Carving and Sculpting the Banyan Tree Gourd
Snake gourds were cut in half, wired to a metal screen armature, sprayed with insulation foam and then pushed against the screening of the armature.
At the top center of the gourd - Small sections of snake gourds were used to fill in the open areas. Apoxie Sculpt and Das clay were used to finish filling in any openings.
The top of the banyan tree was filled in with more snake gourds that were not cut in half.
Brass rods were soldered to form the branches for the orchids.
The orchids were made from jewelry gourds and fastened together with Apoxie Sculpt. The jewelry gourd top was cut off leaving a point on the end. This became the center of the flower. The petals were cut from the remaining bulbous part of the jewelry gourd. They were then fastened to the stems with Weldbond glue and Apoxie Sculpt.
The bulb was made with a small banana gourd. The roots are several different sizes of wire primed, painted and glued into the bulb. Note: right & far right photos.
The small leaves that are attached to the vines were drilled and a small brass rod was glued and inserted. Note: right & far right.
The larger leaves were fastened to the top of the Banyan tree. I used paper wrapped wire found in the dried flower section of Michaels for the stems. This worked great and allows the leaves to move if accidently bumped.
The vines were made from piping used on the edge of cushions and found at the fabric store. Each vine was dipped in Powertex and place on the tree to dry. Later, the leaves were added. Powertex made the piping very hard and permanently attached to the banyan tree.
The leaves along the bottom were each carved and wood burned. A brass rod was fastened in the bottom of each leaf. Note: 4 photos - right & far right photos then down right & far right.
I first made sure of the arrangement before painting, gluing and fastening the leaves into the wooden base.
It's getting close to the end. Just the butterflies to go.
The butterfly wings were made from gourd scraps with Apoxie Sculpt used to make the body. I just put a little glue (Weldbond) on the end of each wing and pushed it into the body while the Apoxie Sculpt was still soft. Note: right & far right
Banyan Tree Front - The finished sculpture.
Pictures are to the right of text. For multiple pictures, look to the far right.
