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C U L P T U R E P R I M E R
Some info on materials and tools. Not complete but compact.
Click here
for lowpoly.com
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Some info on materials and tools. Not complete but compact. Click here
for lowpoly.com |
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Sculpting can be dangerous for you and others. For example the dust from water based clay can cause a deadly lung disease called silicosis. Some safety related links: http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/sculpt.html Disclaimer: The owner of this site is not responsible for health hazards resulting from the use of the information found on this page. This page may contain errors. Always check for correctness of information with manufacturers.
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Unlike water based clay, oil based clay does not dry out. Therefore it will not crack. Continuing a project after a break of several months is not a problem. It's much like a professional version of children's plastilina. Because it doesn't dry out it cannot be fired in an oven. So either pictures have to be taken or a mold is needed to cast the sculpture. There are several brands and characteristics. Oil based clay is rather expensive but can be re-used.
Chavant: Very old company. They sell a sample kit. Get it. Brands are (among others): Professional Plasteline, NSP, Le Beau Touche. Hardness goes from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest).
Sculpture House: Major brands are Roma and Prima.
Hardness: ranges from very soft to very hard. Hard clay needs to be heated under a lamp or in an oven before it gets soft enough to be workable. Soft clay is better for loose quick work and larger scales. Harder clay is used for smaller more detailed works. Sulphur content: many clays contain sulphur because sulphur provides a nice silky surface. The disadvantage of sulphur are the odor and the fact that it creates problems with some silicone mold making materials. These molding problems can be solved but require additional care. Sulphur may cause eye burning sensation. Pourable: clay can be heated and poured into a mold. Stickyness: how well two pieces of clay make contact when pressed together. While sticky clay is generally easier to work with, it may also collect dust more easily.
Chavant Professional Plasteline: soft (3), contains sulphur. Sticky. Not pourable. Chavant Le Beau Touche HM: medium hardness (5), can be worked without heating. Sticky. Not pourable. Chavant NSP soft (4), medium (7), hard (8): NSP medium requires little heating. NSP hard cannot be worked without heating. Does not contain sulphur. Pourable. Roma Plastilina: Contains sulphur. Prima Plastilina: Does not contain sulphur.
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| Water based clay actually is clay of varying hardness, depending on the amount of water that is added. While working on a subject it has to be kept constantly wet or it will dry and crack. Drying also results in shrinkage which can cause problems when an armature is used that will not shrink. After drying water based clay can be fired. To enable drying, the whole piece has to be of uniform thickness so all parts will dry at the same speed. This will result in uniform shrinkage. If some parts shrink faster they will cause cracks. Trapped air bubbles can cause your sculpture to explode during firing. This can destroy every other piece in the oven at the same time making you popular. Trapped air is avoided by kneading the clay thoroughly before usage. Sometimes needles are used to created pin holes for breathing. Water based clay usually is available locally. These places often have ovens so there is no need to buy one. Inhaling the dust caused by water based clay can cause silicosis, a deadly lung disease.
Terracotta: Reddish Italian clay that will - after firing - even survive outdoors in winter. A classic material. WED: Initially made for the creation of large sculptures in Disney theme parks. By Laguna Clay Company. Beside water it contains Glycerin resulting in longer drying times. Cannot be fired so a mold has to be made. A lot cheaper than oil based clay. It will dry and finally crack so it has to be kept wet by spraying it with water.
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Usually used for detailed smaller scale work, for ex. action figure creation. Can be hardened either by baking or by kneading together two components. Do not use the same oven for polymer and food. Baking has to be done in layers.
Super Sculpey: The most popular polymer clay brand. Can be hardened in oven. Magic Sculp: Two component epoxy clay. Components are kneaded together which starts curing. Curing time is about 3 hours which is also the sculpting time. Castilene: Neither Polymer nor Epoxy but wax based. In this category because Castilene 'hard' is an alternative for small scale sculpture. Requires heating and heated tools. Does not necessarily require an armature.
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A cheap alternative to soft oil based clay that is available locally. Art stores may carry larger blocks of monochrome color. Otherwise get a set of multiple colors and knead them together until the color is uniform. Your works may melt in summer. Will not dry so a mold is necessary. Some brands contain high amounts of wax which results in rather high translucency. Avoid these. Translucent surfaces are harder to smooth because slight bumps are not as easily visible as with regular surfaces (reason: bumps can be seen because of variations in light reflection. Translucency reduces contrast).
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There are lots of commercial tools available. When starting out it is not really necessary to buy any tools. Rather try making your own.
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Home-made. About $50. Obviously, the main part here is an IKEA bar stool. The (adjustable) height of the stand is slightly lower than the commercial variety but can be extended by using appropriate armature, at least for busts. Bigger wheels won't do as these have the axle offset even more which actually makes the footprint smaller. Makes the thing tip over more easily.
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As with tools you can either buy these or make your own. For busts I use simple table legs which are available in many different lengths:
The wire I use is plastic wrapped fence wire. Some metals will react with the clay. That's why the sculpture shops sell aluminum wire. I twirl the fence wire into pairs of two for more strength. This makes it about 10% shorter. In the pic above the wire goes the full way down into the table leg which makes the whole construction quite rugged. I used nealed wire for additional strength which is in fact... steel wire. Probably not a good idea. Next time I'll spray paint the armature just to make sure. The lump of clay hanging inside the construction sticks to a so called butterfly, a small wood cross. Actually filling a bust completely with clay is a waste of material. Aluminum foil and tape or similar will do as well.
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Smoothing It is difficult to remove slight bumps from a larger surface by hand. Using rakes (see for ex. clay tools #8 and #9) in a criss-cross pattern will even the surface out. Chemicals applied with brushes and make-up pads will even the surface further. The type of chemical depends on the clay that is used. Check with manufacturer. Some chemicals are highly toxic! This means: investigation of risks, proper ventilation, proper protection. Do not compromise.
some clay types will collect dust. This can end up in your mold and from there in your final piece. Dust can be removed with fine rake #8 (see clay tools). Keeping the unfinished sculpture covered by a plastic bag helps as well. The type of clothing worn during work also affects the dust exposure.
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Forums: The Effects Lab: Mostly 1:1 scale sculpting with heavy special fx influence. Shiflett Bros Sculpting Forum: Smaller scale sculpture using Super Sculpey and the likes. Sculpture.net: General sculpture forum Wetcanvas Sculpture: Quality and styles are mixed (you may even run into pottery).
Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure by Edouard Lanteri: Good introduction to clay sculpture.
The Compleat Sculptor, New York de Hazelaar Art Supplies, Soest (near Amsterdam)
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