ANIMAL AND WILDLIFE SCULPTURE UK

Animal and Wildlife Sculpture

All of the animal and wildlife sculptures currently available are hand made reproductions of my own original designs.

They are produced by hand either as a limited or an open edition.

Large sitting Hare Sculpture in cold cast Iron in a garden setting.

My animal sculptures range from larger life size sculptures to smaller portraits in relief. The latter are incorporated into brooches, wall art, and gift tins. They are all made in Cumbria, in the far north of England.

Standing otter sculpture by a lake hand made in cold-cast bronze by Kirsty Armstrong Sculpture

How is each piece of animal sculpture made?

Firstly, I design and sculpt the bass relief or free standing piece in modelling wax. This is done by hand using traditional sculpting techniques.

The process is time consuming as I incorporate very fine detail and texture over the anatomically correct forms. For this reason, I rarely sculpt one-offs, preferring instead to reproduce my originals through moulding and then casting. This has the advantage of being able to spread the high production costs over multiple items.

A series of close up images showing the detail on an Otter sculpture in wax by sculptor Kirsty Armstrong

I can also offer a variety of different finishes. My designs are handmade either in cold-cast metals, or white resin which is then hand painted.

Where are the casts made?

All of my work is produced here in Cumbria. I sculpt in my studio, and then the finished wax ‘original’ is taken to Lakeland Mouldings, in the English Lake District.

A view of trees and a field from Kirsty Armstrong Sculpture’s studio in Cumbria — The view from my Cumbrian studio

At Lakeland Mouldings a flexible mould and a solid ‘master’ copy are made. The limited edition wildlife sculptures are also all cast there, ready for me to collect, to polish and finish by hand. The smaller, flatter designs, I make myself in the casting shed next to my studio in various cold-cast metals.