Emperor Augustus Bust Model

 As I've mentioned before, one of the main reasons I take so long to complete projects is because I tend to jump between multiple projects, going from one job to another depending on how I feel at the time. And sometime I might not even get back to a particular project for quite some time (I'm looking at you K7 truck)! 😄

Anyway, today I'm working a new 3D bust model, another classic Roman statuette of an Emperor  - Augustus (I am a big 'I, Claudius' fan and particularly enjoyed Brian Blessed's portrayal of the Emperor who gave us the name for August)!

Above: A statue of the first Roman Emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC - 14 AD) as
a younger Octavian, this sculpted artwork dated to around 30 BC. It is located
in the Museo Capitolino of Rome, Italy. [Credit: Wikipedia.]

I was kinda drawn to this new project as I'm just reading John Williams's 'Augustus' - 'A brilliant and beautifully written novel in the tradition of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius, Augustus is a sweeping narrative that brings vividly to life a compelling cast of historical figures through their letters, dispatches, and memoirs.'

Modelling Challenge
This will be my third 3D printed bust and I've still got lots to learn about the technicalities of preparing and setting up 3D files for printing. One of the issues I'm trying to make sense of is how the orientation of the model file on the printing plate can effect the quality of the print. Additionally, I want to find out more about how supports can be set up to get the best results.

So, this time around I'm changing the orientation of the model on the bed AND trying out a different type of support (and number of supports)...

The bazzilions of 'legs' look rather disconcerting and I did worry that having so many supports might affect the quality of the print, what with all the contact points from all the supports. And as it trned out, I was right to worry...

The result looks bad, but in a way it is quite positive as well because I feel that I am getting a sense for how things work. The fact that I had a 'premonition' that there were going to be problems means that I might be getting better able to avoid them in the future (maybe). So, I'm not too down.

Another positive was that - as I had hoped - the unsupported front of the bust printed out perfectly...

And even though the back of the head was a bit of a mess, it was the back of the head AND after a bit of a clean up I could see that it might be fixable...

So I got out my MILLIPUT putty and had a bash at recreating the damaged hair. I had to use my imagination a bit but - as I said - it is on the back of the statuette so I wasn't too worried...

My 'hair' attempt is a little prominent so I shall give it a bit of a sand to help blend it back into the rest of the model. Even so, it does feel good that I can deal with problems like this wen they occur. I'll just carry on experimenting with my prints and try to get better and better at preparing my models so that they have the least amount of problems.

Here's the completed model, though I might add a small plinth to it later...