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donpmitchell
Mostly About Science and History of Science
War and Telescopes
In 1836, the Pulkovo Observatory opened in St. Petersburg, Russia. It boasted the world's largest refracting telescope of the time, with a 15″ lens.
For the 50th anniversary, a 30″ telescope was commissioned. Again it would be the largest telescope lens in the world, produced by the American brothers Alvan and George Clark. Five years in the making, it was so precisely shaped, the final stage of polishing was done by rubbing their thumbs against the glass.
By 1900, the Pulkovo telescope has been used for highly sophisticated science. Belopolsky does spectroscopic measurements of the planets, using the delicate technique of optical Doppler shift to separate the effects of the Earth's atmosphere.
In 1912, a wealthy nobleman donated his private observatory in the Crimea to Pulkovo, giving them a southern station with better seeing conditions. A massive 40-inch reflecting telescope had been commissioned from Howard Grubb in Ireland, but in the confusion following the Soviet revolution, it was not finally delivered until 1925. At that time, it was the largest telescope in Europe.
In 1936, the Pulkovo Observatory was ravaged by Stalin's political purges. Following the denunciation of a professor by a disgruntled graduate student, a chain reaction began of arrests and false accusations obtained under torture. 27 of the 29 astronomers were arrested, of whom only one would ultimately survive, the astrophysicist Nikolai Kozyrev.
Germany targeted Soviet observatories during World War II, destroying some of Europe's finest astronomical instruments. In the siege of Leningrad (1941-1944), the observatory was targeted by air raids and artillery, and completely leveled. In the Crimea, German forces occupied the territory of the southern observatory. When they finally retreated, Soviet astronomers found the observatory burned and the telescopes missing.
After the defeat of Germany, Kozyrev was released from prison to help with the restoration of damaged observatories. The Soviet Union exacted massive reparations, part of which were replacement telescopes. The 40-inch Grubb reflector from the Crimea was found at the Potsdam observatory in Germany, but it had been damaged beyond repair. In its place, the 122 cm Zeiss reflector at Babelsburg was taken. It stands to this day in Simeiz, where Vasily Moroz famously used it to obtain infrared spectra of Mars and Venus in the late 1950s.
In Leningrad, a few brave men had been able to save its library, containing books and manuscripts dating back to the 15th century. They also removed the 30-inch lens from the great telescope and stored is deep underground. But it was determined that the great refracting telescope could not be recreated.
In 1954, a 26-inch Zeiss refractor from Germany was moved to Pulkovo. Originally, the telescope had been commissioned during the war as a gift to avid amateur astronomer, Benito Mussolini!
Book Published on Charlie Bossart
Born in Belgium, Karel Jan Bossart moved to America and worked with brilliant and colorful aircraft designers in the 1930s. After the Second World War, he developed the first American intercontinental ballistic missile, employing radical innovations in design. Initially skeptical, the US Air Force embraced his plan after they realized that the Soviet Union was close to completing a similar weapon system.
Improved Radar Image
The lower image is a new version I just made, doing an improved Doppler analysis of the radar telemetry.
Venera-15 Radar Swtch
Here's a comparison of the original Soviet processing of the first Venera-15 radar swath (above) and my own processing of the data, from radio hologram to image. One thing I have not done is compensate for the antenna pattern, so my image goes more dark at the edges.
This data was acquired by the spacecraft on October 16, 1983, during a pass over the north pole of Venus.
Venera-15 Synthetic Aperture Radar
I've been tinkering with some of the raw telemetry data from Venera-15, an radar imaging satellite that the Soviet Union put into orbit around Venus in 1983.
Here are some examples of the stages of processing. The radar system records 2540 complex (in-phase, quadrature) samples of a reflected radio signal. It just looks like random noise if you visualize it.
Correlation of that signal with the pseudo-random code sequence converts the continuous signal into a series of pulses, and that reveals the beginnings of an image. The curved stripes are due to phase shifting as the spacecraft moves away from the surface in its orbit.So, the next step is to correct for that, and that gives us a very noise image of a strip of the Venusian surface. There's a lot of speckle noise, because the radar beam is coherent illumination, like laser light.
The 2540 samples are 20 looks at the surface, and we can do image stacking to get a better image (the fourth image). However, if we apply Fourier transform, we can separate the signal into 20 Doppler frequency shifts, which represent narrow strips of azimuth. These can be shifted into alignment and stacked, to produce a higher resolution image as seen on the right.
Fusion-Candle Interstellar Drive
A practical concept for interstellar propulsion, based on existing technology and science. Fission power from a traveling-wave reactor generates the electricity, the waste material is ionized and accelerated to relativistic speed. This should be more efficient than the Flashlight Drive concept outlined in an earlier post.
Interstellar Travel: Some Practical Schemes
How hard would it be to send a probe to a nearby star? I have yet to find a discussion of this problem that does not succumb to science fiction, antimatter, planet-sized lasers, etc. So let's try to tackle this practically, assuming we just have nuclear fission as a power source.
I. The Relativistic Rocket Equation
Edwin Taylor and John Archibald Wheeler derived a relativistic form of Tsiolkovsky's rocket equation in their 1963 book _Spacetime Physics_. The final velocity of a rocket is then given by:
(1) Boost = ExhaustVelocity * log( InitialMass / FinalMass )
(2) FinalVelocity = tanh( Boost )
II. Fission-Photon Drive
Let's start with an extremely simple propulsion system, the Fission Flashlight:
Fission-flashlight Drive
Let's assume we take 100 kg of Uranium 235 and place it in a 2-meter spherical reactor. Let it achieve a temperature of 3100 kelvin (just below the melting point of UO2), and place this incandescent reactor at the focus of a light-weight parabolic reflector. This scheme converts mass into photons, so the Exhaust velocity is the speed of light. From the Stefan-Boltzmann law, we find the reactor core would radiate 70 megawatts for four years, giving a thrust of 0.23 Newtons (about 1/20 pounds).
The change is mass is 0.1 percent — the amount of mass turned into energy by nuclear fission. From the rocket equation, the final spacecraft velocity would be about 0.1 percent of the speed of light. At that speed, it would take about 5000 years to reach a nearby star. Not very good.
Fission-Flashlight with Extra Reactors
We can do a little better by carrying multiple reactor cores. Every four years, the spent core is ejected and a new one placed at the focus and activated. This is better, because we are losing the spent fission products instead of carrying them as payload. With this scheme, we can approach 0.7 percent light speed and reduce our trip time to about 700 years. Still, not really practical, and we've been calculating an upper bound, assuming the mass of the spacecraft's structure is zero, just pure uranium fuel.
III. Fission-Ion Drive
Fission-Ion Drive
Instead of using photons for exhaust, let's use the fission reactor to accelerate ions. Let's assume 100 Kg of Uranium-235 for power, and a mass M of extra propellent to be ionized and expelled at high speed. We can calculate a necessary exhaust speed by assuming that all of the fission energy is converted into kinetic energy, M * ( cosh( Boost) – 1 ). So
(3) ExhaustVelocity = tanh( acosh ( ( M + 0.001*Uranium)/M ) )
The final mass is just the uranium, minus the mass defect coverted to energy by fission. If we plug M=0, we get the same result as our Fission-Flashlight drive.
As we add mass, we get more final velocity from the log (M1/M2) term of the rocket equation, but we also reduce the exhaust velocity. There is an optimal amount of propellent in this case. With 100 Kg of Uranium and 390 Kg of propellant, we achive a final spacecraft velocity of 3.6 percent light speed. That's fast enough to reach the nearest star in only 140 years. Still a bit long.
Let's try a two-stage rocket. The first stage has 1000 Kg of uranium and 5800 Kg of propellant. It carries the second stage, which is the one described above. This combination can achieve a final spacecraft speed of 6.5 percent light speed. Now we've reduced our mission time for a flyby to 77 years, short enough that one generation could build it, and a next generation of scientists could receive the results it reports back.
I'll tinker a bit more and derive an optimal stage-size ratio. I'm sure a three stage spacecraft could reach something like 10 percent lightspeed.
A Rant about Russia and the Space Station
OK, my rant about the Russian announcement they won't send US astronauts to the ISS in a few years.
This is a blessing in disguise. Mr. Rogozin should do us a favor and shut off access to ISS right now. ISS and the Space Shuttle sucked the life out of NASA's scientific space exploration budget. $50 billion to keep people in low earth orbit, where most of the science and physiology is already known, or can be found with satellites, or was learned by the Russians decades ago. Instead we have bullshit like growing tomatoes in space, music videos from space, experiments designed by cute school kids, diplomatic stroking of allies who don't have their own space program. This for $50 billion.
Look at NASA's $17 billion annual budget in detail and weep. They have all but stopped future planetary probes, shutting down a pipeline of infrastructure and human expertise that will be lost if these guys leave JPL. All because the money is eaten up by an unfocused manned space program with no vision or commitment. We don't even have manned spaceflight capability now, thanks to total bungling and poor long-term planning. And yet the manned program still consumes a big slice of NASA's budget. And we have billions sucked up maintaining giant techno-burocratic empires left over from the Apollo era (Marshall Space Flight Center, Goddard, etc.). Billions sucked up by administrative overhead.
Look at how much people enjoy the Mars rover, the images, the science learned. We should be doing more of that, landing on Europa, rovers on Titan, seismometers on Venus. Instead, we will lose that capability if we cut back on the activity of places like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The people who know how to build those complex spacecraft systems will leave and nobody will take their places.
E-Space – a project cancelled by my management in 1990
ESPACE Memo #1
D. P. Mitchell
ESPACE: Environment for Secure Public Assembly and Commercial Exchange
ESPACE is a project to explore certain advanced concepts in electronic communication service. The intent is to take a large step beyond electronic mail and electronic bulletin boards. We believe that a sort of "virtual space" can be created in which people carry out a variety of associations including mail, elections, signing of documents, contracts, and fund transfers.
Recent work in the area of cryptography has resulted in a number of very interesting algorithms for accomplishing these tasks, but these advanced algorithms have never been integrated into a system, and a model for such a system does not yet exist.
II. Related Work
British Telecom and three British universities are currently working on a project called COSMOS. This is a formal study of group communication. They are interested in issues like planning assistance, multi-media electronic mail, and active messages.
A collection of European universities is working on a project called AMIGO. This is also a formal study of group communications, geared primarily for office automation. They are heavily committed to the massive OSI message-handling and directory systems.
The ESPACE project differs considerably in intent. We are interested in the application of advanced cryptographic protocols, and we want to build a system with more general goals than office automation.
III. Public Assembly
Our model for organizing communication is based on the concept of a Group. A Group is more than a distribution list for mail or a bulletin-board discussion group. A Group can behave like a first-class communicator in ESPACE. It can receive messages, and it can send and sign messages.
The key concept is capability of signing messages, which then convey group authority. The way in which a group signs a message is determined by its Constitution. There may be a group leader who holds the official seal, an election may be required to generate a signature, etc.
A simple example of an application might be an electronic journal. People submit papers to an editor group. The editors vote on papers, and if paper is accepted, the editor's signature validates it as an entry in the journal. Publication of the journal might be a completely separate process. Perhaps a journal group would exist simply as a publically readable mailbox which only accepts messages signed by the editors.
IV. Commercial Exchange
A number of standards for electronic fund transfers are forming now, mostly based on highly centralized algorithms which model electronic cheques or credit cards. These are important, but in addition there are interesting cryptographic which support the concept of unmarked cash. The service offered in that case is customer privacy. It is interesting that these electronic-cash algorithms offer a number of protections from fraud and black-marketing, while still preventing customers from divulging personal patterns of commerce.
Many distributed system contain the concept of "capability", getting permission to access an object by showing a certificate. We think this can be extended easily to allow accounting by granting access permission in exchange for "cyberbuck" certificates.
One possible example of use for this would be to control message congestion in large popular bulletin boards. It is possible that user may have to pay to publish a message widely, and that they may (or may not) receive payment in return if the message is deemed useful by its readers. This is an example of a closed cyberbuck economy, where the currency only has meaning and value within ESPACE.
V. Message Handling System
ESPACE rests on a simple and reliable binary message handling system. This system is inspired by X.400 and Grapevine, and the ISO Directory Service, but it is greatly simplified. It provides name service and message routing in a unified manner. It will also allow users to access ESPACE from any location.
VI. User Interface
Some user interface will be required. We would like to support multi-media messages. Recent work on "virtual reality" has suggested that the user interface to a system like ESPACE could be a highly advanced 3D visualization of the objects and processes of the system. We prefer to concentrate on designing those objects and processes before considering any far-out "cyberspace" interfaces.
We have access to new "super smart cards" which may be an interesting part of a user interface, particularly important if users can enter ESPACE from any location.
VII. Conclusions
We hope to build a prototype system and test a user community of reasonable size. One way to do that would be to test the system in the ARPANET environment. This is one of the purposes of the ARPANET, and we should make use of this valuable resource. In particular, we have thought about the possibility of starting a serious electronic journal in the ARPANET.
(note: this short-lived project took place inside AT&T Bell Labs)
Four Time-Lapse Videos
The urban time lapse video tends to be cliche, imitating scenes from the film Koyaanisqatsi (fast motion images of traffic, people walking through train stations, etc). Image stabilization software has made it a lot easier to produce these effects with hand held cameras. I think only a few of these type of videos are new and interesting. The best I've seen recently is Rumble and Sway, by The Seventh Movement:
CCD cameras have permitted vivid time exposures of the night sky, not easily done with film because of reciprocity failure. There are countless desert night-sky videos, but an early favorite of mine is still
Mike Flores' 2010 video made in Baja California:
Chris Abbas made this surprising video from NASA footage of Saturn and its moons combined with well chosen music. There have been several imitations of his video, but the original remains the best:
One of the first and best polar aurora videos was this one by Nick Liveris, made in 2006 at the South Pole:
http://youtu.be/A9UjRUWO308


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The Last Sicilian: A One Man Play
The Last Sicilian is an evening of true stories from Actor/Writer Nick Albanese. Stories about his childhood years spent in his family's bakery, how generations of his relatives met, married and overcame much to come to America. The audience is treated to some winning stories that have been passed down over raucous family dinner tables for year after year. There's some Sicilian history and the negative perception of Italian immigrants in America when they first came to the States and then switches back to the family stories. You'll learn a little history, get a bit emotional and definitely have tons of laughs as Nick tells his funny and heartwarming tales of growing up Sicilian in America. You don't have to be Sicilian to appreciate this story of an amazing journey that spans a century, from the immigrants arrival in the New World, all the way to modern pop culture. Many will be brought back with nostalgia and others will learn how it really was for their ancestors but most of all, after experiencing this Play, you may want to bring back family dinners around the table and start sharing your own stories filled with Comedy, Drama and Family!
What People Are Saying About
"Nick Albanese is a gifted storyteller who cuts a warm, sociable figure reminiscent of a young Paul Sorvino, and quickly establishes a friendly rapport with his audience. The stories of his father's days in the service and how he managed to finagle a Section 8 discharge based completely on his brother's reputation alone were wonderful, unique and very entertaining."
Marilyn A. Busch, MOTIF MAG
Nick@TheLastSicilian.com
@thelastsicilianonemanplay
@lastsicilianproductions
@nickalbanese
Website Created by Josh Zanni

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), Bengaluru is going to conduct walk – in interview for recruiting eligible applicants to the posts of NEEM (National Employ-ability Enhancement Mission) Trainee for Graduates (Non-Engineering). Total 80 vacancies of the posts have to be filled by the eligible applicants. Require applicants to the posts must have graduation degree in B.Com/BBM/BA/B.Sc/BCA/BSW/BBA. Also applicants age should be in between 18 years to 30 years. Eligible applicants can have interview at following mention location. For interview applicants have to bring their applications along with all original documents & certificates. Walk – in interview is on 13th December 2017.
Age Limit : 18 years to 30 years.
Also applicants age should be minimum 18 years & should not be extend than 30 years for general category, 33 years for OBC category & 35 years for SC/ST category applicants.
Eligible applicants can bring their applications to have an interview at following mention address.
Applicants have to walk – in along with applications as per the prescribe applications format that should be filled with all necessary details about the applicants.
Also applicants have to carry their all original documents & certificates as necessary to the posts.
Walk – in interview is on 13th December 2017 from 09 Am.


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Q: Read modified and yet uncommitted data select .. WITH UR ignores locks and gives only currently committed data
how to read data that are not committed ?
as in Oracle :
update table set ..
select .. gives modified and yet uncommitted data

A: Data that is not commited cannot be read by other transaction, the only way to retrieve that data is in the transaction that is modifying the data.
For more information about isolation and concurrency in DB2, please take a look at this tutorial: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/tutorials/db2-cert6106/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Summer Sea Oats Diptych Art is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by CpMN from Breathtaking I bought this for my living room, The soft blue, geeen and tan watercolors are bright enough which just makes the relaxing coastal vibe of the room. The frame is beautiful as well.


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Brisbane Residents Reckon They've Got Proof That Lockdown Will Be Extended Today
Brisbane residents are all but certain they'll remain in lockdown over the Easter long weekend after a quiet amendment to the Queensland Health Department website overnight.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to address the media at 9am on Thursday morning to confirm whether or not the state's lockdown – currently set to finish at 5pm today – will be extended.
Fark: Brisbane Records 1 New Locally Acquired Covid Case So Here's Every Exposure Site So Far
However, some residents think they've already found the answer in a slight change of wording on the Queensland Health website.
"Testing and respiratory clinics will not require a GP referral for the duration of the greater Brisbane lockdown- 5pm AEST Monday 29 March to 11:59pm AEST Tuesday 6 April," the website reads, despite previously stating that the lockdown would come to an end on Thursday at 5pm.
Obviously, it's worth noting that nothing has officially been announced just yet, so don't go panic-buying Easter eggs this morning.
The change comes after Palaszczuk hinted yesterday that the state was on track to end the lockdown on-time if we continued to not see community transmission.
"Fingers crossed all will be looking good for Easter," Ms Palaszczuk said yesterday.
"If we see very good testing rates across Queensland and we don't see any unlinked community transmission, the signs for Easter are looking positive."
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is expected to make a formal announcement at 9am AEST. We'll be sure to update you with more information as it becomes available.
Cool, Cool, Cool: Anti-Lockdown Clowns Are Trying To Breach The NSW And Queensland Border
Queensland's Lockdown Has Been Extended Until Sunday & That Means The Ekka's Been Cancelled
Brisbane Is Coming Out Of Lockdown At Midday Just In Time For Everything To Be Shut Tomorrow
Brissy Is Going Into A 3-Day Lockdown As News Emerges Two People Hit Up Byron While Infectious


Why choose Ionic App development for your project?
Baymediasoft is having Ionic app developers who build simple yet amazing and visually appealing Ionic apps. The expert team of programmers design and develop the application, compatible on native as well as web platforms. Our Ionic developers follow the latest app development trends and methodologies for building high-performing Ionic apps for the startups and enterprises. We use native containers like Visual Studio, Android Studio and Xcode for running the web pages.
Our Ionic App Development provides multiple and unique benefits which increase the speed of development, quick time to market launch and easy to integrate for adding any third library. We believe in providing cutting-edge solutions that are compatible with all the major mobile platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows.
We provide the creative ionic app development services at the most affordable price in order to give you a firm footing.
Baymediasoft provides the most affordable yet creative web development services. Our Ionic app developers offer amidst solutions in order to meet your business objectives. .
Our team has well-skilled Ionic App Developers who have tackled the most difficult task with ease. They have expertise in using plug-ins, extensions, and modules used to increase the functionality of any website. And if these features do not match the client's need, we customize them to provide the top-notch outcome. If you are looking forward to hire Ionic App developer, simply fill the contact form with your queries, we will get back to you as soon as possible.


Romans 6:13 tells us, "…use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God." One of the laws of life is that what you focus on, you become like, so the more we focus on God, the more we will be like Him.
Spending time with God inevitably results in a heart that desires to worship Him. So let's make it a daily habit to listen to God. "…the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him" (Habakkuk 2:20).
We come to know God better through worshipping Him with others. There is something special that results from the act of coming together to worship—united together in one body to learn about God and praise Him. "Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord." (Psalm 89:15).
Worship is enhanced by music. So let's "Worship the Lord with gladness", and "Come before him singing with joy." (Psalm 100:2).
Thank you, Father, for your Word, which shows us the many ways to worship. Please help us never to neglect the opportunities we have to worship together and we pray for the day when all people will come to worship you. May we never cease to worship you.


People Of All Ages Were Asked What Their Best Feature Is. Here's What They Said.
It's can be easier to notice the good in others than it is to notice it in ourselves as many of us are overly self-critical — about our physical appearance, our social status, or even our personalities. But while this is especially true for grown-ups, kids are typically a bit more optimistic and confident. It's as we get older and become more vulnerable to a wider, and more complex world that we lose that childhood bliss.
In a new video from SoulPancake, children, teens, and adults are asked what their best feature is. For some of the participants, the question was tough to answer.
"I feel so entitled whenever I have to answer these questions," said a 14-year-old girl in the video. Another 46-year-old man said that if he has a best feature, he's unaware of it.
Other people in the video had no problem figuring out what they love most about themselves. A 7-year-old participant said "mostly everything" is her best feature, and a 73-year-old woman noted her smile and good attitude as her favorite part about herself. Some answers included physical attributes such as hair, eyes, and smiles, but a majority of the participants mentioned things about their personality.
"I'm a kind person," said a 70-year-old man in the video. "That's my best feature. I'm proud that I feel compassion for other people."
The way we see ourselves can affect the way we treat others, so this is a great reminder to be a bit kinder to ourselves. A good start to some good "me-loving" is acknowledging all of the wonderful things that make you who you are. What's your favorite thing about yourself? Is it your smile? Maybe your sense of humor? Take a moment and find out.
Watch the full SoulPancake video below.


the base unit only has 8 megs of memory. What a joke!
files through the PM, why don't you just save them to the PM instead.
files on the Archos through the PM.
>archos(rockbox) jukebox to a PDA, thro' USB.
particular, the 3000 and 6000 models have USB host and support USB MSD.
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B.C. housing market amid a 'mild recession', Central 1 report
December 18th, 2018updated
WATCH Our real estate market has been nothing short of red hot for the last two years, but new reports say now we're in the middle of a mild housing recession. Home prices are expected to decline, and as Kori Sidaway tells us, it's already affecting those trying to sell their homes on Vancouver Island.
A newly revamped home overlooking Cordova Bay is up for sale, but surprisingly, has been sitting on the market for three months.
"This house has been on the market since mid-September and we have had some interest, but there has been this stabilization of the market," said Ross Mitchell, owner of Provincial Property Services.
Mitchell isn't the only one feeling the side effects of a cooling housing market. New reports say that real estate prices are softening all across Canada. And here in B.C., some economists say we're in the midst of a mild recession.
"Some of the federal changes in regulation including the stress test, the combination of provincial measures such as the speculation tax and foreign buyers tax hikes, and higher interest rates are all coming together to create this slide in the housing market," said Bryan Yu an economist with Central 1 Credit union who studied the province's housing market.
To put it in perspective, In November of 2017 a single family home in Greater Victoria sold for an average of $902,985. This November, that average price dipped to $851,481- a drop of more than $51,000.
The housing forecast says the market will be mostly subdued for the next three years for sales and home values, but low supply and high demand has kept prices firm or rising on Vancouver Island despite weaker transaction activity.
"With 2016 and 2017 being the biggest year for Victoria real estate, when numbers comes off that quite a bit it can seem like a lot but when we compare to the 10 year historical average we're getting back to that average and more normal, markets," said Victoria Real Estate Board President Kyle Kerr.
The report says residential sales were down 11.9 per cent at the end of 2017 in Greater Victoria, and forecast to drop another 16.9 per cent in 2018.
And agents say the cooling off of the hot housing market be a good thing for buyers looking to get in.
"I think you can expect houses will sit on the market a little bit longer, you'll have a bit more choice, and for sellers the big price growths of the last couple years its over," said Kerr.
Economists, agents and developers all agree – the bubble hasn't burst, and things aren't going to collapse.
"Really the conditions around construction haven't drastically changed. So, houses will have to stay at this market unless we see a reduction in material cost and a reduction in trade cost and it doesn't look like that's going to be happening anytime soon," said Mitchell.
So while the long overheated housing market cools, it's business as usual.
"I think that at the end of the day a stable market is a happy market," said Mitchell.
Central 1 says sales will pick up over three per cent in each of the next two years and the forecast median price increase will be 6.1 per cent this year.
Although the report forecasts a 0.3 per cent decline in Greater Victoria's median resale price in 2019, it also predicts 1.2 per cent growth over the following two years, reaching $595,000 by the end of 2021.
Price growth is expected to continue for other areas of the Island but at a slower pace.
In Nanaimo, the report says by the end of 2018 the median house price will have shot up 31.4 per cent between 2016 and 2018 to $425,000.
Central 1 is calling for 1.2 per cent median price increases in each of the next two years, followed by a 1.6 per cent climb in 2021 to $442,000.
As for sales, Nanaimo is forecast to see a nearly six per cent hike for activity in 2019 before leveling off the following two years.
Central 1 says by the end of 2018, other Vancouver Island prices will have climbed 27.4 per cent over the last three years but will see gradual increases of no more than 2.2 per cent in the next three years.
Island housing markets continue to be supported by local factors including employment and population growth and demographic changes, according to Central 1.
The report says the homes sales swoon in B.C. continues because of federal mortgage rules, higher mortgage rates and provincial policy measures.
Central 1 says larger downpayment constraints for potential home buyers, particularly those trying to get into the market for the first time, will put more stress on purchasing power in B.C.'s higher priced urban markets.
The report says red-hot markets have cooled off because of the sales slump, especially for the lower mainland, which Central 1 says is shifting to a buyers' market
Central 1 says the market has been significantly weaker after rapid value jumps in 2016 and the implementation of the foreign buyers' tax, among other policy measures.
A Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) November sales report says for the first time in five years, Greater Vancouver saw a year-over-year price drop of 1.4 per cent, but sale prices went the other way on the Island.
CREA says year-over-year increases home sale values were 7.4 per cent in Victoria in November and 12.6 per cent elsewhere on the Island.
Water levels steady on Puntledge River ahead of king tides
Police investigating after assault in Burnaby condo building elevator


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Educators' Forum for Development
Celebrating Bonifacio Day by advocating for social transformation
We celebrate Bonifacio's life by emulating what he has done for the country. As teachers, it is our task to teach what heroes like Bonifacio have contributed for the country.
No Moving on When Democracy is Threatened with Elitist, Authoritarian Politics
Filipino educators join the mounting calls of concerned citizens, communities and people's organizations for the COMELEC to not dismiss and instead to seriously investigate reports of fraud, disinformation, disenfranchisement, and vote-buying in the 2022 national elections.
World Teacher's Day 2020: PH gov't must step up to ensure Filipino teachers' welfare and safety
As National Teacher's Month culminates with the celebration of World Teacher's Day on October 5th, the Educators' Forum for Development (EfD) urges the Duterte administration to deliver all necessary support to public and private Filipino educators in the basic and higher education sectors.
Extend Preparation through a 6-month Bridge Period, and Postpone School Opening to January 2021
POLICY NOTE
The EFD shares in the objective of ensuring the right and access to education of Filipino learners, and believes that learning should continue despite the pandemic. But we cannot support any rushed implementation without ensuring the maximum support to the three most important stakeholders – teachers, learners and parents.
Anti-Terrorism Bill Silences Dissent, Curtails Democratic Rights
Amid the current challenges facing Filipino educators nationwide, we cannot simply stay silent or neutral as increased ranks of Filipinos call for the junking of the Anti-Terrorism Bill. When it is not only us but our children's and students' rights and freedoms that are at stake, we stand in unison in opposing a more draconian version of the Human Security of Act of 2007 and in defending the values and principles that our ancestors have fought for.
ABS-CBN shutdown a threat to press freedom, a bane to transformative education
NETWORKS | EDUCATORS' FORUM FOR DEVELOPMENT
We are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic to which our government can only muster a militaristic response instead of strengthening our health system and relay incoherent reports, and at times, disinformation.
Martial Law omission a mockery of history
In pushing to revise history, the Marcoses are evidently basking in the successive court victories they have been securing under the current administration. They have been enjoying freedom and have even been installed in government, as if their crimes against the Filipino people have been forgotten.
Arrest education workers' rapidly eroding incomes, gov't urged
The salaries of education workers are being battered by unprecedented rising prices, research group IBON said. The paltry increases, which even came in trickles under Executive Order 201, have already been eroded since they were applied in 2016, said the group. In a media forum, IBON executive editor and research head Rosario Bella Guzman said […]
Critical thinking under government attack, transformative education at risk
Recent government statements including by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) aim to stifle critical thinking of educators and students. By trying to censor ideas it finds objectionable, the State is violating the public's right to free expression and academic freedom. This will stop education from being truly transformative. […]


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Sharia Supervisory Board
Home / About Us / Management Team / Sharia Supervisory Board
Dr. Amirsyah Tambunan
Chairman of the Sharia Supervisory Board
Dr. Amirsyah Tambunan is an active lecturer of State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Faculty of Islamic Affairs from 2010 - present. And became a review board member and an advisor for the drafting of sharia and syariah banking laws in 2008 to the House of Representatives. Dr. Amirsyah completed his bachelor's degree program in 1989 at the University of IAIN Medan faculty of Islamic Dakwah Communities; in 1997 continued with the graduate program in UIN Jakarta with study program of Islam. Dr. Amirsyah obtained a Doctorate degree in 2007 at the Islamic University of Jakarta with a Doctorate of Islamic Studies program. He is very active in attending seminars and trainings on financial sharia. Dr. Amirsyah is an active member in several syariah financial institutions in accordance with the existing fatwas and regulations.
M. Azrul Tanjung. SE., M.Si
Sharia Supervisory Board Member
M. Azrul Tanjung. SE., M.Si is registered as a member of the daily board of the National Sharia (DSN) MUI (2015-2020) and he is a permanent lecturer of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) Muhammadiyah University Prof. Dr. Hamka (UHAMKA) since 2016 with the subjects of microeconomics, macroeconomics & Economic Mathematics; he is also a lecturer of the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) of the State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta in the subjects of microeconomics, macroeconomics, cooperatives and SMEs & Indonesian economy. M. Azrul Tanjung SE ,. M.Si completed his undergraduate study at Muhammadiyah with a management study program, Palembang and has completed a master's degree program at Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta with an administrative study program. He also likes to attend training programs devoted to teaching staff.


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Home / Misc. / People / Posthumous Pardons Granted in 1931 Scottsboro Boys Case
Posthumous Pardons Granted in 1931 Scottsboro Boys Case
By Anastasia Simon on November 22, 2013
Eighty years after being charged and sentenced, three of the Scottsboro Boys finally received justice when they were pardoned.
On Thursday, a three-person panel of the Alabama parole board approved a posthumous pardon for three of the nine black men, aged 12-19, who had not been previously pardoned on had charges dropped in connection with the alleged 1931 rape of two white women.
The nine men were falsely accused of raping two women on a train in northeast Alabama. The men were convicted by an all-white jury and all but the youngest were sentenced to death. Five of the men had their cases overturned in 1937 after one of the alleged victims recanted her story. One received a pardon in 1976. When it was all said and done, all of the nine served anywhere from six to 19 years in jail.
The series of appeals after the original case resulted in U.S. Supreme Court rulings that criminal defendants are entitled to effective counsel and that defendants must be tried by a jury of their peers–in this case black men.
Eddie Cook, assistant director for the board, told CNN that Thursday's pardons "remedied a wrongdoing of social and racial injustice", proving that it is never too late for justice to be served.
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package skinny.micro.base

import skinny.micro._
import skinny.micro.context.SkinnyContext
import skinny.micro.implicits.ServletApiImplicits

/**
 * Provides params/multiParams DSL.
 */
trait ParamsAccessor extends ServletApiImplicits {

  /**
   * The current multi params.
   *
   * Multi params are a result of merging the standard request params (query string or post params) with the route
   * parameters extracted from the route matchers of the current route.
   * The default value for an unknown param is the empty sequence.
   * Invalid outside `handle`.
   */
  def multiParams(implicit ctx: SkinnyContext): MultiParams = {
    val req = ctx.request
    val read = req.contains("MultiParamsRead")
    val found = req.get(MultiParamsKey) map (
      _.asInstanceOf[MultiParams] ++ (if (read) Map.empty else req.multiParameters)
    )
    val multi = found.getOrElse(req.multiParameters)
    req("MultiParamsRead") = new {}
    req(MultiParamsKey) = multi
    multi.withDefaultValue(Seq.empty)
  }

  def multiParams(key: String)(implicit ctx: SkinnyContext): Seq[String] = multiParams(ctx)(key)

  def params(key: String)(implicit ctx: SkinnyContext): String = params(ctx)(key)

  def params(key: Symbol)(implicit ctx: SkinnyContext): String = params(ctx)(key)

  def params(implicit ctx: SkinnyContext): Params = new SkinnyMicroParams(multiParams(ctx))

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Detailed information on APPSC latest recruitment notification - 2013.
If you want to apply for various govt jobs in the state of Andhra Pradesh, then you can go through the latest recruitment notfication released by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission for various posts in the state govt offices. In this article you will find a detailed information on these various posts noticed by APPSC.
As per the recent recruitment notification issued by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission for filling up several posts in the govt offices of the state, you will find the detailed information on the same quite helpful if you find yourself fulfilling the eligibility criteria.
Candidates between the age limit of 21 to 34 as on 01/07/2012 are eligible to apply for the post. There is age relaxation as per the govt rules.
Candidates with a degree or diploma in Mechanical Engineering / Automobile Engineering from a recognized University are eligible to apply. The eligible candidates need to have a Motor Driving License with 3 years experience in driving motor vehicles.
The application fee is Rs.100/- which can be paid at AP Online Centers or State Bank of India in the form of Challan downloaded from the official website after submission of basic details in the online application form.
Eligible candidates are selected on the basis of getting qualified in the Written Test which is of an objective type.
Candidates who find themselves eligible for applying can do the same through online by visiting the official website of APPSC the last date for the which is 21/02/2013.
The age limit for the post is 18 to 34 as on 01/07/2012. There is age relaxation as per govt rules.
Candidates need to have a Master's Degree in Physical Education with 55 percent marks or above. The candidates need to have U.G.C-NET (University Grants Commission - National Eligibility Test) qualification or S.L.E.T (State Level Eligibility Test) qualification.
Please note that selection procedure, application fee and procedure to apply online are same as mentioned in Post 1.
Last date for payment of fee is 21/02/2013, last date for online registration is 23/02/2013 and date of written test is 05/05/2013.
The number of vacancies of the post of Librarian are 21 and the age limit for the post is 18 to 34 with a relaxation of age as per the govt rules.
Candidates with a Master's Degree in Library Science having 55 percent marks or above are eligible to apply for the post. The candidates need to have U.G.C-NET qualification or S.L.E.T qualification.
The last date for fee payment is 21/02/2013 and last date for online registration is 25/02/2013 and date of written test is 05-05-2013.
Candidates should have an L.C.E issued by the State Board of Technical Education and Training Andhra Pradesh or any other equivalent qualification recognized by the S.B.T.E.T.
The last date for payment of fee is 26/02/2013 and the last date for online registration is 28/02/2013 while the date of written test is 26/05/2013.
Candidates need to have a Degree in Home Science or Social Work or Sociology from a recognized University.
Candidates need to have a Master's Master's Degree in Civil Engineering for post 1, Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering for post 2 and Master's Degree in Chemistry for post 3 from a recognized University in India.
Last date for payment of fee is 02/03/2013 and the last date for online registration is 04/03/2013.
Number of vacancies for the posts under this category are 11.
Post 1 is Observers (Engineering) which has 10 posts while post 2 is Observers (Non-Engineering) with 01 post.
Candidates must have 1st class degree in Bachelor of Civil Engineering for post 1 and a degree in B.Sc Chemistry from recognized institution for post 2.
Candidates have to pay an application fee of Rs. 100/-.
The last date for payment of fee is 05/032013 and the last date for online registration is 07/03/2013.
The date of written test for post 1 is 23/06/2013 and for post 2 is 26/05/2013.
Please note the process for online registration is same for all the posts mentioned above.
Then you need to enter all the basic personal details and submit it.
Before submitting make sure that there are no mistakes in the application. In case of mistakes, you can use the 'edit' button for correcting the mistakes in the application.
Once you submit the application, Challan is generated which you can download and take a print-out of the same.
You can pay the prescribed fee in any branch of the State Bank of India or any APonline center and obtain a copy of fee paid challan with the journal number details.
After payment of fee you need to visit the website again after 2 p.m on the next working day and then enter the payment details in the application, upload a recent passport photograph of yours and with your signature in the provided places.
And then you can submit the application which completes the process on online submission.
Note: Application fee is almost same for all the posts.


I stopped by the small lake again today to get a first-hand foilage update. Jilda says it will be another week before it peaks. All I know is that it gets more beautiful every day. This afternoon when I stopped by, I heard quacking from the far side of the lake. I think they thought I was the lady who owns the property. She feeds them each afternoon along with the catfish. They swam over to check me out. I snapped another picture to show you the progress.
Day two without AC. It was 80ish here today with humidity as thick as peanut butter. Thank goodness our house is shaded by oak, sweet gum, and pine trees.
We have ceiling fans and a box fan to lull us to sleep at night. But they weren't moving enough air. I ran to Walmart and bought an oscillating fan. It's small but hopefully, it can help us survive until the AC components come in. The AC man will be here Wednesday.
I'm starting to like this little pond. A beautiful capture of the fall foliage. and yes I do miss 4 seasons.
That pond, the foliage and the quackers are gorgeous. I hope you get some relief from the heat and humidity before Wednesday.
I see the promise of colors yet to come. Great capture of the ducks.
Another fantastic photo!! Don't melt, Rick!!
Hard to imagine it getting more beautiful.
It's getting cooler here and most of the leaves are off the trees except the tenacious one. The soil is getting cold on my hands when I'm digging in the gardens.
Another beautiful photo. Fall is so grandiose, don't you think. Such beautiful colors.
I hope you get cooler temperature very soon.
Another absolutely beautiful picture today! No worry about staying cool here. The week ahead for us will be in the 40's so we'll be saying stay warm!


text:
.. _bulkloading:

Bulk Loading
============
Performing bulk loading of rows instead of single insertions can dramatically
increase the performance of an ETL program. Bulk loading works by loading data
from a temporary file into the database. The actual process of bulk loading
however differs between each database vendor. Because of this, a user defined
function must be created defining how to perform the bulk loading on the
particular database. The following is a short list of example functions showing
how simple bulk loading can be performed with some of the more widely used
databases.

Currently three classes in pygrametl use bulk loading, :class:`.BulkDimension`,
:class:`.BulkFactTable`, and :class:`.CachedBulkDimension`, meaning that they
require the specification of a loader function. All three classes accept a
function with the following signature to be passed as a parameter to their
constructors.

.. py:function:: func(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):

    Expected signature of a bulk loader function by either classes.

    :param name: The name of the table in the data warehouse.
    :param attributes: A list containing the sequence of attributes in the table.
    :param fieldsep: The string used to separate fields in the temporary file.
    :param rowsep: The string used to separate rows in the temporary file.
    :param nullval: If the class was passed a string to substitute None values with,
      then it will be passed, if not then None is passed.
    :param filehandle: Either the name of the file or the file object itself,
      depending upon on the value of member :attr:`.usefilename` on the class.

PostgreSQL
----------
For PostgreSQL we can use the `copy_from
<http://initd.org/psycopg/docs/cursor.html#cursor.copy_from>`_ function from
Psycopg

.. code-block:: python

    #Psycopg
    def pgbulkloader(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):
        global connection
        cursor = connection.cursor()
        cursor.copy_from(file=filehandle, table=name, sep=fieldsep, null=nullval,
                             columns=attributes)

For PostgreSQL using Jython, we can use the `copyIn
<https://jdbc.postgresql.org/documentation/publicapi/org/postgresql/copy/CopyManager.html>`_
function from the JDBC CopyManager

.. code-block:: python

    #JDBC
    def pgcopybulkloader(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):
        global pgconnection
        copymgr = pgconnection.getCopyAPI()
        sql = "COPY %s(%s) FROM STDIN WITH DELIMITER '%s'" % \
              (name, ', '.join(attributes), fieldsep)
        copymgr.copyIn(sql, filehandle)

MySQL
-----
For MySQL we can use the `LOAD DATA INFILE
<http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/load-data.html>`_ functionality
included in the language supported by MySQL.

.. code-block:: python

    #MySQLdb
    def mysqlbulkloader(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):
        global connection
        cursor = connection.cursor()
        sql = "LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE '%s' INTO TABLE %s FIELDS TERMINATED BY '%s' LINES TERMINATED BY '%s' (%s);" % \
                (filehandle, name, fieldsep, rowsep, ', '.join(attributes))
        cursor.execute(sql)

Oracle
------
Oracle supports two methods for bulkloading from text files, SQL Loader and
External Tables. The following example uses SQL Loader as it does not require
the creation of an additional table, which becomes problematic to do in a
program due to the need for specifying data types.

SQL Loader is part of Oracle's client package which must be installed, also
SQL Loader requires all configuration and data files to have specific suffixes,
so a file must be created with the suffix .dat and passed to any bulkloading
table as :attr:`.tempdest`.

.. code-block:: python

    with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".dat") as dat_handle:
        BulkDimension(
            ...
            tempdest=dat_handle)

The example below shows the bulkloading function, where the .ctl file is
constructed based on the arguments given, and SQL Loader is executed using the
generated .ctl file.

.. code-block:: python

    #cx_Oracle or JDBC
    def oraclebulkloader(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):

        # The configuration file used by SQL Loader must have the suffix .ctf
        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix=".ctl") as ctl_handle:

            # The attributes to be loaded must be qouted using double quotes
            unqouted_atts = str(tuple(attributes)).replace("'", "")
            ctl_contents = """
                LOAD DATA INFILE '%s' "str %r"
                APPEND INTO TABLE %s
                FIELDS TERMINATED BY %r
                %s
                """ % (filehandle.name, rowsep, name, fieldsep, unqouted_atts)

            # Strips the multi line string of unnecessary indention, and ensures
            # the contents are written to the file by flushing it
            ctl_contents = textwrap.dedent(ctl_handle).lstrip()
            ctl_handle.write(ctl_contents)
            ctl_handle.flush()

            # Bulk loads the data using Oracle DB's SQL Loader. As a new
            # connection is created, the same username, passowrd etc. must be given
            os.system("sqlldr username/password@ip:port/sid control=" +
                    str(ctl_handle.name))

Microsoft SQL Server
--------------------
For Microsoft SQL Server we can use the `BULK INSERT
<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188365.aspx>`_ functionality
included in Transact-SQL.

.. code-block:: python

    #pymssql
    def sqlserverbulkloader(name, attributes, fieldsep, rowsep, nullval, filehandle):
        global connection
        cursor = connection.cursor()
        sql = "BULK INSERT %s FROM '%s' WITH (FIELDTERMINATOR = '%s', ROWTERMINATOR = '%s')" % \
                (name, filehandle, fieldsep, rowsep,)
        cursor.execute(sql)


text:
Tag Archives: model furniture
'Model-making Basics' – modelling and shaping
Posted on October 4, 2013 by david neat
Please note before you start reading this older post that I have long since included a version in the Methods section, under Making realistic models, which can be accessed above. That version may have been updated or expanded since.
This is the third of five outline accounts dealing with what I consider to be the five defining areas of model-making work; main construction, fine construction, modelling/shaping, creating surfaces and painting. I've written these overviews in preparation for teaching sessions at RADA ( Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ) in London. So they're tuned towards the specialities of theatre design model work, but most of the points will be relevant in general terms to model work in other disciplines. I've started with the general 'themes' or requirements of the subject .. in other words the 'ways of thinking' behind the practical work .. and this is followed by a selection of 'ways of doing' giving more specific and practical guidance on the materials and methods used.
As I see it, 'modelling and shaping' encompasses the making of any element in the model that cannot be achieved by methods of construction. That is, if a form or part of a form cannot be achieved by cutting sheets or strips of bought material and assembling the pieces, it means that it has to be either shaped or modelled. So for example this would include model figures and trees; forms of relief decoration which are more than just cut outs; the making of specialized forms such as globes, domes, bowls, niches; soft furniture such as armchairs, sofas .. I'm sure you get the idea! Some of these things can be bought, including figures or trees, but usually the likelihood that these are 'just the thing' is slim. It's very easy to persuade oneself that it's a good move if it will save hours or even days of time, so one should guard against 'cheating' oneself by compromising on what one really wants. Nevertheless it is worth knowing what the options are for a number of difficult forms, such as transparent globes or domes for example, because believe me unless you are a highly experienced maker there's no easy way of making such things oneself. 1:25 scale figures can be bought and are often used, but again I've seen too many examples of their careless use in theatre design models to want to recommend this solution.
It's expecting rather a lot of a theatre designer to be a good sculptor too, especially a good sculptor of miniatures! .. and modelling is traditionally the province of the sculptor. For this reason ways have to be found of keeping within one's 'comfort zone' in terms of knowledge and skills. You can't know and be able to do everything! There's no such thing as 'cheating' here (except in the case of cheating yourself, as above). What counts is that you've done what you can to make the model look as you want it to look, and it conveys your design intentions, regardless of the means you've employed. Most 'serious' sculptors have tricks which they don't like admitting to for whatever reason and a number of those are included here. But any method of getting the job done which you imagine a serious sculptor may frown on .. is in this context probably worth a try!
The difference between 'modelling' and 'shaping'
The main thing is .. 'organic' shapes with little geometric regularity such as human figures or trees are more easily modelled, whereas more streamlined forms such as domes or niches are more easily achieved by controlled shaping. Modelling is generally additive, usually starting with a support then adding an amount of soft material, then adding more, etc. .. modelling is 'pushing a soft material around' until it's where you want it to be. Shaping, at least the kind I do with the materials I've chosen, is generally subtractive .. the form usually starting as a block which then has successive parts taken away from it until the intended form is all that's left. One major consequence of this difference is that modelling can usually be back-tracked if a mistake is made whereas shaping usually cannot. If too much modelling material is added or if it ends up in the wrong place it can be removed or moved, whereas if too much is taken away when shaping wood or foam it can't be put back. For this reason modelling feels more free, there's room for improvisation and chance, and there's room for taking risks and making mistakes because these can be smoothed away if they don't work. In fact modelling has to progress in this manner. Shaping on the other hand needs a different 'mindset' .. it needs to be more anticipated and must be quite tightly planned, leaving little room for chance or experiment.
Choices of modelling material
Of all the materials for modelling available now, natural clay remains the most reliable and versatile, in addition to being the cheapest by far. In its fresh state it is one of the softest, smoothest, and can be made more 'liquid' very easily, so it can be almost 'smeared' on when fresh, and successive layers fuse with each other readily. As it loses water it firms up, allowing more detailed modelling, and even fine carving at the so-called 'leather hard' stage. But as it dries it also shrinks and cracks, small forms are very fragile when dry if left un-fired, and larger forms are heavy .. so unfortunately it's not suitable for model-making. But a number of different modelling materials have been developed which either remain in a soft, workable state for much longer or harden by themselves.These have a range of different properties, but they can basically be grouped into three categories (though some overlap more than one). Incidentally, I'm just going to say 'clay' from now on in place of 'modelling material' as a general term.
There are the plasticine clays which remain soft and workable almost indefinitely, even after long exposure to the air. Most of them cannot be made hard and durable. Their basis is usually an oil or wax (at least something other than water) and a filler, such as finely powdered natural clay or talc. Examples modelling wax, plasticine, Chavant, plastilene, etc. Polymer clays such as Super Sculpey can be hardened and more properly belong to the third group, but if they're not baked they will remain workable for as long, at least as long as plasticine. In my experience modelling wax is the leader of this group .. at room temp firm but softens quickly, does not stick to fingers, can be smoothed with hot tools. Many waxes can be melted to a liquid state in order to be poured into a shape (only some 'plasticines' can, such as the American Van Arken brand). Here in the UK the 'Newplast' type of plasticine in long blocks is probably the easiest clay to obtain, and relatively cheap at an average of £1.80 for 500g. It is easy to model with, although when very soft I find it too sticky .. it gunges up finger-tips and is not ideal when impressing with texturing tools etc. Importantly though, plasticine will accept coats of Pva wood glue, which toughen the surface and allow it to be painted. Pva wood glue contracts a great deal as it dries so there is usually no danger of losing detail in the modelling, even after more than one coat.
Modelling waxes, plasticines and polymer clays all come in different hardnesses .. at least, certain brands do. Above are two types of modelling wax, the brown one very soft like natural clay and the white one much firmer. For more on working with these see Modelling wax in the Materials /- modelling section.
There is a significant, but subtle, difference between modelling waxes and plasticines in terms of their surface behaviour when being modelled, which some may find fairly crucial but others may not. It's a bit difficult to describe, but on the whole modelling waxes have less elasticity meaning for example that if you impress a cocktail stick against the surface you will get an exact groove with quite hard edges. If you do the same with plasticine (and particularly Super Sculpey, which is even more elastic) you will also get an exact groove but the edges will be more rounded because the material there has been pulled down a bit. In other words, plasticines and polymer clays are a little more rubbery, and this can save time if you're going for smoothness. But on the other hand it means that these materials have a significant 'push-back', a little resistance to being pushed around, which can make very fine and sharp detail a bit more difficult. Generally the softer modelling waxes are similar to natural clay in having really no 'push-back' at all.
To get back to the three basic types of clay .. the second category is the air-drying materials which all share having water, in the place of oil, as a carrier and these will harden as the water evaporates. Since some of their content is lost in this way they will shrink .. and some of them will shrink and crack badly! Examples natural clay, Paperclay, Newclay, Claydium, Das, etc. Many have a fibrous texture which helps in holding them together but often makes fine detail difficult. Some are light, some are quite heavy. Pricewise they are very good; after natural clay some are the cheapest clays around! I usually only use the air-drying, pulp-based clays if I want to built up a rough core modelling shape easily and cheaply, but only if I'm not bothered about cracking or the time it will then take to dry.
The final category includes those clays which will set or 'cure' as the result of a chemical reaction, brought about either by two reactive parts being mixed together or by heating. Examples Milliput (2-part epoxy putty), Green Stuff, polymer clays. My firm preferences from this group are two, Super Sculpey and Milliput. They are very different materials to model with and I use them for very different purposes.
Super Sculpey (that's the full brand name for this type unfortunately, not just me being enthusiastic!) is almost as soft and 'pushable' to model with as a soft modelling wax and just as non-sticky 'finger friendly'. It doesn't stick to itself as readily as soft modelling wax or natural clay but it will with just a little extra coaxing. I prefer it for modelling medium-sized forms which need a combination of surface detail and smoothness .. a puppet head with sculpted hair for example .. because I find smooth contours much easier to achieve with it than wax, but at the same time very detailed textures can be achieved by imprinting with texturing tools. Super Sculpey can be easily modelled up in layers, heated in between. More on this is included later when discussing model figures. The only characteristic of Super Sculpey that I don't like is it's very slight translucency which sometimes makes it difficult to judge surface detail. There is more on Sculpey in the summary page I've included in the Materials /- modelling section. Below is an example of a small fish form I had to make in Sculpey which needed to be baked and fitted into a curve, so I had to rig up a curved cardboard support for modelling it on. Small forms don't take so long to bake so in this case the cardboard survived the hot-air gun.
Milliput's main distinction is it's hardness once fully cured, much harder than a polymer clay. I use it for small or delicate forms which I really want to last .. small, because Milliput is more expensive than Super Sculpey. It is much more difficult to model freely with, having far too much 'push-back'. The two component parts of Milliput need to be mixed together in equal amounts and the window for modelling before Milliput becomes too hard is 1 – 1.5 hours. For more information on Milliput, there is quite a long entry in the alphabetical Lexicon.
Just for the heck of it, out of interest and for those of you who are really price-conscious here is a comparison I put together earlier this year. I have taken prices from the sculptor's shop Tiranti in London, which I know are fairly average or 'reasonable' .. not the cheapest but certainly not the highest! I have compared the price per kilo even if the materials are not normally packaged in this amount and where there is a price range it reflects the cheaper price for larger amounts:
Natural clay £0.47-£1.27 per kg £11.88 per 25kg, £6.37 per 5kg
Newclay £1.19-£1.96 per kg £15.08 per 12.6kg, £8.83 per 4.5kg
Newplast £3.56 per kg £1.78 per 500g 10% off 20
Claydium £3.94 per kg £1.97 per 500g.
Plastilin (Flints) £5.10 per kg
Modelling wax Terracotta Wax or Scopas White Modelling Wax £9.29-£12.72 per kg £46.45 per 5kg, £6.36 per 500g
Chavant £10.45 per kg £9.48 per 907g
Milliput Standard £20.10 per kg £2.28 per 113.4g
Super Sculpey £20.64 per kg £9.37 per 454g
Milliput Fine White £44.62 per kg £5.06 per 113.4g
Green Stuff £156.33-£240.50 per kg £4.81 per 20g, £9.38 per 90cm
The principle of 'controlled limitation'
This is not an 'official' phrase but one I have assembled myself to help me to think about it. It is a principle behind all successful making but applies particularly to modelling and shaping. It makes me think of 'damage limitation' and conjures up a film scene of soldiers building a strong barrier around a bomb to contain the blast. Perhaps 'containment' would express it just as well.
I remember always being very impressed, and equally relieved, hearing about the ways sculptors make their lives easier! For example making a block of wood firstly into a rough profile shape of the whole head, to define the limits .. or rather to remove what one was certain one didn't want first .. before going further. Working in the other direction (i.e. building up rather than removing), I was impressed when I saw the method of sticking long nails into an emerging clay head to set the positions of key points on the eventual surface.
But put sculptors aside for the moment .. without doubt, craftspeople are better at coming up with ingenious ways of making their lives easier! The photo below illustrates a delightful technique called sledging which is still known to some traditional plasterers, used to create profile shapes particularly for wall cornices. After some basic volume has been roughed in using coarse plaster, a layer of finer plaster is shaped by dragging a cut metal profile along it which collects and removes the excess.
Another example for a more complex form is provided by the schoolmaster/model-maker Thomas Bayley in his truly precious book The Craft of Model Making, last published in the 1970s. Here he shows how to tackle interior alcoves and domes by first making a positive shape from which a shell cast can be taken. He recommends making the main shape of the positive by means of, what he terms, 'running with a template'.
These methods may offer a manageable solution if one has time and patience, but they are by no means simple to achieve, even the first example! One does also need quite a bit of skill and practise. I include them here because they are more important as examples of the type of thinking that one should do .. thinking in terms of templates which control the material and limit the 'damage', but also 'thinking in negative' which there will be more about later.
These methods of control all apply to making larger-scale forms and are designed for precision .. whether of line, smoothness or detail. When it comes to modelling on a smaller scale a lot less precision is needed .. one can often get away with good 'suggestion' rather than realistic depiction. This, together with the fact that things like weight and structural integrity are not such issues at a smaller scale, means that the solutions for modelling forms or creating shapes can be more free and varied, that is .. not tied to conventional sculptural methods.
For example below I am modelling a figure directly onto a drawing, without using an armature. The idea with this is that the complete front half is modelled, the material is then hardened, after which the back half can be continued directly onto it. The big advantage here is that the drawing imposes clear limits i.e. it is almost impossible not to get the general proportions and shape of the figure right if one keeps to the drawing.
I'm using Super Sculpey here, a flesh-coloured polymer clay which, as I've said, is one of the softest and most malleable. It hardens with heat, which means that the usual way is to bake it in a normal oven (130 degrees centigrade, c.15 mins for each 6mm of thickness used), but it can also be hardened quite well using a hot-air gun, which is better for the task here. One needs to be careful though, when heating the figure up, that the paper template doesn't start buckling too much with the heat. Normally I'd suggest having the paper glued down to a board, but it's better if the paper is not because then it's easier to peel away from the baked first half without damaging it.
The disadvantage of this method of 'modelling flat on a template' is that obviously it works better for forms which keep mainly to one plane, as with this figure 'standing to attention'. It helps a lot to have copies of the drawing close to the modelling, as below, and it's pretty essential to work out a clear side-view to be able to check the thickness being built up. As I mentioned, a conventional sculptor would not work this way, arguing that one can't get the same sense of the overall three-dimensionality and poise of the figure while working. But for the purposes of suggesting figures in a model, whether they're there as characters in the drama or features of the architecture, I think the benefits of being able to keep to a template outweigh the shortcomings.
I'm not suggesting that all model figure work can be done this way. Normally a sculptor builds up a modelled figure on an armature, which is a skeletal support for the figure usually out of wire, and it makes sense to do that even at this small scale. Getting the armature right is more than half of the task, at least in terms of importance. A good armature is not only there for structural support, it should also be as far as possible a guide as to where to put the clay .. it should impose some control. The small figure armatures below are ones I've featured in my book, but I describe a quicker method later when we look more closely at figures. The ones below are made of soldered brass and they include double thicknesses of brass on the legs and arms but broken at the joints so that these can be bent at the correct points. They also include flat plates (in brass shim) representing torso and pelvis, which although not strictly necessary for support, are invaluable for keeping the sense of the shape of torso and pelvis while modelling.
Below is a fuller sequence of photos which illustrate the use of 'controls' when shaping soft foam and the usefulness sometimes of having a harder 'core' shape to model on. For this task I had to make a 1:6 scale model of an ornamented fireplace, including two large fish sculptures either side. This was for a film still in production, so unfortunately copyright prevents me from showing the completed fish forms until the film comes out, but I can show enough to illustrate the modelling process. Because the fish needed to be symmetrical I decided to make the same basis shape for both out of styrofoam, cutting a template shape first out of Pvc for one and using it flipped over for the other. Below, I have secured the template shape to a block of styrofoam using double-sided tape, which holds it firmly while shaping but which can be easily detached afterwards.
Knives and wood rasping tools can be used to get close to the edge of the template shape ..
.. but I prefer to use a sanding block and more 'control' to reach the line. I've made a round sanding block from a cut piece of thick cardboard tube (the kind used for rolls of carpet or upholstery fabric) with 60-grit coarse sandpaper attached.
The sides of the sanding block are at a right-angle, so if both the form and the sander are kept against the work surface while sanding, at least the basis blocks for each shape will come out the same.
I then sanded (or rasped) these freehand, but both at the same time .. i.e. a little off one, then the same off the other .. until I reached the right shape below. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo in between the two here in this case, but the best next step would be to shape down the top surface on each block first before doing anything else, because this slope can be easily compared. After mostly using a coarse wood-file, I finished off the form below using a small piece of coarse sandpaper. I've begun to press the first layer of clay (in this case I'm using Super Sculpey) onto the styrofoam. Because Sculpey really doesn't want to stick to styrofoam, it was important to work it in thinly at first to ensure a stable coating before adding more.
Below, I have built up a good, even layer ready for the modelling of the surface details. Making a block styrofoam core-shape like this has a number of advantages .. it means that the modelled shape has a more controlled basis as I've said, just like the wire armatures; it gives a firm basis for pushing against, particularly if surface details are achieved by pressing or imprinting, without the fear of pushing the overall form out of shape; it economises on modelling material (some, like Sculpey or Milliput, are expensive compared to natural clay); and it reduces weight, without making the form itself much weaker.
A note of caution though! .. I modelled these fish in Super Sculpey and didn't need to harden them because I was making moulds and casts from these prototypes. Heating a very thin layer of Super Sculpey on styrofoam (using a hot-air gun) can distort the styrofoam shape if it gets too hot. If you're using this method for a one-off where you need a permanently hard surface a thicker Sculpey layer (i.e. c. 5-6mm) would most probably be ok, because the styrofoam would be partially insulated. Otherwise you have to use Milliput or another self-hardening clay.
In the section 'Making curved shapes in styrofoam' later on I demonstrate another method of controlling a shape using specially shaped sanders. These are not things one can buy but they can be easily made. I found that only a thin strip of sandpaper was necessary to sand styrofoam (or the polyurethane foam from Kapa-line foamboard you will see later). If this strip is supported on a shape it means that the area of foam sanded will gradually take that shape and this will work for convex as well as concave shapes.
Developing the 'scanner eye'
Some people are good at looking at a subject, whether it's standing before them or recorded in a photo, then looking at the copy they're making and recognizing how the two differ .. i.e. what exactly needs to be added to or subtracted from their copy and where. Usually it's something they've acquired and developed through a lot of practise at looking at things, so it's a skill that theatre designers in particular should have already and be particularly disposed to developing. It's a fundamental of being able to model a likeness! I believe that simply improving your ability to look at and compare things objectively is the most important step towards acquiring skill in sculpting. For example, next time you're on a train compare the shapes of the heads you see around you. Try to estimate how big people's foreheads are in relation to their heads as a whole. Are hands bigger than faces, is the length of a nose roughly the same as the distance from it to the bottom of the face, is the space between the eyes the same as the length of an eye? These are simple things to try, you can devise your own questions, and this type of conscious looking won't fail to improve your abilities if you practise it whenever you have a spare moment.
'Thinking in negative' or approaching the form as a void to be filled
Up to now I haven't included the methods of mouldmaking and casting within this series because they're more specialised, a whole other subject in itself, and I've already written a general summary of it Beginner's Basics – Mouldmaking and casting explained which can be found under Methods /- Mouldmaking and casting. But I'm including this brief example here because it illustrates a different approach to making a form. It is a method of form-making which goes back a long way and is now an integral part of our technology. I'm sure most people are aware of the principles of it, but almost exclusively in the context of 'making many copies of something', which somehow prevents the recognition of it as a solution to making single forms.
The challenge of making a model of a bath is a very good example of what I'm talking about! Most often we only need one, and we know that ideally it should be as thin as possible, so our thinking is automatically channelled in the direction of trying to construct the shape in a thin but bendable material. This would be fine if the curves and slopes of the shape were that simple. If however we think of the essential shape as a solid one first, so that we start with a three-dimensional form template in other words, a lot more is achievable.
These two photos are enough to illustrate the method. I've made the 'prototype' bath shape using the foam from Kapa-line foamboard (which I'll say more about later) but styrofoam would also have done. For the fish shape previously I used one shape template to guide the sanding block, whereas this needs two to establish the limits of the top and bottom of the shape. These just need to be fixed in the right positions either side of a rough block of foam and the excess foam is then sanded away down to the edges of both templates. Finding the right positions for the templates, either side of a block, is not that simple though! The best way is to fix the larger template to the foam first and sand down to that using a right-angled sanding block (just like the fish). This will give a much clearer indication of where the smaller template should be positioned on the other side. The sanding can then be completed.
I coated the foam shape with polyfilla and sanded it smooth, then made a plaster mould from it. In this case I made the hollow bath shape using a fairly simple process known as absorption casting. The principle behind this is that the plaster mould will absorb water from a liquid material filling it, meaning that the material gradually forms a tougher skin next to the plaster. The remaining still-liquid material can be poured out of the mould leaving a thin shell which is left to dry. This contracts a little as it does so it can be taken out easily. It's the method used, on an industrial scale, for casting crockery using clay slip. I've used a special form of liquid papier-mache called Liquache which is not so available in the UK (but I've included one source in my Suppliers list). An alternative would be to use the more familiar method .. the beloved 'balloon pasting' one .. of papering the inside of the mould with small pieces of newspaper and glue. The mould surface would need to be Vaselined first though. In actual fact, if the thin shell is built up this way there's no need to make the negative mould at all .. it could be built up on the prototype form, as long as it's strong enough.
PRACTICAL GUIDANCE
Making model figures
Let's just assume for the moment that making three-dimensional scale figures to inhabit a three-dimensional scale model is a good thing, before arguing the pros and cons of having to do them! The first thing that's needed is information. We need to know what the human figure looks like and, just as importantly, what it looks like at 1:25 scale. When I'm modelling in 1:25 scale I work from visual cue sheets such as these ones. For these I've taking the trouble, not only to find the clearest, most authentic looking and most general models for the proportions and details of the human figure but I've also adjusted them all in size to fit the 1:25 scale. It doesn't mean that every bit of visual reference I have needs to be in scale as long as I've got this basis.
For these I've looked at various sources .. anatomy books for artists, figure reference websites, medical books .. but the visual references I've found most helpful have come from reliable digital artists such as www.selwy.com One can usually tell at a glance whether the artist really understands figures, and the neutral grey or brown surface of a digital sculpt is much easier to read than even the best real-figure photos.
Before one can begin modelling though, an armature is needed. As explained above the armature supports the material but it should also serve as a modelling guide. In my post from March 2013 Modelling small-scale figures I provide a step-by-step account of making the simple armature out of twisted garden wire below.
The template which is useful as a size guide during the process is also included in the post. The twisted surface of the wire has an added usefulness in that it gives more 'tooth' for the clay to attach itself to.
In my opinion it's much easier to model a figure at this scale when it's 'spreadeagle' i.e. laid out flat like a five-pointed star, keeping the joint areas free almost until the last. This way it's easier to portion out and balance body and limb masses, getting a symmetry first. Super Sculpey lends itself in particular to this because very small amounts can be applied first of all just to put some mass on the skeleton, and these can be quickly fixed with the hot-air gun before putting another layer on top. It doesn't matter how many times the same portion of figure is subjected to the hot-air gun for successive layers as long as it's not too close (i.e. not nearer than about 5cm) or dwelling too long on one point. Either the figure or the heat gun needs to be kept moving .. but slowly, not agitated.
Milliput is the next best alternative material to use, and some might prefer it. I've used it on part of the figure above right and for the whole of the middle stage below. Milliput is a 2-part epoxy putty, and the parts need to be mixed in equal amounts before use. After thorough mixing one has between 1-1.5 hours to work with it before it becomes too tough to model. An advantage over Sculpey is that it's much stronger, especially when making very slender forms and it's much stickier. But for this reason I don't like it as much as it sticks to the fingers and makes detail modelling sometimes difficult. It has much more 'push back' than Sculpey, especially so after just half an hour. It also makes the process of building up in stages quite a lengthy one because a few hours are needed before it's safe to model the next layer.
For modelling figures at this scale the question of tools is hardly important .. in fact I often just use a cocktail stick and a Starbucks coffee stirrer! Basically it's enough just to have something finely pointed and something flattish.
But if you find that you are doing a fair amount in the way of modelling, and larger things, here is a selection of the most useful bought tools. The four on the left are standard ones for clay modelling and one can get them in plastic or wood. In the centre are two made from walnut strip wood and to the right of these is an embossing tool. This is useful because it has two rounded points of different gauge. The metal dental modelling tool to the right of it is an example of a range of fine-modelling tools one can pick up quite cheaply (even in £shops sometimes). To make modelling easier it can be quite important to have at least one of the 'loop' tools shown next to it. These make it possible to remove material rather than just displacing it.
But just as much can be achieved using tools which are not meant for modelling, especially when it comes to surfacing effects. Below is the fire part for the fireplace mentioned earlier, modelled in Super Sculpey. A plastic bristle brush and a hogshair painting brush were perfect for giving the burnt wood and coals a suitable surface texture.
Other useful texturing tools can be made either from natural forms such as this portion of nectarine stone or modelled and baked in Sculpey itself. The form to the right, which was designed to imprint a tree-bark pattern was modelled on a cutting-knife blade so that it could be fitted into the handle.
Rather than modelling the form of an armchair or a sofa out of clay .. this is possible, especially for broken down old things which are any shape except 'streamlined', but they can end up rather heavy .. I use soft sheet foam to make them. Take this old leather Chesterfield as an example of perhaps the most ambitious, alongside something simpler. Kapa-line foamboard has a polyurethane foam inside which is quite dense and fine compared to the polystyrene foam in regular foamboard and the covering paper can be quite easily peeled away without damaging the foam surface. The foam can therefore be used as a versatile sheet material in its own right.
Unfortunately I don't have 'making of' photos for these ones, but the process is simply one of cutting the constituent pieces (seat, back and arm shapes) as flat foam cut-out shapes first, then shaping parts of them either before or after they're all put together. To give a better idea here is the drawing I use as a scale guide for making the small armchair
Both pieces of furniture were made entirely out of foam except for the legs. Apart from the advantage that Kapa-line foam sands easily and smoothly, it bonds very well with superglue and because of its porous surface accepts any type of paint very well .. including even ink or watercolour! If painted with these or very thin acrylic the surface will look matt, even velvety, with a slight tooth to it like upholstery fabric. But it's easy to make it smoother, as I've done with the leather Chesterfield, by giving it more than one basecoat of acrylic and finishing off with some liquid shoe polish.
Here again are the chairs made from styrene strip plastic from the previous article on Fine construction. The chair cushions are Kapa-line foam and I've incised very slight lines with a pencil.
Below are foam cut-outs glued to Pvc furniture pieces ready to be sanded down into more rounded upholstery shapes (it's easier to sand them after they're fixed down).
For the characteristic 'quilting' effect on the Chesterfield, more properly referred to as buttoning I think, I just marked out the pattern before gluing the pieces together and made the indentations by pressing in the corner of a small metal ruler. For the larger- scale pieces below I marked out the pattern, carved into it partly with a scalpel and rounded with a sanding board.
If the surface is coated with thinned Pva glue tissue paper or even soft kitchen roll can be laid on top and pushed into the pattern for more of a fabric effect.
Making curved shapes in styrofoam
I normally use the most common blue form of styrofoam which comes in sheets 2.5cm thick (although thicker sheets can also be found). There are also other types of styrofoam, differentiated by colour. The pink one here is finer and the green one is coarser.
I've chosen one of the simplest examples first to underline the basic principle of using template cut-outs to control the shaping of the foam. This is just a little step up from the previous example of the fish shape, and it's much the same as the example of the bath shape, but I think it will help to make the more involved example of the 'dome' shape which follows a little clearer.
This sequence is taken from another article Shaping styrofoam in the Methods section. In it I describe the making of simple 'half-column' shapes as part of a composite structure, and below is one of the end results.
The first step in making this was to cut a piece of Pvc representing the base dimensions of the half-column (I use Pvc out of habit but cardboard can also be used as long as it's more resilient than the styrofoam when it's sanded). I've fixed the base templates firmly to the foam with double-sided tape, but they can be easily detached. Next I sanded down to the template using the right-angle sanding block shown above.
After this I attached a Pvc semicircle either end, again with double-sided tape. Most of the part that needs to go can be sliced down with a knife if one's careful, but then it's straightforward using the sanding block to sand down to the curve, provided it's longer than the piece itself so that it's 'stopped' by the two semicircles.
The principle behind making a regular dome in foam is similar in that it involves setting up template shapes, but this time they remain inside the form rather than attached temporarily outside. The method is suitable for any number of form variations. The faint lines of the plastic inserts are just about noticeable under the surface of the finished dome below.
The following photo sequence shows a form with a slight variation on the regular dome shape but will serve to illustrate. The first step is to cut the Pvc shapes which will provide the 'control edges' or limits of the form. As I've said, these parts will stay within the form.
This particular shape needed to be more 'pill' like i.e. a little longer than a sphere, so I had to make a flat section in the middle first, shown below. For this I used some layers of Kapa-line foam sandwiched between the two plastic templates (made in much the same way as the bath shape earlier on except that the two template shapes are the same).
Each quadrant of the form is then built up in layers of styrofoam, fixed down with double-sided tape.
I'd advise building in layers rather than a thicker block because a Pvc template can be included on the top of each layer, to further control the shaping as shown below. Here I've started to remove the excess with a coarse wood file, judging by eye. But I made a
couple of curved sanders (shown in the last photo), to the same curve as the principle semicircle, in order to sand the foam down to the template 'stops' smoothly. As I said at the beginning, shaping certainly needs to be thought about beforehand and thoroughly planned. The thinking may be involved but the doing of it is relatively easy, and once
one's practised a little it opens up many form-making possibilities.
Perfect 'bowl' or concave shapes are much easier, again making use of the fact that a thin strip of coarse sandpaper suffices to sand through styrofoam. The photo below is also taken from the article Shaping styrofoam in the Methods section, and shows the shape near completion. I first inscribed the size of the circle needed as a guide while sanding. I made the sanding tool to the same diameter, with a c.6mm strip of coarse black sandpaper attached. When the tool is pressed against the foam and revolved it will make a rough depression at first but this will get smoother as it continues. For more on this and how to make a round-topped alcove shape as an extension of this method see the article mentioned.
Liquid modelling
Again this is my term of convenience for the technique of 'piping' a liquid material onto a surface, as one might do when decorating a cake, to create the effect of relief decoration without the effort that more conventional modelling or carving would involve.
Here I am using a relief medium I have prepared myself .. Polycell 'Fine Surface' Polyfilla .. with a little water added to make it just a little more liquid. It should be mixed as-and-when needed because the consistency is perfect for piping evenly when fresh but after a while (i.e. after a few days) it starts to become a little lumpy.
The main trick is getting it into a suitable, squeezable, small plastic bottle with a fine nozzle. It isn't difficult to find these. The one above was from a £shop and contained glitter-glue and so were the pen-like ones below. I've had to mix the polyfilla thoroughly with a little water first in a small container, then fill a plastic syringe and use this to transfer it into the bottles. If not applied too thickly the polyfilla takes 1-2 hours on average to dry. I prefer using this polyfilla mix because it shrinks the least of the various materials I've tried. It also dries the quickest and if deeper relief is needed a second layer can be applied, as I've done with the portion of picture frame in the top photo.
Idenden Brush-coat, which is a texturing compound commonly used in the theatre here, also works very well. An advantage of this is that it can be used as it comes without dilution and will consequently keep its consistency much longer. But unless you have access to a friendly scenic workshop, Idenden will be expensive because it only comes in 10litre buckets.
Other possibilities are offered by various fabric relief paints or glass-painting relief outliner shown below. The Pebeo 'Touch' relief paints are more like a liquid plastic, so one can 'draw' with them very evenly, and there are various colours including good metallic such as gold or pewter. It is a little disappointing that they shrink quite significantly, so they don't manage something like the picture frame, but are perfect for the suggestion of a relief surface. The Pebeo 'Cerne Relief' glass-painting outliner is a thicker medium and the small tube comes with a much finer nozzle, so very detailed effects are possible.
Working with wire mesh
I usually categorise my use of metal mesh as a method of shaping .. if not modelling even, because it's also 'pushing a soft material around' in a way. I work mainly with 'welded wire mesh' which is welded firmly at each intersection, so that different forms can be produced according to where the mesh is snipped and how the free pieces are bent. It's ideal for small tree forms, for example.
I'm sure many other structures can be made in this way .. but that's something for another day ..
Posted in drawing, materials, model-making, modelling, shaping, teaching	| Tagged 1:25 model figures, absorption casting, air-drying clay, baking Sculpey, choices of modelling material, comparison of modelling clays, controlled limitation, core shapes for modelling, craft of model making, David Neat model-maker, dimensional paint, figure armature, foam shaping, Idenden, liquid modelling, making a dome shape, making a plug, making curved shapes in styrofoam, methods of form-making, methods of modelling, methods of shaping, model bath shape, model furniture, modelling, modelling on a drawing, modelling small-scale figures, modelling tools, modelling with Milliput, modelling with polyfilla, modelling with Sculpey, natural clay, Neat Things, negative sculpting, painting foam, plasticine, price of modelling clay, relief medium, sanding block, sanding tools, scale figure reference, sculpture techniques, shaping, shaping foam, shaping Kapa-line foam, shaping wire mesh, sledging a shape, soldered brass armature, strengthening plasticine, Super Sculpey, Thomas Bayley, tools for shaping foam, twisted wire armature, using ready-mades, using shaped sanders, using templates for modelling, using templates for shaping, welded wire mesh, wire mesh trees, working with negative form, working with Sculpey	| 7 Replies


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