The
Making Of

The starting point

Janus of Love developed from Thalia, Petrides’ portrait of his mother. The existing head became two expressions joined in a single sculpture.

Research

For Thalia, Petrides chose Thalia, Muse of Comedy in the Vatican Museums as a sculptural precedent, alongside a black-and-white photograph of his mother as a young woman. As he worked, the features increasingly took on her likeness; the crown and hairstyle remained the clearest connection to the ancient sculpture. He was seeking a psychological portrait, not a copy of either the Vatican work or the photograph.

Source: Hellenic Heads: Legacy and Renewal, exhibition catalogue, pp. 28–29 and 58–60.

Clay modelling

Petrides models the head in clay, altering its proportions, texture and expression by hand. This physical study provides the starting point for the digital work.

3D scanning

A handheld 3D scanner records the clay surface. Software turns those measurements into an editable digital model.

Digital sculpting

In Blender, Petrides adjusts the form, tests proportions and changes scale before preparing the model for fabrication.

Printing

The studio’s large-format printer, SculptBot, builds the form layer by layer. Recycled PETG recovered from medical packaging is used for works including Janus of Love.

Reworking by hand

The printed form is cut, rebuilt and reworked by hand. It may be scanned and printed again as the sculpture develops.

Metal finishing

Janus of Love has a brass coating over recycled PETG. Other works in Petrides’ practice are cast in bronze using the lost-wax process, illustrated below.

Patina

A custom blue patina with brass highlights finishes the brass-coated surface; colour and light reveal the marks and recesses of the worked surface.

Recording the finished work

A final scan and photographs record the finished sculpture before it leaves the studio.