sculptures, in ethnographic and ancient works as much as modern ones.

Sculptures are often [[paint]]ed, but commonly lose their paint to time, or restorers. Many different painting techniques have been used in making sculpture, including [[tempera]], [[oil painting]], [[gilding]], house paint, aerosol, enamel and sandblasting.<ref name="artmuseums.harvard.edu"/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.flashpointmag.com/sculptur.htm| title = Article by Morris Cox.| access-date = October 30, 2008| archive-date = August 28, 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080828020704/http://www.flashpointmag.com/sculptur.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>

Many sculptors seek new ways and materials to make art. One of [[Pablo Picasso]]'s most famous sculptures included [[bicycle]] parts. [[Alexander Calder]] and other modernists made spectacular use of painted [[steel]]. Since the 1960s, [[acrylyl group|acrylics]] and other plastics have been used as well. [[Andy Goldsworthy]] makes his unusually ephemeral sculptures from almost entirely natural materials in natural settings. Some sculpture, such as [[ice sculpture]], [[sand sculpture]], and [[gas sculpture]], is deliberately short-lived. Recent sculptors have used [[stained glass]], tools, machine parts, hardware and consumer packaging to fashion their works. Sculptors sometimes use [[found objects]], and [[Chinese scholar's rocks]] have been appreciated for many centuries.

===Stone===
[[File:Istanbul - Museo archeologico - Mostra sul colore nell'antichità 08 - Foto G. Dall'Orto 28-5-2006.jpg|thumb|Modern plaster recreation of the original painted appearance of a Late Archaic Greek marble figure from the [[Temple of Aphaea]], based on analysis of pigment traces,<ref>Part of the [[Gods in Color]] exhibition. [http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/past/gods-color-painted-sculpture-classical-antiquity Harvard exhibition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006044401/http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/exhibitions/past/gods-color-painted-sculpture-classical-antiquity |date=2014-10-06 }}</ref> {{Circa|500 BCE}}]]
[[Stone sculpture]] is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural [[Rock (geology)|stone]] are shaped by the [[Stone carving|controlled removal of stone]]. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work, though not all areas of the world have such abundance of good stone for carving as Egypt, Greece, India and most of Europe. [[Petroglyph]]s (also called rock engravings) are perhaps the earliest form: images created by removing part of a rock surface which remains ''in situ'', by incising, pecking, carving, and abrading. [[Monumental sculpture]] covers large works, and [[architectural sculpture]], which is attached to buildings. [[Hardstone carving]] is the carving for artistic purposes of [[semi-precious]] stones such as [[jade]], [[agate]], [[onyx]], [[rock crystal]], [[sard]] or [[carnelian]], and a general term for an object made in this way. [[Alabaster]] or mineral [[gypsum]] is a soft mineral that is easy to carve for smaller works and still relatively durable. [[Engraved gems]] are small carved gems, including [[cameo (carving)|cameos]], originally used as [[seal ring]]s.

The copying of an original statue in stone, which was very important for ancient Greek statues, which are nearly all known from copies, was traditionally achieved by "[[Pointing machine|pointing]]", along with more freehand methods. Pointing involved setting up a grid of string squares on a wooden frame surrounding the original, and then measuring the position on the grid and the distance between grid and statue of a series of individual points, and then using this information to carve into the block from which the copy is made.<ref>Cook, 147; he notes that ancient Greek copyists seem to have used many fewer points than some later ones, and copies often vary considerably in the composition as well as the finish.</ref>

===Metal===
[[File:Refugees medal DSCF9937.JPG|thumb|[[Ludwig Gies]], cast iron [[plaquette]], 8 x 9.8 cm, ''Refugees'', 1915]]
[[Bronze]] and related [[copper alloy]]s are the oldest and still the most popular metals for [[Casting|cast]] metal sculptures; a cast [[bronze sculpture]] is often called simply a "bronze". Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mould. Their strength and lack of brittleness (ductility) is an advantage when figures in action are to be created, especially when compared to various [[ceramic]] or stone materials (see [[marble sculpture]] for several examples). [[Gold]] is the softest and most precious metal, and very important in [[jewellery]]; with [[silver]] it is soft enough to be worked with hammers and other tools as well as cast; [[repoussé and chasing]] are among the techniques used in gold and [[silversmithing]].

[[Casting]] is a group of manufacturing processes by which a liquid material (bronze, copper, glass, aluminum, iron) is (usually) poured into a mould, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solid casting is then ejected or broken out to complete the process,<ref name="jepsculpture">{{cite web | title = Flash animation of the lost-wax casting process | publisher = James Peniston Sculpture | url = http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | access-date = November 30, 2008 | archive-date = September 14, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100914211709/http://www.jepsculpture.com/bronze.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref> although a final stage of "cold work" may follow on the finished cast. Casting may be used to form hot liquid metals or various materials that ''cold set'' after mixing of components (such as [[epoxy|epoxies]], [[concrete]], [[plaster]] and [[clay]]). Casting is most often used for making complex shapes that would be otherwise difficult or uneconomical to make by other methods. The oldest surviving casting is a copper Mesopotamian frog from 3200 BCE.<ref name=mco>{{Cite web| last = Ravi| first = B.| title = Metal Casting – Overview| publisher = Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India| year = 2004| url = http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| access-date = July 3, 2011| archive-date = February 7, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160207225247/http://www.emt-india.net/process/foundries/pdf/CDA1.pdf| url-status = live}}</ref> Specific techniques include [[lost-wax casting]], plaster mould casting, and [[sand casting]].

[[Welding]] is a process where different pieces of metal are fused together to create different shapes and designs. There are many different forms of welding, such as [[Oxy-fuel welding]], [[Stick welding]], [[MIG welding]], and [[TIG welding]]. Oxy-fuel is probably the most common method of welding when it comes to creating steel sculptures because it is the easiest to use for shaping the steel as well as making clean and less noticeable joins of the steel. The key to Oxy-fuel welding is heating each piece of metal to be joined evenly until all are red and have a shine to them. Once that shine is on each piece, that shine will soon become a 'pool' where the metal is liquified and the welder must get the pools to join, fusing the metal. Once cooled off, the location where the pools joined are now one continuous piece of metal. Also used heavily in Oxy-fuel sculpture creation is forging. [[Forging]] is the process of heating metal to a certain point to soften it enough to be shaped into different forms. One very common example is heating the end of a steel rod and hitting the red heated tip with a hammer while on an anvil to form a point. In between hammer swings, the forger rotates the rod and gradually forms a sharpened point from the blunt end of a steel rod.

===Glass===
[[File:Chihuly at Kew Gardens 031.jpg|thumb|[[Dale Chihuly]], 2006, ([[Blown glass]])]]
[[File:Wood Bodhisattva.jpg|thumb|A carved wooden [[Bodhisattva]] from China's [[Song dynasty]] 960–1279, [[Shanghai Museum]]]]
[[Glass]] may be used for sculpture through a wide range of working techniques, though the use of it for large works is a recent development. It can be carved, though with considerable difficulty; the Roman [[Lycurgus Cup]] is all but unique.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lycurgus_cup.aspx| title = British Museum – The Lycurgus Cup.| access-date = June 15, 2017| archive-date = November 4, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151104233439/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/t/the_lycurgus_cup.aspx| url-status = live}}</ref>  There are various ways of [[Early American molded glass|moulding glass]]: hot casting can be done by ladling molten glass into moulds that have been created by pressing shapes into sand, carved graphite or detailed plaster/silica moulds. Kiln casting glass involves heating chunks of glass in a kiln until they are liquid and flow into a waiting mould below it in the kiln.  Hot glass can also [[glassblowing|be blown]] and/or hot sculpted with hand tools either as a solid mass or as part of a blown object. More recent techniques involve chiseling and bonding plate glass with polymer silicates and UV light.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Arthur|title=The Sculpture Reference Illustrated|date=2005|location=Gulfport, MS|isbn=978-0-9755383-0-2|page=179}}</ref>

===Pottery===
{{further|Pottery#Shaping methods}}
Pottery is one of the oldest materials for sculpture, as well as clay being the medium in which many sculptures cast in metal are originally modelled for casting. Sculptors often build small preliminary works called [[maquette]]s of ephemeral materials such as [[plaster|plaster of Paris]], wax, unfired clay, or [[plasticine]].<ref>[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/clay-into-terracotta/ V&A Museum, Sculpture techniques: modelling in clay] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802094251/http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/clay-into-terracotta/ |date=August 2, 2012 }}, accessed August 31, 2012.</ref>  Many cultures have produced pottery which combines a function as a vessel with a sculptural form, and small [[figurine]]s have often been as popular as they are in modern Western culture. Stamps and moulds were used by most ancient civilizations, from [[Ancient Roman pottery|ancient Rome]] and Mesopotamia to China.<ref>Rawson, 140–44; Frankfort 112–13; Henig, 179–80.</ref>

===Wood carving===
[[File:Detalle crucificado Luján Pérez, 1793.jpg|thumb|Detail of Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Spanish, wood and polychrome, 1793]]
[[Wood carving]] has been extremely widely practiced, but survives much less well than the other main materials, being vulnerable to decay, insect damage, and fire. It therefore forms an important hidden element in the art history of many cultures.<ref name="Google books"/>  Outdoor wood sculpture does not last long in most parts of the world, so that we have little idea how the [[totem pole]] tradition developed. Many of the most important sculptures of China and Japan in particular are in wood, and the great majority of [[African sculpture]] and that of [[Oceania]] and other regions.

Wood is light, so suitable for masks and other sculpture intended to be carried, and can take very fine detail. It is also much easier to work than stone.  It has been very often painted after carving, but the paint wears less well than the wood, and is often missing in surviving pieces.  Painted wood is often technically described as "wood and [[polychrome]]".  Typically a layer of [[gesso]] or plaster is applied to the wood, and then the paint is applied to that.

=== Soft materials ===
Three dimensional work incorporating unconventional materials such as cloth, fur, plastics, rubber and nylon, that can thus be stuffed, sewn, hung, draped or woven, are known as [[soft sculpture]]s. Well known creators of soft sculptures include [[Claes Oldenburg]], [[Yayoi Kusama]], [[Eva Hesse]], [[Sarah Lucas]] and [[Magdalena Abakanowicz]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gipson |first=Ferren |title=Women's work: from feminine arts to feminist art |date=2022 |publisher=Frances Lincoln |isbn=978-0-7112-6465-6 |location=London}}</ref> Soft sculptures challenge the traditional rigidity of sculpture by introducing pliable, often ephemeral materials that create a sense of fluidity and movement. These works can evoke a wide range of emotions, from playfulness to vulnerability, depending on the materials and forms used. By utilizing fabric, foam, and other soft elements, artists can manipulate scale and texture in ways that traditional materials like stone or metal do not allow. Additionally, soft sculptures often blur the boundaries between fine art, craft, and design, engaging with themes of the body, domesticity, and consumer culture. This versatility has made soft sculpture a significant medium for contemporary artists exploring new dimensions of materiality and meaning in three-dimensional art.