Part of the commission was to have the figure stood on typical Afghanistan soil. The images I had, showed a dusty, sandy surface with occasional rocks. The top of the plaster base had to have this kind of feel too, so I set about sculpting the ground. In the image below you can see I had rolled out a flat sheet of plasticine and pressed a rock into the surface.
I didn't have easy access to suitable sized gravel to put onto the sandy surface, so I had to make my own. Below: Using a two-part epoxy putty, I made small sized pebbles, which took about 5 minutes to cure. Once set the pebbles were placed randomly around the surface and pushed in slightly.
Traditionally, bronze sculptures bear the maker's name so I used my bespoke plastic monograph-type stamp to press my surname, Odishow, into the plasticine. Under this I hand pressed the year 2013 into the surface. (below)
The image above shows a bird's eye view of the surface in it's entirety.
