Who killed King Louis?

Hello my friends,

Well, nobody has killed the Sun king as far as I know. And certainly not one of the Zonneschuts has had a hand in his death. He died of old age in Versailles. So why this weird title?

This bust in white metal is a miniature copy of the famous Bernini bust of Louis XIV that can be seen in the palace of Versailles. With a 7 cm (2 3/4 inch) height it is quite big for 1:12 scale. Too big for putting it on a table or the top of a bookshelf, but not too big for a collumn or pedestal in a grand hall or a garden. It just needs a bigger room than average in 1:12.

When I assembled the different parts There remained a visible gap between the face and the whig. An ugly open seam that needed to be filled. quite annoying. I experimented with some clay to fill and hide that gap and model it to resemble curly strings of hair. 

It worked quite well in closing the gap. But, in an eerie way, it looks like a blood trail, trickling down his face as a result from a blow to the head. That explains the title of this post. But thankfully nothing unsavory happened to "good old Louie".

However. That being the case, does not change the fact that the 'evidence' of this addition/reparation needs to be hidden from sight. If one wants to conceal something, conceal it well. In this case several layers of paint...

I decided to give this bust a terracotta finish. And not a light and fresh terracotta colour like I did on the woman's bust. No, this time I wanted a darker terracotta colour. Perhaps it has been weathered through standing outside in the garden for a few decades?

The first layer was a Revell skine tone. I applied it as a primer. A thin layer where the metal colour still shines through in places. And being a metal paint it is waaaay to shiny to pass as terracotta, but the next layers should cover that sheen.

Now it is time to deepen the colour. Although I know what result I want to achieve,  I make each step in the painting proces up as I go. I mixed a bit of primary red, some light Venetian red, and a small amount of burnt Sienna into a deep brownish red. And applied a layer onto Louis. When still wet it rather looked like the bust is made out of solidified curry ketchup....

I added some raw umber to the mixture and applied another thin coat of paint. Because the second layer was not yet fully dried I take of paint with my brush in places instead of applying it. With a bit of juggling more paint was applied onto the bust than was taken away. And afterwards it looks like the picture above.

I quite liked the result but it needed something more. I mixed some pigment powder together with acrylic medium and added it to the bust with a brush. This is layer number four.

And finally after the acryllic medium has fully dried we get something like this. The bust looks weathered and a bit flaky. The pigment powder has dulled down the sheen of the paint a lot. Which is good because terracotta is usualy unglazed and should have a matte finish.

Well, this is it for now, my friends. I hope you like this post about my journey to create a good terracotta finish. Although I like the result it is not yet the perfect recipe. Perhaps the next try will be perfect. So stay tuned! :-)

Huibrecht.