George Carruth Just another WordPress weblog

I thought you might like to see the steps involved in bringing an idea from concept to completion. So this post will focus on the processes we use to concept then create a piece of  Carruth sculpture. As you know, I sell my designs as hand cast stone sculptures and plaques through our website, and at Garden Smiles, our gallery and gift shop in Waterville, Ohio. We also sell Carruth designs  through a national network of gift shops, florists, funeral homes and other retail outlets and are  always looking for new distributors.

I start with a clear image of the finished piece. It may change as I work on it but I always have an idea to begin with. I begin kneading a ball of the acrylic clay called “sculpey”.

STEP TWO:

I slowly rough out the image in the “sculpey” using dental tools and some of the homemade wooden tools I have crafted over the years. Magnified eye glasses are another valuable tool.

STEP THREE:

After a week of two of refining details and smoothing the surfaces, the image is baked with a heat gun.

STEP FOUR:

We create a mold for the piece by covering the original art with rubber. The original design is usually damaged or destroyed during the removal.

STEP FIVE:

While being vibrated, the rubber mold is gently filled by hand with a custom mix of cement. stone and colored dye. We embed a wire hook in the back.

STEP SIX:

After about 24 hours we pull the cured but fragile casting out of the rubber mold. The scrap rate is 20-30%.

STEP SEVEN:

We work on the rough edges and spill-over on the back by hand by filing or sanding. Then we re-inspect the piece.

STEP EIGHT:

We apply a custom paint or stain by hand in a three step process. This helps to highlight the details and the texture of the piece.

STEP NINE:

The finished piece. “Celestial Attraction“.

STEP TEN:

After a final inspection, each piece is gift boxed, using recycled biodegradable packaging materials. The piece is now ready for adoption.

A few times each year I choose a handful of pieces to sign since we have many  people who collect my designs. They feel that having a piece signed by the artist adds special value. These signed pieces are available on our website in very limited quantities. We also host special artist signings at our gallery and gift shop, Garden Smiles. Both Deb and I truly enjoy these events and hearing the stories about how people are using my designs. We have three artist signings scheduled for the holiday season: Saturday, November 27th 10:00 am – 3:00 pm, Saturday, December 4th 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and Sunday, December 12th Noon – 5:00 pm. Visit our site for directions or, for more information, call 419.878.5412.

Hopefully this helps you understand the process behind the Carruth Studio collections. It is easy to assume that the pieces are churned out mindlessly in vast quantity but the reality is that each piece is thoughtfully crafted by hand here in the United States. One last thought: we often have pieces that are slightly damaged or imperfect and we offer these “seconds” in our slightly blemished area fondly dubbed “The Pursuit of Imperfection”. Only Garden Smiles carries these slightly blemished items and, as a result, customers come from great distances to take advantage of our minor mistakes. If you like this post, please share it with your friends and family. We can use all the help we get to get the word out about this blog and my work. Thanks!