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Step 3Building up and Sculpting
The plan
Get polymer clay onto your armature. Not worried about detail or anything. Just get it on there. This is a rough stage. Want to get approximate proportions. Legs and arms are skinny, torso is thick.
Killer Tip
To save on clay you can also wrap your armature with aluminum foil as a "filler". Build up a layer of aluminum foil and then wrap it with polymer clay.
Instructions on the Sculpey III package state to Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes per 6 1/4" thickness.
So keep this in mind as your adding alumnium foil as filler.
Remember how thick your figure is.
But wait
A word of caution, baking Polymer clay can get tricky. For instance when time comes to bake the polymer clay figure, pros know to bake fingers and toes separately with less time as they will cure quicker. IE thicker pieces of clay will take more time to bake and cure than thinner pieces. IE If you use the same instructions for thick pieces your fingers will burn.
Polymer clay, PVC, burning PVC melts laser cutter optics voiding warranty, don't let it burn! Pretend your baking a pie and your life depends on it. No really...
Time to Sculpt
I realized within a few minutes sculpting a accurately proportional face or body would be nearly impossible so I decided to create a figure of my own imagination.
Sculpting as you find out will be the most difficult and time consuming part. What's nice about polymer clay that it doesn't dry out like water based clay. Although if you do let it set for a few months I hear it hardens up. If you need to take a break put what you have in a bag to keep it from collecting dust, dirt and debris.
Tools
You may want to invest in a small tool set. Although there are professional sculpting tools I'm sure common objects around the house could get the job done. Patricia Rose in her dvd series examines the different tools that are available. Here is an example of some of the many tools that are available. Often times professionals will make their own. Instructable in the making?
DVD help
The Patricia Rose series is excellent on the sculpting process. She works with the scale were working with here. And covers all aspects of figure sculpting, from fingers and toes to faces. Also her website has a list of tips and all things related to sculpting.
Another DVD tutorial I have not checked out is this one
It looks to be helpful in creating more accurate faces.
Faces
The face is one of the most crucial parts of sculpting. People tend to focus on faces first and is the most difficult to capture realistically. We all look alike body wise. It's our unique individual faces that separates us. Goats don't have that. Earthworms don't have that. Kinda interesting to think about though. If you're just starting out faces will be most difficult. Especially if your modeling it after someone.
Take your time
If it's not coming out as planed, don't sweat it's your first shot. Professionals have created hundreds before they got where they are now. Taking breaks is good here.
Get polymer clay onto your armature. Not worried about detail or anything. Just get it on there. This is a rough stage. Want to get approximate proportions. Legs and arms are skinny, torso is thick.
Killer Tip
To save on clay you can also wrap your armature with aluminum foil as a "filler". Build up a layer of aluminum foil and then wrap it with polymer clay.
Instructions on the Sculpey III package state to Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes per 6 1/4" thickness.
So keep this in mind as your adding alumnium foil as filler.
Remember how thick your figure is.
But wait
A word of caution, baking Polymer clay can get tricky. For instance when time comes to bake the polymer clay figure, pros know to bake fingers and toes separately with less time as they will cure quicker. IE thicker pieces of clay will take more time to bake and cure than thinner pieces. IE If you use the same instructions for thick pieces your fingers will burn.
Polymer clay, PVC, burning PVC melts laser cutter optics voiding warranty, don't let it burn! Pretend your baking a pie and your life depends on it. No really...
Time to Sculpt
I realized within a few minutes sculpting a accurately proportional face or body would be nearly impossible so I decided to create a figure of my own imagination.
Sculpting as you find out will be the most difficult and time consuming part. What's nice about polymer clay that it doesn't dry out like water based clay. Although if you do let it set for a few months I hear it hardens up. If you need to take a break put what you have in a bag to keep it from collecting dust, dirt and debris.
Tools
You may want to invest in a small tool set. Although there are professional sculpting tools I'm sure common objects around the house could get the job done. Patricia Rose in her dvd series examines the different tools that are available. Here is an example of some of the many tools that are available. Often times professionals will make their own. Instructable in the making?
DVD help
The Patricia Rose series is excellent on the sculpting process. She works with the scale were working with here. And covers all aspects of figure sculpting, from fingers and toes to faces. Also her website has a list of tips and all things related to sculpting.
Another DVD tutorial I have not checked out is this one
It looks to be helpful in creating more accurate faces.
Faces
The face is one of the most crucial parts of sculpting. People tend to focus on faces first and is the most difficult to capture realistically. We all look alike body wise. It's our unique individual faces that separates us. Goats don't have that. Earthworms don't have that. Kinda interesting to think about though. If you're just starting out faces will be most difficult. Especially if your modeling it after someone.
Take your time
If it's not coming out as planed, don't sweat it's your first shot. Professionals have created hundreds before they got where they are now. Taking breaks is good here.
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