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Award-winning artist and environmentalist Kitty Cantrell is known for her striking sculptures of North American wildlife. Intricately designed and detailed, her Mixed Media® sculptures capture expressions of animals that have never known human touch.
Kitty Critters are made of?
The material is called Porcelain, which is a mixture of the finest cold-cast porcelain and resin. These wonderful designs are all hand painted and glazed with special vibrant colors. This unique material and process was developed exclusively for the Starlite Creations product lines.
Exactly What is Mixed Media?
It is a combination of various fine metals such as lost wax bronze, fine pewter, brass, copper, 24 karat gold vermeil and various hot torched acid patinas such as black nickel, rose copper, turquoise patinas to highlight the sculpture. In addition, the sculpture may contain embellishments such as Lucite.
How Are The Sculptures Made?
The original sculpture is delivered to the foundry by the artist in the form of plasticine. Working models are created from the originals by Starlite master moldmakers. In the old world tradition, the master mold is then created. Once the mold is complete, molten metal is poured into the cavities in the mold and left to cool to room temperature. Each part is then removed from the mold, cleaned, assembled, and hand tooled until it looks exactly as the artist created it. The sculpture then goes through numerous metal plating and patina application steps, completing the Mixed Media process.
What is a Patina? Is it Paint?
Patina is definitely not a paint. A patina is created by the application of certain chemicals which oxidize the metal during the hot-torching process. The combination of heat and acid etch into the metal, producing a rainbow of color finishes. The color produced by the patina becomes one with the metal. What Is Lucite? An optically clear, hand-crafted material that has the ability to be reformed into any desired shape. Several magnificent finishes-from crystal clear when polished, to a milky-white opaque when frosted can be achieved. It has the desirable characteristics of transparency and crystal clarity. Lucite is also UV resistant.
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