"Spiked Tongue" -Sculpture

"Spiked Tongue" by Lance Cardinal

Hey everyone! This is a sculpture I created while at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. Its called "Sharp Tongue". Its created with Model Magic modelling compound and wooden skewers. I really like the idea of over sized things and also the idea of wood meeting organic. I loved how it turned out and I hope you enjoy the following pics and commentary.

Here is the tongue on a plinth in the studio. I added a shellac to make it look a bit wetter and it also popped the color.

I wanted it to have a tense look to it, as if some one just got poked with toothpics!

I like the crease in the centre of the tongue. I tried to capture the roughness of the real thing

The front view shows how I tried to follow the curve of the tongue in the sticks.

I wanted it to look like the sticks were growing out of the blisters

Close up of the tongue details in the crease. I poked holes in the tongue to create pores and rivets.

I used rounded items to create the curve in the Model Magic so it would air dry in this shape. I used sticks to create the details. The Model Magic feels like pulled taffy or marshmellow and dries like Styrofoam paper cup in 24 hrs.

Not very tongue like without the paint and shiny coating.

NO i did not bake it, i just needed a non stick surface I could move around easily and store. I put the sticks in at first but Ill pull them out when its half dry for painting.

I love how the material wrinkles when it dries. Looks very tongue like.

Adding color was fun, looks kind of like a Hannibal Lector dinner party. Its harder than it seems to create natural human colors with acrylic craft store paint. Ive always wanted to do Movie FX so this was my chance to create warts, blood and  spikes!!

I created the holes with the actual sticks then let it half dry, then pulled out the sticks so i could paint all the way down the hole without getting paint on the sticks. This also allowed me to be able to pull the sticks out for travel or storage.

Getting closer to finished. I love cereal boxes, you should always have a pile ready for use in your creative space.

I finished painting it and sprayed it with high gloss spray paint shellac. after 24hrs I put the sticks back in.

The "Spiked Tongue" in all its glory!! Thanks for  checking it out! See You Again. Lance