Soap Carving- It's All About Time

Observation- Soap Carving of the Panda

8 Ways of Changing the Soap

I really wanted to make my changes relevant to the figure that I carved.  Therefore, I decided to have each change be inspired by something that is causing Pandas to become endangered.

Step One

One reason Pandas are endangered is because they have naturally low reproduction rates.  To convey this I first covered the panda in numbers that represent dates of the month.

Step Two

Pandas can only mate for 3 days out of the whole year!  If they don't find a mate for those days then they are out of luck for the whole year; which is why their reproductive rates are so low.  To convey this I put 3 red numbers on the panda. 

Step Three

Pandas depend on their lush habitat because they eat up to 84lbs of bamboo a day.  To represent this I stuck twigs and leaves into the figure.

Step Four

One disadvantage that comes with depending so much on one food source is that the species of bamboo could run out or die.  Or the habitat could be destroyed resulting in lost homes and food sources for the pandas.  I represented this by cutting and burning the plants on the panda.

Step Five

Next I melted the soap in the oven.

Step Six

I smeared the melted soap onto a map to represent the amount of area that the Pandas are able to live in.

Step Seven

Next, I added pushpins around the perimeter and going into the area of the soap.  These pushpins are made to represent humans encroaching on the Panda's natural forests.  Humans going into these territories results in habitat loss for the Pandas and severely limits their home area.

Step Eight

Lastly, I disassembled mousetraps and glued them onto the map and the soap.  This is supposed to represent the number of pandas that die each year from getting caught in the traps that hunters put out in the forests.

Sketchbook Drawings: