How To Sculpt

Sculpting Tips - Part 2

How To Manage Clay - Your Raw Material

This "How To Sculpt" page is the second installment of the free online sculpting tips section (continued from Sculpting Tips Part 1).

This section contains:

Ceramic Clay Management

Plastiline Management

Polymer Clay Management

But first a quick tip about 'posture'

Correct Your Working Position When You Sculpt

When working with clay on small to medium sized pieces it is important you have correct posture. Many people, even experienced artists, get this wrong. Working for hours at a time you will need to be seated comfortably.

You will need two turntables, one higher like the one shown in the live ebay auction below:
and one lower, and interchange them depending on whether you are working on the upper or lower parts of the sculpture.

Your eyes need to be more or less level with the area of the sculpt you are working on so there is neither stooping nor reaching up. Your work will benefit from improved posture as it allows for patient, comfortable build up so that the important thing - YOUR PASSION - can flow freely.

LIGHTING for sculpture is important too!

Ceramic Clay Management

Arguably, the most important sculpting tip when figuring out how to sculpt with traditional clay, is knowing how to manage the clay so that is remains at the right working consistency. Your piece shouldn't dry out too much, neither should it be too wet.

This is the key point in learning how to sculpt with earth clays (click to go to a special page explaining about the best earth clays for sculpting).

You will need a sprayer. Once the clay is at the right working consistency, spray little and often to keep it right. Try to get a sprayer that doesn't allow any light in - this way you will avoid the horrible green gunk that can develop over time.

Alway place your work on a damp bat made of plaster of paris. If you want to get hold of one of these, the quickest way is to make one yourself. It easy, just get some plaster of paris from your local store (if you're too busy and impatient like me, you'll want to order the plaster of paris online and have it sent asap!) - if so just click here: plaster of paris

When not working on the piece, cover with a plastic bag. Preferably see-through to allow you to see which bits you don't want to knock off!

Don't let too much air circulate unless you are trying to dry the clay out a bit. The idea of the plaster bat is to keep a slightly moist environment circulating under the plastic bag while you are not working on the piece.

If leaving for more than a few days place your work in a 'damp cabinet' (a cool, dark, moist, air-sealed place). This is one of my most favorite sculpting tips of all! I put my work in a large plastic flowerpot, put a smaller pot upside-down on top to seal the air.

Exploding artwork! My local pottery supplies store advised that as long as you leave it to dry out totally (don't be impatient and fire it too soon).

Don't leave any sections more than an inch thick, it is highly unlikely to break up during firing even if you do leave a few air holes in it.

If you have read, and re-read the above tips, and have taken notice of the other pages on this site, you will know how to sculpt with earth clays.

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For more information on different types of ceramic modeling clay for sculpture, go to my page on ceramic modeling clays

Plastiline Management (How to sculpt with oil-based clays)

Oil based clay doesn't dry out but needs managing just the same. I used it for years professionally, but now I only use it now and again (see Rose Arbour pic below). However, at one time it was all I ever used and it is the popular choice of film studios and fantasy artists.

Plastiline is very hard compared with ceramic clay and the main management of this sculpting clay is the softening. You can microwave it or put it on the stove, or keep some in your pockets. I went through a 5 year period when I was mainly using plastiline for my commercial commissions. Mostly, I always had pocket-fulls of the stuff!

The brand I found best was Chavant (that's essentially when I learned how to sculpt). What I found the most effective method was to buy soft and hard in the same color - then mix together for varying consistencies. You can get hold of the exact same packets I use here: Chavant plastiline online

I also mixed the soft with sculpey (see polymer clays below) if I needed extra soft & smooth clay. Use these tips to begin with, then ...... experiment!

flexible armature

Plasteline armature tips - click here for advice on armatures

Polymer Clay Management (How to sculpt with oven hardening clays)

Obviously the bonus for Sculpey and Fimo is that they oven harden. Sculpey is too soft for most of my sculpting requirements. Again, I defer to the expert in polymer clay, Katherine Dewey. I suggest you utilize the advice on both our sites.

To get an idea of the different types of polymer clay available and an idea of online prices click here: Online prices for different polymer clays

Ebay is normally the best online source for Fimo (not sure why that is). Click here to see a range of items: Fimo on Ebay

For a doll or a portrait bust, you can put a thin skin over an armature, bake and then add more soft.

I used to use this Sculpey method for dolls heads until I realized ceramic clay would do a better job for me and was cheaper. Remember, though that I was not having to finish the original sculpt - it was being cast for production.

I find Sculpey hard to get properly smooth and a bit too 'giving'. You can use the sculpey solvent or lighter fluid, or a mixture of the two to smooth. Personally, I find ceramic clay is easier to work with, but then I would say that because it's my speciality. Each person learns how to sculpt in a slightly different way, using the same principles.

However, Sculpey is useful for certain art sculpting.

Fimo is great for small work and if you mix small amounts with Sculpey, you get any color sculpey you want. Experiment!

One person who uses sculpey to great effect is sculptor and painter Dorothy Pizzuti. Her sculpt opposite is sculpy with a bronze finish. For more information go to PizzutiStudio.com

Polymer is very expensive pound for pound (dollar for dollar) compared with ceramic clay - but more convenient to decorate and you don't have to go through the bother of firing.

This is a great method while learning how to sculpt.

sculpey, plastiline and ceramic clay

The sculpt shown of the lady under the rose arbor is a sculpt I did recently for Royal Worcester. The lady is Potclays 1150 ceramic modeling clay.

The arbour is mainly plastiline (grey) and sculpey (beige) for the twine work. Each type of clay has its specific applications.

I hope this page has given you a well rounded introduction to the different types of modeling clay and how to manage them.

Above all, get to know your raw materials and your choices! Happy clay modeling!

If you need to know where to go to get supplies online here are some ideas:

Ceramic clays

Polymer Clays

Plastiline

Other Hard To Find Online Sculpting Supplies

Don't forget, apart from this Sculping Tips section showing types of modeling clay and their uses, you can also go to the SculptureTechnique: showing you basic techniques to ground you correctly.

return from How To Sculpt - Sculpting Tips 2 to homepage or alternatively back to Sculpting Tips 1 . Alternatively you can go back to the intro page on clay sculpting

There is also a good insight on how to sculpt if you take a look at the sculpture lesson which takes you through how to sculpt a piece from start to finish. This shows how to sculpt in ceramic (earth) clay.

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