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2nd 1/2 term evaluation

work in progress!!!

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i drew a digital colour demo of what i planned the colours to look like on the real thing. i coloured this ontop of a photo of the real model with procreate.

i mixed red, green and black to make a brown shade for the body parts.

i used this shape and size of brush.

using watered down layers of paint, i painted the fins. i used watered down layers so that they would dry faster. after drying my brush, picking up some of the wet paint to add more depth to the colours.

i repeated this with the body. picking up most of the paint in the smooth areas and let the paint sink into the creases.

using a dry brushing technique, i painted yellow ochre to add more dimension and accentuate the texture of the pieces. to do this, i used fast back and forth swiping motions along the pieces.

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i made indents for the fins to sit so they could be glued later on.

i baked both the head and the body, which i ended up burning slightly. i left it in for too long and used too many passes of baking, because i thought it wasn’t being fully cooked. it was, but it still felt soft and squishy because it hadn’t cooled down and hardened yet. it looks a little brown. this taught me to let the sculpey fully cool after testing if it needs a second pass.

after they’d been baked, i realised that i should’ve attached the head to the body before i baked it. this would’ve also let me add more sculpey to make the transition from the neck to the body seamless.

now, i had to use a handheld drill to create a hole for the wire on the head to go through and attach to the body.

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i started marking out the lateral scutes and rounded the edges and blended it out.

i redrew the markings for where i wanted to fit the separate pieces.

i used the same technique of cutting thin pieces of sculpey and blending them into the base for texture.

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after the imperfections were smoothed, i was finished with sculpting it.

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again my teacher helped me out with learning how to create the shell. around the edges, a similar technique for creating teeth was used. the shape was drawn, the edges were curved and blended upwards. there was also a hole cut in the top of the shell in the shape of the separate pieces as a placeholder to see how thick the sculpey needed to be.

i drew the outlines for the bridges, and cut excess off from underneath to create the bottom of it.

i tucked the imperfections under and into the back of the bridge, and smoothed it out with a flat tool.

then i raised and curved each piece of the bridge.

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after i baked the shell piece, i snapped it by mistake. it did not sit flush to the body as i intended it to. i wanted the piece to bake so that it would be bent in the curve of the base, however when it was done it didn’t sit to that curve. so, i attempted to push it onto the base and bend it to curve it again, and it snapped. i realise that this mistake wasn’t smart, and i learnt from this to not attempt to alter cooked sculpey. i was lucky that it only broke in this convenient place, as i used it to my advantage later on.

i also baked the fins.

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i was stuck on how to go about the eyes. so my teacher helped me with the shape. i refined it with a tool. we decided that it would be best to leave a space for a straw to be placed, but at that time i still wasn’t secured in the straw idea so i left it as it was for the time being.

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i wrapped a thin piece of sculpey from the pasta maker around the foil base from the head.

then i used more sculpey to shape the face of the turtle and blended it with a sculpey.

i used the sharper end of my tool to create a slit for the mouth.

i changed this shape according to previous sketches i did of real turtles, the first pass was inaccurate.

to create the shape for the eyes, i placed a dot where i intended the eye to be. i then drew a plus and a cross as a guide to draw the circle around.

i used a round piece of sculpey with a flat bottom and placed it onto the circle as a demo for the eye.

i used the same process as the fins for the face, following my references.

using the sharper end of my tool again, i created wrinkles and dents in the skin to make it appear more realistic.

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the first photo was done by my teacher. i was shown that to create the separate pieces of the shell, i should cut them out from a flat piece of sculpey in their correct shapes, round the sharper edges with a scalpel and cut thin pieces off, then cut very thin pieces of sculpey and place them on the shapes to create a raised texture and blend them with a tool, leaving some dents open.

this was what i continued to do with the piece.

i disliked how much detail i put into the pieces. it was over the top. this would mean that if this amount texture was consistent throughout the whole shell, it would be too much. i shouldn’t have flattened the details as much as i did, because they turned out looking too flat and having no texture rather than too much.

i laid the pieces so that they would flush and shape into the curve of the base.

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i flattened a piece of sculpey with the pasta maker and covered the foil.

i folded it underneath and cut the excess with a scalpel.

i flattened out the folds with a flat tool.

i laid a piece of foil over the base, and used another piece of flat sculpey and laid it on top of it.

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i created a loose plan before i began. i planned out pieces separately.

to start, i took a length of tin foil and scrunched it into an oval shape as a base to build the body on top of. this is because a ball of sculpey in this shape will not bake all the way through and will stay soft and unstable inside. it’s also used to save materials.

using a hammer, i lightly tapped around the edges to create a smoother and fuller oval shape. i did this around the more square edges of the foil to flatten them so it would be more rounded.

using wire, i wrapped a ball of foil around the end to create a base for the head. this was so i could work on the head separately, making it easier to handle and add detail.

the body shape wasn’t round enough on the top to look like a shell. so, i added small pieces of foil on top to build a taller and more round shape.

these pieces were secured with masking tape.

this was repeated for the head to make it larger.

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inspiration photos of turtle shells.

art studies i did of some of the parts of a turtle to experiment with what colour i would want the turtle.

models of turtles i found by model and plush makers.

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eating pufferfish - fugu

eating pufferfish is actually quite dangerous, as they produce a toxin called Tetrodotoxin. however, the practice of eating pufferfish is still somewhat common around the world. particularly in asian countries such as Japan. The Japanese dish called Fugu is the name of the type of pufferfish itself. the tiger pufferfish or takifugu, is the most prestigious kind of edible pufferfish, but is also the most deadly. even 0.002 grams of Tetrodotoxin can be lethal to a human.

There are actually cases of people seeking out fugu to attempt suicide.

the liver was known as the tastiest part of the fugu, although the consumption was banned in Japan in 1984, due to the liver also being the most toxic organ. in current times, pufferfish is served in many different ways.

due to how dangerous fugu can be, licenses are now required to cook and serve fugu. this license can be acquired after 3 years of training to ensure the person can remove the toxic organs of the pufferfish and prepare it correctly.

fugu no shikaro - japan.

Fugu no ransou nukazuke - japan.

bogeo-jorim - korea.

bokguk - korea.

personally i would be very scared to try pufferfish if offered. i would have to check who made it, where and when it was made and how before i ate it because of the poison. although, bogeo-jorim looks nice and i would taste it if i was sure it was safe. a lot of pufferfish is sold as street food, so i would be quite nervous to try it in case it was made by someone unqualified. i would also want t know where the fugu was purchased from, because there have been cases of people as recent as march 2023 passing away from pufferfish bought from fish mongers. additionally in japan pufferfish can be sold in street markets, so i would be worried that they might not have been preserved in the best conditions.

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surprisingly, most of not all parts of turtles are eaten and are edible. when it comes to the shell, mostly the soft shell turtles are used for consumption.

along with their eggs, however this is considered dangerous due to salmonella. they are quite healthy however.

turtles have been eaten for allegedly 400,000 years. “Researchers have uncovered evidence of turtle specimens at the 400,000-year-old Qesem Cave site, indicating that early humans enjoyed eating turtles in addition to large game and vegetal material. The research provides direct evidence of the relatively broad diet of early Paleolithic people.”

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160201151657.htm#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20uncovered%20evidence%20of,diet%20of%20early%20Paleolithic%20people.

this practice in today’s time is mostly common in east asian countries, with dishes such as turtle soup being considered delicacy in china and singapore.

although it made its way to england in the 18th century. in england, sea turtles would be imported and kept alive in large quantities being used originally for roasted and boiled turtle. a recipe for turtle soup appeared in the mid 18th century and it rose to popularity. this was done by Samuel Birch, and Giles Rose explained: “Take your tortoises and cut off their heads and feet and boyl them in fair water, and when they are almost boyl'd, put to them some white wine, some sweet herbs, and a piece of bacon, and give them a brown in the frying pan with good butter, then lay upon your bread a-steeping in good strong broth, and well-seasoned; garnish the dish with green sparrow-grass [asparagus] and lemon over it." turtles were in high demand in this period, and due to this, the species of green turtle being used’s population was dropping rapidly. these turtles were mainly imported from the west indies and were one of the most popular and expensive soups of the 18th/19th centuries.

in the USA, snapping turtles are commonly used for their eat in turtle soup, rather than the green sea turtle or the soft shell turtle.

personally, i would taste turtle meat out of curiosity, but i wouldn’t find myself actively eating turtle regularly due to my morals. although it feels odd to me to eat turtle organs and shells, i would still try them, but i would never touch them again. i cannot picture that parts of turtles or turtle meat tastes good despite how popular it is. it is apparently reminiscent of shrimp, chicken, pork and many others. the texture is described to be mushy and chewy, which disgusts me the most, i dislike mushy textures so i wouldn’t find it to be a delicacy.