Full body tiger of concrete and clay

Cat Canyon Tiger Sculpture

 

Detailed prototype of tiger face
Detailed prototype of tiger face

The Graphics team and I visited the Kingdom Productions Inc. studio today to check on the progress of a tiger relief sculpture they’re working on for the Cat Canyon exhibit. Zoo Curator Mike Dulaney came along to provide his expert opinion on the tiger’s shape and color.

 

Here is a mock-up of the tiger’s face in detail. I love the effect of the bouncy ball eyes, but I imagine they’ll be replaced in the final piece.

This is the foundation for the life-size tiger relief made of concrete and clay. I didn’t get a real crisp image, but you get the idea.

Full body
Full body

Here is a close-up of just the tiger face. I wish I were so talented!

Close-up of tiger head
Close-up of tiger head

Now that the full body tiger has Mike’s stamp of approval, the next step will be to make a rubber mold. The final piece will be made from that with fiber reinforced concrete. Then, they’ll add on some nylon whiskers and paint the body. After checking out the painting sample below, Mike suggested that the colors need to be a bit darker and more muted.

Painted tiger head
Painted tiger head

We were very impressed with what we saw. It will be exciting to see the final piece come together over the next couple of months!

 

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