Matt Buckley started off his sculpting career over 20 years ago having been afforded the opportunity to hon his craft by following in the footsteps of his step father, Robert Harrop.  Licensed figurines that Matt has both sculpted and directed include the Beano and Dandy, Camberwick Green and Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds to mention a few.

Matt remains the Creative Director of Robert Harrop Designs LTD and indeed the skills and ability to manufacture quality figurines from within their family run company in Shropshire has enabled this very new collection of work to become a reality and Edge Sculpture to thrive.

 Edge Sculpture is a collection influenced by style rather than subject.  The mix of form, light and texture gives a unique feel to each individual piece.  They are an eclectic mix of themes that have a collective 'look'.

Each sculpt has been originally sculpted from clay, which allows the sculptor to be freer, giving the pieces that dynamic and organic feel, stylised by Edge Sculpture.  The finished clay sculpt 'masters' are then taken to be moulded, and each subsequent piece has been carefully hand cast from this mould using ceramic polystone, which allows for the faithful reproduction of detail and texture applied to the original sculpt.  The finishing touch is the skilful application of hand painting and finishing, which brings the sculpt to life.  The end result is a centre piece and talking point for anyone's living room made wholey in the UK.

Research & Design

This of course means any design can at most only be hinted at within the confines of a sketch and instead a piece really develops on the turntable alone, keeping the reference material down to a minimum and relying far more on the mind’s eye as a source of aesthetic judgement.

Casting

A careful mix of marble resin is then patiently poured into the prepared master mould, which is then lowered into a vacuum chamber to aid the bleeding process to remove those unwanted air bubbles that still may otherwise reside within the casing.  Once cured and properly hardened, the cast can be removed to reveal the first clean white sample.

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Fettling, Sandblasting & Levelling

To prepare for painting a cleaning process begins where one of our ever diligent fettlers will eliminate any unwanted mould lines and undesirable casting residue using small speed adjustable drills, knives and sanding blocks.  Any pieces made in several parts are then assembled using steel pins, resin and glue before being levelled and then finally sand-blasted in order to give it a slight key.

Painting & Finishing

The piece then finds its way back to the Design Studio in order to complete its journey through the development phase.   The colour patterns are developed and the chosen hues applied until a Studio Master is created.  This is ultimately the piece with which all subsequent production pieces are compared against, to maintain our excellent level of continuity.

With what was once an idea now becoming reality we have the finished piece, a work of pride and a tribute to the Development Team…… The Masterpiece!

Matt Buckley, Creative Director