page 1 | page 2

Building a Maquette Armature
A Tutorial by Sean Carolin

Building a sturdy and functional armature is the most important step you can take when producing a maquette.  If this step is not done properly you will wind up running into problems with your sculpture further on down the road and may even have to start over.

Now that I’m done scaring you, making a standard humanoid armature (which is to say one head, two arms, two legs) is really not all that difficult.  First, before we even get started it is important that you have your character design nailed down.  You need to know what your character is going to look like from every angle, so have your turn-arounds finished.

Next we’re going to need some supplies.  In this demo we will be making a maquette that stands fourteen inches tall.  Now if you plan on making a larger sculpture or are attempting to make an extremely dainty character you may want to use a thicker or thinner gage wire.  But for this demo we will be using 1/8” aluminum wire along with 1/16” aluminum wire.  You will also need a wood base (about 12” x 12”), and some plumbers putty (I recommend using Propoxy 20).

That takes care of the materials for the armature, however if there is going to be a substantial amount of clay on your armature it will be necessary to create a brace using galvanized piping.  For this we will need one 3/8”x 8” pipe, one 3/8” x 4” pipe, a 3/8” elbow, a 3/8” T-joint, a 3/8” flange and for wood screws that fit your flange.  If what you just read made no sense it’s ok.  All of this stuff can be found at most plumbing supply stores as well as your local Home Depot and odds are someone will be able to help you out.

Here is where your turn-arounds are going to come in handy.  Take both your side and front view from your turn-arounds and blow them up to 14” tall.  We now have a template for the proportions of our maquette.  From here we will be cutting five lengths of 1/8” wire, each one representing a limb of our character.

First let’s start with the upper body.  Using the front view, lay the wire so that it runs an inch or so past your characters finger tips as shown in Figure 1.  From there, run it up the length of your characters arm, bending at the shoulder.  Next, run the wire across the collar bone of your character to its center line.  Once at the center line bend the wire at a right angle down to that it acts as the spine of your character.  Cut the wire so that it ends just a little shy of the pelvis.  Repeat this process for the other arm.
fig. 1

Now let’s move on to the head.  Using the side view, bend the 1/8” wire into a curly-Q shape that will fit inside your characters head and run it down to the pelvis as seen in Figure 1.  Using your turn- arounds, place these three limbs into position so that the head lines up with the head and the arms with the arms (Figure 2).  With everything in place it’s just a matter of twisting the wire together.  The best way to do this is by placing the ends of the wire into a drill bit (Figure 3) and then using a vise to secure the other ends.  Now, gently give the drill a little bit of gas and watch it twist the wire together.
fig. 2

fig. 3

page 1 | page 2