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Author: Frank_Moran, Contributing Editor
| Armatures in sculpture are used to support whichever modeling medium the sculptor is using. To a certain extent, it is the skeleton of the sculpture. Materials used in the following examples are available at hardware retailers, grocery stores and artist suppliers. Completed armatures can be purchased from artist suppliers and besides use as an armature, it (or the picture of it in the catalog) can be used as an example for constructing your own. |
| How large the sculpture is going to be, how much weight the armature will need to support and what will be done with it after the modeling (i.e. mold making, hollowing etc.) should be considered before building an armature. A simple scale can be drawn to help in the process of making both the armature and the sculpture. If I want to make a 20" (1"is about 2.5cm) sculpture of a 5'4" (64") woman, this is the scale I would draw: |
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| Now I can take a bunch of reference measurements of the model like foot size, ankle to knee, knee to hip, hip to hip, hip to navel, navel to shoulder, shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist, hand size and width, height and depth of the head. Of course you can't always measure your subject, in which case it's prudent to use the more flexible materials in your armature so that if, as you're sculpting, you uncover some aluminum wire, you can force it back under the modeling medium. |
 | The first example (top left) I use for life-size or ¾ life-size portraits done in water base clay. The base is a 12"x12"x ¾" board coated with polyurethane for waterproofing. An exterior paint will work as well. The part holding the pipe vertical is called a pipe flange, which is held in place with four wood screws. The pipe is a ½" NPT (National Pipe Thread) that's 12" long with a collar attached at the top. The height is adjusted by exchanging the pipe with a shorter or longer one, as they come in a variety of lengths. The 2 loops on top are aluminum wire with about 2" of excess extending into the pipe. The size as pictured works well for an adult with plenty of room for shoulders and chest if desired. The wider the shoulders, the more support is needed from the base up (bottom left). |
 | This armature is easy to build and easy to remove the sculpture from for hollowing but because the pipe is straight, placement of the neck is critical. The portrait on the right is a sculpture done on this armature. |  |
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