What’s on the Armatures poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
An armature is a rigid internal support, usually wire or steel on a base, carrying the weight of soft material while it is worked and while it dries.
- Aluminium wire for small work, steel for large.
- Build the pose into the armature, not the clay.
- Wrap or bind the wire so material grips it.
- Clay shrinks as it dries and cracks around fixed wire.
- An armature must be removed before firing clay.
- Hollow or coil build anything that goes in a kiln.
- Small work — aluminium wire
- Fired work — no armature
- A standing figure needs support at the ankles, not only a fixing at the base.
Educational reference. Overhead or cantilevered work needs a support calculation rather than an estimate; failures fall on people.
Questions about the Armatures poster
- What’s on the Armatures poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. An armature is a rigid internal support, usually wire or steel on a base, carrying the weight of soft material while it is worked and while it dries. Aluminium wire for small work, steel for large.; Build the pose into the armature, not the clay.; Wrap or bind the wire so material grips it.; Clay shrinks as it dries and cracks around fixed wire.; An armature must be removed before firing clay.; Hollow or coil build anything that goes in a kiln.; Small work — aluminium wire; Fired work — no armature; A standing figure needs support at the ankles, not only a fixing at the base.. Educational reference. Overhead or cantilevered work needs a support calculation rather than an estimate; failures fall on people.
- Who is the Armatures poster for?
- Armatures belongs to the Art & Design section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning form & 3d can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Armatures poster?
- Use it before starting any modelled figure taller than about 20 cm. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Armatures belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Armatures?
- Modelling & Carving, Clay & Firing and Digital Fabrication sit alongside Armatures in the Art & Design section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Modelling & CarvingClay & FiringDigital Fabrication
- Is the Armatures poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Armatures downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Art & Design section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Armatures poster print at?
- Armatures is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Armatures loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Armatures on the same wall.
Browse every Art & Design poster, or start from the full catalogue.