There is a new lower class of rubbish that has emerged in the last couple of hundred years that needed removal from the cesspool of depraved souls. The task landed on my desk to build the Soul Catcher.
Soul Grasp Chimera flies in ruined skies above battlefields of soul-scarred lands.
With it's ghoul-like face and grotesque fusion of malice in glowing eyes, it hunts down the utterly depraved.
My depiction art dedicated to children suffering unbelievable cruelty. There is a cross for each one of the eight hundred innocent babies, starved, neglected and abused to death. All this, in the care of the Catholic Church order of the Sisters of Bon Secours in Tuam.
As with all my projects, I often start with a concept in mind, but halfway through, I'm not satisfied with the visual appearance. I have no qualms of creating new sections for a better visual cohesion.
That is exactly what happened with Soul Grasp Chimera, when I discarded the original body, which is not shown here. Also, with the teeth, I experiemented with several different looks, eventually settling on a preferred one.
Precision and attention to detail is required, for the stealth and twisting mid-air lunges of this predatory Soul Grasp Chimera, the hunter of pedophile Roman Catholic Priest.
After a few designs starts, I settled on this one. First I trace a design onto paper and then glue it onto a 1 mm brass plate. The I cut it out.
Next, I solder the sides onto it.
Then I add various components on. Basically, the body remains hollow.
I make the wings out of 1 mm copper sheet and then I also pierce out the border from 1 mm brass sheet. At the same time I develop the tail section.
The acid etched tree of life forms part of the chapel, that will be mounted in the center of the Soul Grasp Chimera body.
I also develop the Soul Grasp claws by threading 3 mm rod and then screwing it into the center claw. Then I solder it. Next I bend and carve them.
I attach the chapel and claws to the Soul Grasp Chimera. The hair is made out of fine strips of copper which I will oxidize blue and green later.
Then I made a rough draft of the soul dart head. This entity sits on the soul grasper to tear souls out of still living prey. Particularly Roman Catholic pedophile priests souls.
I made various teeth samples until I was happy. The black teeth are made from irn and the rest silver.
I made a single leg and perch for the Soul Dart.
Slowly but surely fitting the individual parts together with the Soul Dart perched on Soul Grasp.
I started the legs with 3mm brass plate. Then I laminated that with 1mm copper plate. Then a 1mm cover of silver plate is added like a 'sandwich'. Once the claws are carved out of 3mm brass, I solder a temporary silver wire to the leg and claw. The wire allows me to align the claw and leg perfectly before soldering. Afterwards, I cut the connecting wire away.
I color the copper of the ghoul with a mixture containing ammonia to give the green patina. I paint the eye in reverse directly onto a glass cabochon with a mixture of purple, white and black paint.
I made a brass and copper repousse cover for the chapel floor.
Close-up of floor and perch.
Close-up of Soul Dart.
Close-up side view
