To see how this works, let's use a concrete example. Clyde calls. His company makes clothing for pet parrots. He's going to be showing his Fall line at a trade show and needs a 6' parrot wearing a sweater and galoshes."The parrot needs to look very realistic and warm!" Our first step is to find out as much as we can about how the sculpture is going to be used. Is this parrot going to be used just at this trade show? Or will it be transported to many different shows? Will people be touching it or will it be out of reach? Will it ever be used outdoors? Will it ever need to wear slickers? The second step is to decide how we'll make it and out of what. The client says it's going to be used a lot and shipped all over the world, so we decide to make it out of foam, pull a mold and cast it out of fiberglass. The third step is to bid the job. We estimate the cost of materials. Then we walk through the job and add up the number of days it will take. We multiply the number of days times our daily shop fee. That plus materials is our bid. We also provide the turnaround time and payment terms. So let's assume we get the job. We start by making a small clay sketch of the parrot. Then we take some digital snapshots and E-Mail them to the client, who then says: "A little more beak, a little less tail." Once the client signs off on the model, we pattern-up and sculpt a full-sized version out of foam. Then it's simply a matter of sealing the foam, pulling a mold and casting it out of fiberglass. Then it's sanded, primed and painted, crated and shipped. Done! All through this process we can, via E-Mail, provide the client with step-by-step photographs ( PLUS great photos of our staff). back to top