Sculpting Continues

My polymer clay sculpting lessons continue with arms and hands. If I thought head's were difficult I'm in big trouble now, because arms and hands haven't come with any ease. I spent 2 weeks making, smashing and remaking arms and hands with nothing to show for it at the end of that time. It seemed to go well, until trying to bend the fingers. My long, delicate fingers turn into fat, ugly sausages every time.

My frustration also come from not having a single head that I think is worthy of getting arms and hands, and eventually being made into a finished doll. I suppose that part of the class process is to just have fun learning the techniques, but I loathe to make things that are just going to lie around the house once the class is done. I think what I have to do is pick the head that I think has the most potential in a whole piece, and not criticize its individual parts.

I tried following Marilyn's sculpting directions, and found it very frustrating. I decided to make hands with a wire armature, only to have all the wired fingers crack once baked. Makes sense I guess, metal expands when heated....

13 pairs later, I finally made a set that I was willing to live with. I wouldn't call them "good" but I was happy enough to live with them. Sure, they're long and spindly and gnarled, but I can work with that. They are the same size at least. However, right after taking the photo, the middle finger of the right hand broke off, so now I'm off to do it all over again. I think that was Karma getting me for when I threatened the hands with posing them in rude gestures if they didn't cooperate.

So back to the drawing board, or the sculpting table as it were. Hopefully I'll have a success story to share with you soon.

Sculpting Heads.

Every day, for the past 4 weeks, I've been sculpting heads with polymer clay. A far cry from my usual fibre endeavors, but a fun and welcome change with the weather being just too hot to sit and stitch.

My heads have been made in an online class taught by Marilyn Radzat (all details in the previous blog post if you're interested). Truly a fabulous class! Marilyn is a wonderful teacher, even if it is online. If you've ever wanted to sculpt human or fantasy creatures, consider taking a course with Marilyn.

I've sat for hours, day in and day out over the course of this class, sculpting, resculpting, (sometimes cursing), and eventually realizing that every time I repeated a technique, I really did become better at executing it effectively. I'd sculpt the head and post pictures in the course photo album, Marilyn would make comments about how it could be improved upon, then I'd go smash it down and do it over-keeping her suggestions in mind. It was magical to see how a few simple changes can change the whole look of a face.

The first head was pretty crude. I look at this now, and wonder how I thought it was even close to passable. I knew there was something wrong with the lips, and I didn't like the eyelids, never mind the fact that all her features were crooked; but I just couldn't seem to fix them and decided to let it be.

The second head, I like better. This one is more "fantasy" like. The eyes are better. The features are better. I had my "ah-ha" moment in how lips are supposed to work! That was a truly great moment, because it showed me what is wrong with the faces of my previous sculpts like Candy and the Ice Angel. Also, I think this face is closer to being more feminine, and my ultimate goal is to be able to sculpt a pretty female face. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with head #2.

I really enjoyed making head 3. This is when I had enough confidence in the experience I had gained by sculpting the first 2 heads over and over to know which of Marilyn's techniques didn't seem to fit my style of sculpting, and to modify them to work for me. While this head is quite a bit bigger than the first 2, and I'm not sure how I'll use such a large head, I'm pleased with the way this one turned out.

My education in polymer clay continued when I baked these 3 heads. First thing to understand is that I don't really know much about polymer clay. To me, it's all the same. What I learned is that it is not. The recommended clay was Prosculpt. I used SuperSculpey because that's the clay readily available here. The difference? Well, I can't personally speak to the differences in colour or texture or blending or the like, but I can tell you that SuperSculpey is prone to "plaquing" or to "moonies". What does this mean? It means the sculpture you've spent precious time, love and energy on may come out of the oven looking like it's diseased, covered in white marks.

There are lots of theories about what causes these marks, but most believe that they are caused by air trapped under the clay. Working the clay less results in fewer moonies was a hint I read somewhere. I'm inclined to agree, because head number 1-the head that I rebuilt with the same clay half a dozen times, came out of the oven looking like it has the measles. Head number 3, went together fairly quickly, and has the fewest. Head 2 was somewhere in the middle of these.

I tried fixing the moonies in head 2 by poking them out with a sharp tool, and filling the holes with fresh clay. That didn't fix the problem as well as I hoped. I'm told that Prosculpt is not as prone to mooning as this clay, but it is frustrating having 3 heads that I hoped to use with these marks all over them. I thought I was going to have to order the Prosculpt and start all over, but a wonderful feature of polymer clay is that it can be painted.

Painting the heads was a whole new experience, but it was one I enjoyed, doing it freely. I figured, with distorted, moonie ridden faces, these heads will never be made into finished projects, so there was no concern that I would ruin them with paint. This process became all about having fun, and making the face come alive with personality. It was fun to see how they each changed in personality after painting. While I'm still not sure how I feel about covering the entire face surface in paint, I do have to admit that doing so solves the moonie problem.

While #1 is still ugly, #2 and 3 have endeared themselves to me. 2, (yes, I'm referring to them by numbers like Borg, they haven't transformed enough yet to deserve names) I guess, is a man as well, but he has a strong, kind face. I used some interference paint on him which was a new product for me and I love it. (My little brain is rattling with the possible uses for interference paint on fibre, but I must stay focused here on clay!)

3 used to look humorous, now she looks sleepy (or stoned as the boys here put it). I'm very pleased with the smooth application of the paint on this one. I also think this one might be able to pass for a woman!

Regardless of how any of them turned out, the process was fun, and I learned things that will be helpful to my art, in whatever form it takes.