OK...I am officially on sculpt number seven.....or let's make that head number seven as I have only finished two mini's and have five other heads floating around some with one or two limbs, but none complete...but in this time I have truly learned some essentials on how to be a good sculptor...not that I am a good sculptor (I am a noob sculptor LOL or sculptor-wannabe)...but I know what NOT to do if you want to have a hope of having decent sculpts...so let me SHARE the benefit of my few trial and errors as I know some people are as new to sculpting as me and might can benefit (and please keep in mind that I am seriously new to sculpting too so for seasoned sculptors feel free to jump in and amend these don'ts as you see fit.....I am clearly not an expert on this topic :0):
1. NEVER use baby oil on uncured prosculpt.....NEVER, EVER!!!! The clay will not cure and any hair you try to stick on it will not stick well and you will definitely be bald from pulling your own hair out....now other clays you might can, but I personally haven't used any other clays so I can only speak to this!! To my happy delight...my last sculpt I actually ROOTED with a rooting tool mohair into straight prosculpt and had wonderful success in the hair holding firmly...I was able to even COMB the hair without it falling out...how is that for success??..lol...
2. DON"T smooth with baby powder unless you are done COMPLETELY with sculpting...this deserves reiiterating: If you are going to smooth with baby powder, you must be done sculpting completely....I need to define completely...as this tip was given to me by a very good sculptor...BUT I personally did not understand the word COMPLETELY....what this means is that you can only lightly touch your sculpt after applying the baby powder...this does not, however, mean that you can push ANY (no matter how slight) of the clay around...trust me....you will end up with little baby powder spots embeded in the clay that look like moonies and you will bruise yourself kicking yourself for being so stupid and ruining a perfectly good sculpt!!
3. RESIST the urge to NOT wash your hands...even if you just washed them five minutes ago....in other words you need to scrub up as if you were doing open heart surgery on your mate!!! Your hands cannot be clean enough...seriously......and anytime you see a spec on the clay (because invariably there will always be specs unless you happen to be in an OR) go ahead and dig it out sooner rather than later.
4.DON'T waste your time detailing early on......it is a waste of time....you will be spinning your wheels...go ahead and get the landscape right first...in other words...you need to get the planes right.....nose field, eye field, mouth field where they are going to be before settling on any exact look or detail you eventually want....how many times have I sculpted the best nose ever only to realize that it needed to come out from the eyes a bit more because I didn't have it in the right plane???...well not too many as I haven't done that many sculpts....BUT the point is...spinning my wheels....in the end in truth each of my sculpts because of these errors is probably ten sculpts in each.....and practice is practice..but still ....don't waste your time on this inevitable frustration!!!
5. DON"T not set the eyes appropriately (forgive my double negative, but I am doing the ten DON"Ts LOL)....for mini's a great trick I invented (though I say I invented it but I only say that because I never read it anywhere..doesn't mean someone else didn't figure it out before me and invent it FIRST..lolol)....e.g. for two millimeter eyes...you are crazy if you think you can keep them in place while you sculpt a one to two inch doll around them without baking them in position first.....do yourself a favor and go ahead and bake those small eyes in position in a tiny piece of clay first and then sculpt around that eye block. If eyes are off, the sculpt will NEVER be good....so this is SO important....eyes being crosseyed are better than eyes being wall-eyed from an observer's perspective ..............the reason being that the eyes cross naturally when focusing on a near object, but will never go past straight ahead to wall-eyed even if looking in the distance in a normal adult....babies can go crosseyed and walleyed during the first three to six months of life, but it still makes for a disturbing image...seems out of place to the observer....so just align them from the beginning so that won't be why you sculpt doesn't sell. Also for sleepers make lids with eyeballs under them....in other words....make a lid somewhat spherical like half an egg, rather than flat like a plate...eyelids cover ROUND eyeballs that are spheres, so there should be some contour to the lids.....and if you have to bake little sphere balls and put them in place before you sculpt the lids if you can't trust yourself not to flatten them too much :0).
6. DON"T trust the light reflex to align eyes exclusively. Another comment about eyes..but this is my forte'.....I know it has been discussed that you line up the eyes by the little Hirschberg reflex in each pupil.....and this is one of the tests eye doctors do to test for eye alignment (fwiw, I am an eye doctor so maybe this is why eyes in sculpts are a big concern to me ;0) ....BUT I have had the unfortunate experience to discover that you can't base your glass eye alignment on this reflex completely....and I have realized the reason why......the corneas on these glass eyes (especially the miniature eyes) are not symmetrical to one another and so the reflex is skewed and if you line the eyes up according to this little light reflex your sculpt may in fact appear to have crossed or walled eyes even though the reflex is RIGHT where it should be...so use the light reflex as a guide but ultimately you have to 'eyeball' it (pun intended ;0)...LOL
7. RESIST...oh...RESIST the temptation to bake your sculpt too soon...this was very hard for me....VERY hard for me....once I got something looking right I wanted to bake it in place immediately dare I mess it up....it really is best to resist this urge and wait until the last possible second, minute, hour or day..lol...to bake it...because you will never have as much control over your sculpt as you do before the first bake. Even when you think you are finished and ready to bake...give it one final once over and especially look at head contour....that old sneaky head contour...so easy to get lost in the face and forget that your baby doesn't have a gulp...brain stem...;0)..LOLOL...you can use the old 'artist license' all you want, but people don't want to buy a baby with lumps and bumps all over his skull...they aren't practicing frenology and NO the added realism from the baby looking like they came through the birth canal will only go JUST so far....LOLOL....so that will be discussed in a bit more detail in number 9.
8. Don't rely on just washed hands to keep clay clean.....Seriously..use plastic wrap.....we hear about tinfoil...for armature etc...but really PLASTIC WRAP is your best friend....use it to store your conditioned clay in sections, make sure you cover your sculpt with it so it doesn't dry out or get dusty and even use it to smooth your sculpt...yes...sculpt with plastic wrap between your fingers and the clay...when you are roughing the structure it doesn't need to be perfectly smooth, but the less you touch your clay the better. I had read this tip and thought...NO....can't see me doing that...but finally I did it and am so glad I learned this tip and wonder why I didn't do this before.
9.Don't just 'go with the flow'......SYMMETRY MATTERS....whatever you do make it symmetrical...look from every angle.....unless it is a mouth or a particular expression that needs assymmetry make one half of the face look like the other...in fact I found that detail one half of the face first and then matching symmetrically the other side was a good technique for me (yes...in my seven sculpts...lolol....boy..I sure sound like an expert....like I have a ton of experience under my belt don't I???LOLOL)....but I know enough from plastic surgery shows on TLC that symmetry is key to beauty...so make your babies symmetrical....from all angles....look from below, above, straight ahead, right and left...seriously....this is an important tip....and can make the difference in a great sculpt and a sculpt that has something just a little 'off'.
10. I think the biggest DON"T is if 'you DON'T practice, you WON'T get better'.....I can tell that just getting your hands 'dirty' so to speak gives you more knowledge of the manipulation of the material and no book, tape or person can replace hours of practice. I did discover that sculpting with a very light pressure when detailing and making subtle curves and slopes in the clay rather than harsh distinctions would make a HUGE difference in the outcome of my sculpts....here I am talking like I am a good sculptor and believe me I am NOT...but I have seen improvement in just seven (or was that seven HUNDRED???) sculpts...felt like hundreds..lol.....but these are tips I would love to pass on to others in love with the art of sculpting. I cannot believe how passionate I am about this and hope everyone with this early love of this art can have a wee bit easier time at it by reading these ten don'ts :0)....Happy sculpting...xoxo Danna
The TEN DON"Ts for New Sculptors
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Melissas Babies
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You got it !!! you are on your way. pracrice practice!!
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Dannas_Storybookbabies
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well...I guess the point I was making is you can run your fingers over the clay lightly to smooth with the baby powder, but you have to be very careful that none of the clay moves over the powder leaving a pocket of powder....it won't be visible before you bake and then WHAM after you bake you will see all these white spots and it isn't until you start sanding and picking at the white spots that you discover...Oh MY...that it is just baby powder trapped under the clay....this is so easy to do....so use small amounts of baby powder with a brush and lightly ....VERY lightly smooth over the sculpt.....basically the bulk of your smoothing should have already been done...done depend on baby powder to do this...it is just to give a nice microsmooth finish. That is the best way I can explain it.....and a good idea before you even try baby powder is do it on a dirty piece of clay first and bake it just so you can see the results if you are too rough.
I think for seasoned sculptors it is easy to forget the things they learned from trial and error over time to pass on as it is just second nature to them now, kwim??....so I figured typing it down while fresh in my memory could save a lot of you a lot of my grief...LOL....just expect sculpting to be the most addictive thing you have ever done.....I can't believe how much I love it and I have only been at it a few months!!!
Thanks, Melissa! Nice to hear that this stuff is right and not just something that happens in my kitchen...LOL...fwiw...I can't cook worth a dang, so it wouldn't surprise me if I am wrong about these ten don'ts....LOLOLOLOL
I think for seasoned sculptors it is easy to forget the things they learned from trial and error over time to pass on as it is just second nature to them now, kwim??....so I figured typing it down while fresh in my memory could save a lot of you a lot of my grief...LOL....just expect sculpting to be the most addictive thing you have ever done.....I can't believe how much I love it and I have only been at it a few months!!!
Thanks, Melissa! Nice to hear that this stuff is right and not just something that happens in my kitchen...LOL...fwiw...I can't cook worth a dang, so it wouldn't surprise me if I am wrong about these ten don'ts....LOLOLOLOL
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lauras*touch
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Wow! That's great info. Thank you for posting it.
I wish I would have seen it sooner too. I used
baby oil on my sculpt
I haven't tried to cure it yet though.
Can I ask you what do you use to smooth it then?
Is it just the Prosculpt smoothing stuff? Does that work?
I'm a little confused.
Thank you, Laura
I wish I would have seen it sooner too. I used
baby oil on my sculpt
I haven't tried to cure it yet though.
Can I ask you what do you use to smooth it then?
Is it just the Prosculpt smoothing stuff? Does that work?
I'm a little confused.
Thank you, Laura
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BabiesByAH-Alexis
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mpalesse
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Yes, thank you so much!!! I've done a few small sculpts and couldn't get a smooth finish round the nose and eyes like I wanted. I think it might be a little easier with a larger sculpt, but I'm not sure. I don't want to make a big investment in clay and supplies to find out I don't have the talent for it. i guess I'm trying to build my confidence before really trying... 
All of your great tips really make me want to dive in! Having my own sculpt made in vinyl to reborn would be my dream come true. Okay I'm getting way ahead of myself..lol... Maybe in 20 years?
Thanks again! Hugs!
All of your great tips really make me want to dive in! Having my own sculpt made in vinyl to reborn would be my dream come true. Okay I'm getting way ahead of myself..lol... Maybe in 20 years? Thanks again! Hugs!
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Dannas_Storybookbabies
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Not doubting you, but I personally had trouble with it and the curing of clay. I also (ironically) happen to be taking a class with Jack this weekend...LOL...and asked him specifically about the baby oil and he told me to not use it to smooth the clay as it can change the structure of the clay and affect the curing of the clay. He also said he didn't use baby powder either. I have class again tomorrow and I will double check just to make sure....hopefully I didn't get the information wrong. I think possibly my problem with the oil was that I probably used way too much...so using just a bit probably won't chemically affect its ability to cure.
It has been a wonderful experience sculpting with him this weekend. Everything went wrong on my sculpt (huge cracks) and I have learned tons on how to avoid cracks and moonies and how to fix them too...whew...I think I need to add number 11 through 20 of what NOT to do again because I sure have done some doozies....lol...at least the master was there to fix them for me :0). The whole head cracked open...and I mean a huge crack and there were cracks in the face, and neck as well and I have managed to repair them all so they are invisible. I am so glad this happened to me so that I have seen the worst case and discovered why it happened and I at least know how to manage it should it happen again.
I will try to think of some more helpful tips I have been learning...there are just so many great things I have learned in the past week, it is so hard to remember them all to pass them on to everyone.
It has been a wonderful experience sculpting with him this weekend. Everything went wrong on my sculpt (huge cracks) and I have learned tons on how to avoid cracks and moonies and how to fix them too...whew...I think I need to add number 11 through 20 of what NOT to do again because I sure have done some doozies....lol...at least the master was there to fix them for me :0). The whole head cracked open...and I mean a huge crack and there were cracks in the face, and neck as well and I have managed to repair them all so they are invisible. I am so glad this happened to me so that I have seen the worst case and discovered why it happened and I at least know how to manage it should it happen again.
I will try to think of some more helpful tips I have been learning...there are just so many great things I have learned in the past week, it is so hard to remember them all to pass them on to everyone.
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judytoons
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Just one comment
I can only argue one point to this wonderful information from Danna. She said she is no expert on sculpting but I sat next to her in several classes and people she is an expert! She is doing amazing work and will be a star just you wait and see!!
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Dannas_Storybookbabies
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Time to revise....hee hee...now that I am the older, but wiser sculptor.....feeling quite vintage at the moment as I have had to deal with such cracking atrocities that no self-respecting sculptor would put up with!!!
OK........where are we....number 11???
11. As disloyal as I feel saying this....abandon whatever clay you are using and GO FOR the cernit/ supersculpey mix that Willow Dawn (and more recently Lori has convinced me to try) had suggested I use WAY back in the beginning, but no.....NO......I didn't listen.....why oh why didn't I listen...having just sculpted my first head in this mixture.....Baby....it is DA BOMB!!!!!! talk about not needing to smooth, no moonies, no cracking...much stronger....OMGOSH.......I am saving myself HOURS upon HOURS of time, by switching.....less sanding needed, no more need for rogaine due to eternally pulling my hair out as my sculpt inevitably would crack using the ever popular clay that starts with the letter P . Cheaper...far cheaper......the only downside is having to mix it, but I would rather mix than fix cracks. so newbie sculptors..do yourself a favor.....and just start with this from the beginning...trust me.....I have been sculpting for ten months now and I am KICKING MYSELF for not switching sooner. Maybe...it is just some magnetic field I put off that causes my clay to crack, but there were times when I thought I would just have to give up as I was spending more time fixing cracks than actually sculpting!!! Baby, release yourself from the shackles and experiment with different clays!
12. There is debate over this topic....BUT let me tell you......listen to me on this one if you ever plan on making silicone or resin reproductions of your sculpts....you MUST cure your sculpt fully....and that involves reading the instructions on the label and doing what it says.....I know I may not be popular saying this and I don't know everything, but since I took that mold making class I learned that lots of artists, some even well-known (now I don't know who specifically btw) their sculpts won't make it through the molding process because their clay isn't cured fully. If the recommended temp is 275 degress for ten minutes for quarter inch thickness you need to do just that....not saying that it can't work baking at lower for longer as I know LOTS of sculptors do this and have success, but you can't be assured that it is cured completely through if you don't follow the directions. It is only when the sculpt is put under the stress of mold-making that you will discover that the piece is undercured .....( I know this personally because the piece I used to make my mold from was undercured...was made from a clay that begins with P....lol....and I thought I had done it right...even put it in ice cold water to get it be 'harder' supposedly...what a FLOP...everyone else in the class used supersculpey.....one bakes at a lower temp and her piece also broke fwiw..but mine broke worse...super sculpey was definitely much harder though). Better to burn your sculpt than undercure it if you are reproducing it, in my opinion. Hope I don't get flack for this....not trying to say I know it all...just passing on my frustration on sculpt breakage and cracking and I have run the gamut on this and know this frustration WELL.
13. which leads me to tip number 13.....I got so frustrated that I investigated ways to make my sculpts stronger...I tried everything as far as armatures go.....from wire to foil, to copper tubing, to serial baking an armature skeleton. And the best thing I have found is apoxie sculpt.....let me give you a picture of how strong this stuff is.....in the mold making class I was working on a limb and had my arm in a vice to cut off the edge of the apoxie sculpt (I needed 3/4 limbs instead of full so I needed to chop some of the arm off) so I had my arm in a vice and was using a SAW to cut through the end of the arm...and that stuff is HARD to cut through...well...I had an internal skeleton of foil, wire AND apoxie sculpt even used it throughout the fingers and when I finally cut through the end, my arm fell out of the vice onto the concrete floor and not one of the fingers broke off....made a believer out of all of us in class!!!! Just imagine the strength you can give your OOAKs if you take the time to do this for your sculpts....and keep in mind my arm was made out of the clay that starts with the letter P......so the skeleton did its job!!!! Why you don't read about this stuff on the baby boards is beyond me. I found out about this stuff on a fairy board fwiw..they use it all the time.
14. The art of sanding.....if you really want to make your sculpts look professional then you need to sand...end of story. I have also tried every type of sandpaper around.....are you getting a clear picture of what my house looks like by this time??? Yes....cluttered with art supplies is an understatement. So....how do I sand....not being the expert sander by any means...in fact hardly ever having touched sandpaper in my LIFE before sculpting if this gives you a very clear picture of my before-clay lifestyle......well....you need to start from coarse grit and proceed through the grits until you get to the most fine grit available. I have even found a special type of drywall sandpaper that was different than the average sandpaper in that it had holes in and it looked more like a chainlink fence but was more sharp.....I had to use this to smoothe all the lumps left from the clay that starts with the letter P.....could never get the head smoothe enough as I would end up squooshing the detail out of other parts of my sculpt when doing the head so this always left a lot to sand in the end...(note...use the new cernit/SS mixture and you won't have this issue).....but one good thing with using the P. clay is that I did learn to be a good sander...for this I will always be grateful to the P. clay...lol. so...you keep sanding..sanding, sanding....until you get a sculpt as smoothe as a baby's bottom. Then I would use the finest grade steel wool with acetone and smooth the larger areas of my sculpt yet some more...be careful with the acetone as this eats the clay and if it gets in the cracks it can eat away the detail...so I would rinse my clay well quickly after I used the acetone....finally I always would finish with a coating of baby oil all over my sculpt to turn the clay back to the original color and let it sit overnight usually and then wipe the excess off the next day.
15. It is funny, but I don't have much to show for myself for having been sculpting almost a year now, but I think part of my learning curve has been to not give up on a sculpt ever. IOW, each of my sculpts would be the equivalent work of probably three or four sculpts as I was busy correcting cracking issues or even if I would have a sculpt finished I would go back when I discovered something new and would resand or resculpt portions that I was not pleased with. It was like I hated to give up on the sculpt as that was like saying it was the best I could do and I always know that the next sculpt will be better. I have learned though to work through my frustration.....there were times when I felt that a sculpt I had done that I liked must have just been a fluke...that I didn't have any sculpting ability really....that was how I felt, but I discovered that Practice really is the key....each face has its own issues and once you have dealt with certain issues enough times you get past it and it becomes more natural. In fact I am pleased to see that sculpting a decent head doesn't take me nearly as much time as the first few I did. The sculpt I did for the RDK contest took me a month and that was after I redid the head THREE times....didn't bake just reused the clay....I would almost get it and then decide it wasn't exact enough and then would tear it down and start from scratch...it got so bad that my husband would tell me before he would go to bed...now don't tear this one up...you are close....but I found that by working through the issues that I would get past that issue and could sculpt that problem part more quickly as I figured out how to do it...not that my contest baby was great or anything, but I learned a great deal on her. I am finally getting to the point where I know if I spend enough time with a sculpt I can end up moderately pleased with it...which is saying a lot for me as I tend to hate most of my sculpts...and I only say this because it has been the last three or four heads that have proved this to me. And....most importantly I know this is only because of practice. It is so true....practice makes perfect......well...maybe not perfect...but practice makes improvement that is for sure!!
16. Lastly, as I am sure my posts might be misinterpreted as someone who thinks they know it all, I want to say that my personal feeling is so contrary to that. I feel like there is so much more I can know and can learn (((((in fact I take back some of my tips regarding baby oil for smoothing as now I can use it and achieve a nicely cured smoothe piece, but as a newbie I couldn't and that was part of my learning curve and learning to work out my ' issues' with clay.)))) My last advice to the newbie sculptor who wants to learn is seek out those who are helpful. I think the baby doll community as a whole tends to be a bit tight-lipped with regards to giving a new sculptor a hand up. I don't know if it is just that those that are established just don't have time to help out by answering the questions of new sculptors or if it is more that they don't want to share their 'trade secrets'. I can't understand either position really as by giving , you will receive. Maybe I am naive with regards to this, but helping out a fellow sculptor achieve their fullest potential should have no bearing on my potential abilities as a sculptor. It could be the same idea that many professions subscribe to 'why help the competition', but what a sad community that would be to live in. I had to go to school with sharks and dealt with jealousy on that end, as some have to work harder to get to the same level. I do believe that the more I have shared, the more I have gotten back in all facets of my life. I would suggest that the newbie sculptor be sure to look out for the fledgling sculptors that emerge and take them under their wing. Can you imagine what heights we all could achieve if we built upon each other's foundations? Another thing I have noticed is that those who have achieved their pinnacle, have no fears in their abilities and in fact tend to be more sharing and helpful. (Ok...maybe they are able to make a buck off of giving advice too...I am not THAT naive....hee hee....nothing wrong with making a buck off your knowledge). I think there is a fine line between what is your personal artistic priviledge versus knowledge common to sculpting as a whole. IOW, the tips that I have shared are pretty common knowledge with veteran sculptors in general. If someone really wants to find this information out, eventually they would with enough trial and errors and digging. I am not saying that an artist who develops a new technique that has resulted in something never achieved before should be giving this information out.......this I would define as personal artistic priviledge and is what makes healthy competiton in an artistic community. I think any of us involved in any artistic pursuit probably find few to share this love in day to day life...at least in the circle I run in, I can't find anyone willing to even pick up a paint brush, let alone some clay!! So to be part of an online community dedicated to this is truly a treasure! We should treat it as such! Sharing with others in the end will make you a better sculptor. I truly believe this in my heart!
Thanks to all who have read my ramblings. I feel so very grateful that I have found this artistic passion and can interact with others who are just as passionate about art as I am! Isn't sculpting, THE BOMB!!!! Wahoooo!!!!
OK........where are we....number 11???
11. As disloyal as I feel saying this....abandon whatever clay you are using and GO FOR the cernit/ supersculpey mix that Willow Dawn (and more recently Lori has convinced me to try) had suggested I use WAY back in the beginning, but no.....NO......I didn't listen.....why oh why didn't I listen...having just sculpted my first head in this mixture.....Baby....it is DA BOMB!!!!!! talk about not needing to smooth, no moonies, no cracking...much stronger....OMGOSH.......I am saving myself HOURS upon HOURS of time, by switching.....less sanding needed, no more need for rogaine due to eternally pulling my hair out as my sculpt inevitably would crack using the ever popular clay that starts with the letter P . Cheaper...far cheaper......the only downside is having to mix it, but I would rather mix than fix cracks. so newbie sculptors..do yourself a favor.....and just start with this from the beginning...trust me.....I have been sculpting for ten months now and I am KICKING MYSELF for not switching sooner. Maybe...it is just some magnetic field I put off that causes my clay to crack, but there were times when I thought I would just have to give up as I was spending more time fixing cracks than actually sculpting!!! Baby, release yourself from the shackles and experiment with different clays!
12. There is debate over this topic....BUT let me tell you......listen to me on this one if you ever plan on making silicone or resin reproductions of your sculpts....you MUST cure your sculpt fully....and that involves reading the instructions on the label and doing what it says.....I know I may not be popular saying this and I don't know everything, but since I took that mold making class I learned that lots of artists, some even well-known (now I don't know who specifically btw) their sculpts won't make it through the molding process because their clay isn't cured fully. If the recommended temp is 275 degress for ten minutes for quarter inch thickness you need to do just that....not saying that it can't work baking at lower for longer as I know LOTS of sculptors do this and have success, but you can't be assured that it is cured completely through if you don't follow the directions. It is only when the sculpt is put under the stress of mold-making that you will discover that the piece is undercured .....( I know this personally because the piece I used to make my mold from was undercured...was made from a clay that begins with P....lol....and I thought I had done it right...even put it in ice cold water to get it be 'harder' supposedly...what a FLOP...everyone else in the class used supersculpey.....one bakes at a lower temp and her piece also broke fwiw..but mine broke worse...super sculpey was definitely much harder though). Better to burn your sculpt than undercure it if you are reproducing it, in my opinion. Hope I don't get flack for this....not trying to say I know it all...just passing on my frustration on sculpt breakage and cracking and I have run the gamut on this and know this frustration WELL.
13. which leads me to tip number 13.....I got so frustrated that I investigated ways to make my sculpts stronger...I tried everything as far as armatures go.....from wire to foil, to copper tubing, to serial baking an armature skeleton. And the best thing I have found is apoxie sculpt.....let me give you a picture of how strong this stuff is.....in the mold making class I was working on a limb and had my arm in a vice to cut off the edge of the apoxie sculpt (I needed 3/4 limbs instead of full so I needed to chop some of the arm off) so I had my arm in a vice and was using a SAW to cut through the end of the arm...and that stuff is HARD to cut through...well...I had an internal skeleton of foil, wire AND apoxie sculpt even used it throughout the fingers and when I finally cut through the end, my arm fell out of the vice onto the concrete floor and not one of the fingers broke off....made a believer out of all of us in class!!!! Just imagine the strength you can give your OOAKs if you take the time to do this for your sculpts....and keep in mind my arm was made out of the clay that starts with the letter P......so the skeleton did its job!!!! Why you don't read about this stuff on the baby boards is beyond me. I found out about this stuff on a fairy board fwiw..they use it all the time.
14. The art of sanding.....if you really want to make your sculpts look professional then you need to sand...end of story. I have also tried every type of sandpaper around.....are you getting a clear picture of what my house looks like by this time??? Yes....cluttered with art supplies is an understatement. So....how do I sand....not being the expert sander by any means...in fact hardly ever having touched sandpaper in my LIFE before sculpting if this gives you a very clear picture of my before-clay lifestyle......well....you need to start from coarse grit and proceed through the grits until you get to the most fine grit available. I have even found a special type of drywall sandpaper that was different than the average sandpaper in that it had holes in and it looked more like a chainlink fence but was more sharp.....I had to use this to smoothe all the lumps left from the clay that starts with the letter P.....could never get the head smoothe enough as I would end up squooshing the detail out of other parts of my sculpt when doing the head so this always left a lot to sand in the end...(note...use the new cernit/SS mixture and you won't have this issue).....but one good thing with using the P. clay is that I did learn to be a good sander...for this I will always be grateful to the P. clay...lol. so...you keep sanding..sanding, sanding....until you get a sculpt as smoothe as a baby's bottom. Then I would use the finest grade steel wool with acetone and smooth the larger areas of my sculpt yet some more...be careful with the acetone as this eats the clay and if it gets in the cracks it can eat away the detail...so I would rinse my clay well quickly after I used the acetone....finally I always would finish with a coating of baby oil all over my sculpt to turn the clay back to the original color and let it sit overnight usually and then wipe the excess off the next day.
15. It is funny, but I don't have much to show for myself for having been sculpting almost a year now, but I think part of my learning curve has been to not give up on a sculpt ever. IOW, each of my sculpts would be the equivalent work of probably three or four sculpts as I was busy correcting cracking issues or even if I would have a sculpt finished I would go back when I discovered something new and would resand or resculpt portions that I was not pleased with. It was like I hated to give up on the sculpt as that was like saying it was the best I could do and I always know that the next sculpt will be better. I have learned though to work through my frustration.....there were times when I felt that a sculpt I had done that I liked must have just been a fluke...that I didn't have any sculpting ability really....that was how I felt, but I discovered that Practice really is the key....each face has its own issues and once you have dealt with certain issues enough times you get past it and it becomes more natural. In fact I am pleased to see that sculpting a decent head doesn't take me nearly as much time as the first few I did. The sculpt I did for the RDK contest took me a month and that was after I redid the head THREE times....didn't bake just reused the clay....I would almost get it and then decide it wasn't exact enough and then would tear it down and start from scratch...it got so bad that my husband would tell me before he would go to bed...now don't tear this one up...you are close....but I found that by working through the issues that I would get past that issue and could sculpt that problem part more quickly as I figured out how to do it...not that my contest baby was great or anything, but I learned a great deal on her. I am finally getting to the point where I know if I spend enough time with a sculpt I can end up moderately pleased with it...which is saying a lot for me as I tend to hate most of my sculpts...and I only say this because it has been the last three or four heads that have proved this to me. And....most importantly I know this is only because of practice. It is so true....practice makes perfect......well...maybe not perfect...but practice makes improvement that is for sure!!
16. Lastly, as I am sure my posts might be misinterpreted as someone who thinks they know it all, I want to say that my personal feeling is so contrary to that. I feel like there is so much more I can know and can learn (((((in fact I take back some of my tips regarding baby oil for smoothing as now I can use it and achieve a nicely cured smoothe piece, but as a newbie I couldn't and that was part of my learning curve and learning to work out my ' issues' with clay.)))) My last advice to the newbie sculptor who wants to learn is seek out those who are helpful. I think the baby doll community as a whole tends to be a bit tight-lipped with regards to giving a new sculptor a hand up. I don't know if it is just that those that are established just don't have time to help out by answering the questions of new sculptors or if it is more that they don't want to share their 'trade secrets'. I can't understand either position really as by giving , you will receive. Maybe I am naive with regards to this, but helping out a fellow sculptor achieve their fullest potential should have no bearing on my potential abilities as a sculptor. It could be the same idea that many professions subscribe to 'why help the competition', but what a sad community that would be to live in. I had to go to school with sharks and dealt with jealousy on that end, as some have to work harder to get to the same level. I do believe that the more I have shared, the more I have gotten back in all facets of my life. I would suggest that the newbie sculptor be sure to look out for the fledgling sculptors that emerge and take them under their wing. Can you imagine what heights we all could achieve if we built upon each other's foundations? Another thing I have noticed is that those who have achieved their pinnacle, have no fears in their abilities and in fact tend to be more sharing and helpful. (Ok...maybe they are able to make a buck off of giving advice too...I am not THAT naive....hee hee....nothing wrong with making a buck off your knowledge). I think there is a fine line between what is your personal artistic priviledge versus knowledge common to sculpting as a whole. IOW, the tips that I have shared are pretty common knowledge with veteran sculptors in general. If someone really wants to find this information out, eventually they would with enough trial and errors and digging. I am not saying that an artist who develops a new technique that has resulted in something never achieved before should be giving this information out.......this I would define as personal artistic priviledge and is what makes healthy competiton in an artistic community. I think any of us involved in any artistic pursuit probably find few to share this love in day to day life...at least in the circle I run in, I can't find anyone willing to even pick up a paint brush, let alone some clay!! So to be part of an online community dedicated to this is truly a treasure! We should treat it as such! Sharing with others in the end will make you a better sculptor. I truly believe this in my heart!
Thanks to all who have read my ramblings. I feel so very grateful that I have found this artistic passion and can interact with others who are just as passionate about art as I am! Isn't sculpting, THE BOMB!!!! Wahoooo!!!!
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Dannas_Storybookbabies
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Just thought of one more thing I learned and found this very, very interesting. Most seasoned sculptors have realized that they tend to sculpt heavy on one side......well...I now know the reason why. It all has to do with your eye dominance and I was able to test this theory out during the silicone mold making class a few weeks ago. At least this theory held true for the three of us there :0). I am left eye dominant (although I am right handed...supposed to make me a good batter...HA!!...ain't so....) but anyway....turns out because I am left eye dominant the left side of the sculpt in my view ( the sculpt's right side) is always the more correct side. In other words the right side of the sculpt in my view always needs a bit more clay, the eye tends to be closer to the the nose etc. What is interesting that since I have become aware of this I tend to automatically correct for it and so haven't had the issues I had in the beginning with asymmetry. I am sure you have all heard about turning your sculpt around in the mirror and you will see the asymmetry...well the reason this happens is because of your eye dominance.
I guess I should also explain how to know which is your dominant eye...and it has nothing to do with which hand you use, btw. Basically make a small hole with your hands as if framing a picture...extend your arms and actually frame a small object in the distance with BOTH your eyes open....then while holding still intermittently close each eye and whichever eye has the image in the center of your 'frame' is your dominant eye.
I would love to test this theory out (as YES, I am that much of a geek!) so any of you sculptors out there that are willing to chime in on whether this theory is true for you...well...I am extremely curious.....ok...just wanted to add this as I thought it was fascinating (gosh, I need to SHUT up...I am showing myself as the biggest geek that has ever lived hee hee).
I guess I should also explain how to know which is your dominant eye...and it has nothing to do with which hand you use, btw. Basically make a small hole with your hands as if framing a picture...extend your arms and actually frame a small object in the distance with BOTH your eyes open....then while holding still intermittently close each eye and whichever eye has the image in the center of your 'frame' is your dominant eye.
I would love to test this theory out (as YES, I am that much of a geek!) so any of you sculptors out there that are willing to chime in on whether this theory is true for you...well...I am extremely curious.....ok...just wanted to add this as I thought it was fascinating (gosh, I need to SHUT up...I am showing myself as the biggest geek that has ever lived hee hee).
