7 raw materials commonly used in Making sculptures

Sculpture Artwork can be made of various plastic materials (such as plaster, resin, clay, etc.) or hard materials (such as wood, stone, metal, jade, agate, aluminum, glass fiber reinforced plastic, sandstone, copper, etc.). Using hard materials, it can be carved or shaped to create visual and touchable artistic images with a certain spatial range. This sculpture art expresses the artist’s aesthetic feeling, emotion and ideal. The types of sculpture materials are also various. There are about the following 7 kinds of materials.

Granite is a type of igneous rock formed when magma condenses below the earth surface and is mainly composed of feldspar and quartz. Granite is hard and difficult to be eroded by acid, alkali or weathering, and is often used as a material for sculpture and buildings. Because the exterior color of the granite can be maintained for more than 100 years, many outdoor sculptures use granite as the preferred object. The color of granite is mainly divided into red, black, green and flower which is the series used most widely .

Marble belongs to limestone and is formed during long geological changes. Marble is named because it is produced in Dali, Yunnan Province.

Marble has a soft texture. What’s more, it is beautiful and solemn with elegant style. So it is the ideal material for decorating luxury buildings, and also the traditional material of art sculpture. But because it is too many stone flaws, it is suitable for small sculpture decoration. Marble is not as hard as granite, so it is easy to be damaged by friction and is not suitable for display outdoors .

Reinforced plastics with glass fiber or its products as reinforced materials are called glass fiber reinforced plastics, or glass steel. Because of the different varieties of resins used, it is known as polyester FRP, epoxy FRP and phenolic FRP. Fiberglass steel is hard and fragile. And it has good transparency and high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and other properties, so it is widely used. As a sculpture material, FRP has a certain practicality. Generally as a sample, and it mostly used as an effect of copper imitation indoors.

The sandstone is composed of clast and interstitial material, and the components of clast are mainly quartz, followed by feldspar, rock debris, Muscovite, chlorite, heavy minerals and so on. As a sculptural material, sandstone must have chemical substances as a medium. So its robustness is not as good as granite and marble, and the uniformity of color is also poor.

The history of cast copper sculpture is very long, and the technology is mature. The process of casting copper is more complex than wrought copper, and the resilience of artistic creation is good. So it is suitable for becoming a material for fine works.Cast copper is very popular with artists, and especially used for figure sculpture. But cast copper is easy to oxidize, so it should be paid more attention to maintenance.

Forging copper relief art is a traditional art. As early as ancient China and the medieval Roman Empire, copper forging process has been very popular. With the arrival of the 21st century, the renewal and development of new technologies and new processes have provided a broader stage and development space for the development of modern copper forging art. Under the influence of modern design trends, wrought copper art has the form characteristics of modern visual art. Because copper is easy to be oxidized, so indoor exhibition is more than outdoor. Wrought copper, due to its relative lightness, is suitable as a raw material for relief.

Stainless steel materials contain two components, namely stainless steel and acid-resistant steel. Stainless steel can resist atmospheric corrosion, while acid-resistant steel can resist the corrosion of chemical media. Therefore, due to its good corrosion resistance, stainless steel sculptures are widely used in urban sculptures. The surface treatment can achieve different effects according to the design requirements.

Commonly used stainless steel for sculptures includes #201, #304 and #316 stainless steel. It is recommended to use #304 or #316 stainless steel for sculptures for outdoors, and #201 is often used for indoor sculpture ornaments.

The generally selected material thickness of stainless steel sculptures is 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm, and 3.0mm. The thicker the plate is, the more difficult it is to make an ideal shape. So the overall cost will also be higher.

Different one has different advantages and characteristics. With different needs, the choice of the sculpture material is different. You should do research in advance, considering the condition of the geographical location of the sculpture.