Busts have historically been one of the most common ways to create a likeness of famous people. In fact, you will find busts in a number of different museums and monuments around the world. Let’s take an interesting look into how the sculpting of busts has changed over time.
Marble Sculpture
The very first way that people constructed custom made busts was likely through marble. In fact, marble has been the preferred material for stone sculptures since ancient times due to its excellent properties. While there are many different types of marble, you have probably most frequently seen white marble used for busts.
Typically, the sculpting process would begin with a sculpture using a chisel to knock off large pieces of stone. The goal here was to get the stone to a form suitable for beginning more intricate detailing. Many sculptors would utilize clay or wax models first while others would go right to work on marble.
Once the stone was in the general shape of the desired bust, the sculptor would use more precise tools such as rifflers and rasps, which allowed them to remove tiny chips of stone. This was important to ensure that the personalized statue could be made to perfectly reflect the qualities of the person it represented. Once the chiseling was done, the bust would be polished.
Sculpting a Bust in Clay
Clay is another material that can be used to create a personalized bust. In fact, you may have attempted something like this in an art class at one point in time. With this process, you often begin with a foam bust and then mold clay onto it. The clay is what will be manipulated into the personalized sculpture.
An artist will typically use their hands in order to make the clay molded into a shape similar to the bust of the person. Then, they will use tools to add further detailing. For many sculptors, the hair can be the more difficult part of the process, taking a bit of trail and error. Once a clay sculpture is complete, it just has to dry. Of course, clay is not the best material for a permanent bust, but it is one often used.
Making Modern Personalized Busts
If you are wanting to make a more modern bust, you will likely turn to the art of 3D printing. You would be surprised at the numbers of 3D print figurines that can be created these days including a custom bust of yourself.
3D printing is a type of computer aided design that utilizes computers in order to design an object that is then created layer by layer during the printing stage. Essentially, a photo of a person is used in order to render a 3D modeled image on a computer.
This image is then sent to a 3D printer, which carefully and accurately constructs it. The result is a custom sculpture from your photo. 3D printing requires expensive equipment and state of the art software in order to produce a quality final product, but it is a new way to allow for many things like personalized busts to be made.
You Can Get Your Own Personalized Bust
While you likely don’t want to shell out the money for your own 3D printer, you can still get your own personalized bust from Bond’s 3D Studio. Allow us to put our technology to work for you. We just need your photo and can produce a personalized statue or custom made bust of you or a loved one.