Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tutorial - How to Apply Hair to Fairies
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Blue Pixie - Sculpted
This sculpt is finished and ready for painting. I meant to stop part way through to take pictures but as I'm sculpting I lose track of the world around me...even when my camera is sitting right beside me!
This pixie didn't turn out the way I had imagined. I think my brain is so used to sculpting in a certain style that when I try to make something different it still looks like my 'normal' fairies.
Maybe I should do some sketches to follow - keep me on track while I sculpt. I'll try again.
Blue Pixie - Work in Progress
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pixies, Fairies, and Hybrids - sculpting evolution
I normally sculpt 2" high pixies that have 3 fingers, 3 toes, stubby arms and legs, sometimes colorful skin tones or 4" fairies that have 5 fingers, 5 toes, more realistic proportions, and natural skin tones.
I noticed that I have started to make some sculptures that are 3", with 4 fingers, 3 toes and I'm having a hard time placing them in a category. Pixie? No, it's larger and has more fingers. Fairy? Not really, it does not have 5 fingers, 5 toes, and it's proportions are different.
So I think it's a pixie-fairy hybrid...but that's a silly category name. Anyone have any suggestions of a category name for these in between types?
May 28, 2009
I have decided to name all my fairies and pixies - 'fairies'. Whether they are 2", 3", or 4" high, or the number of fingers & toes they will all be in one category.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Sculpture Numbering Changes
So now my 25th pixie sculpt that was made just after my 400th fairy sculpt is now sculpture #401.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Polymer clay doll sculpting tips & tools
Quick doll sculpting tips
-follow baking instructions on the package
-use separate ovens for clay and food
-use 1 or 2 additional thermometers inside the oven to find the true temperature
-bake sculptures fully each time, even when series baking
-let cool completely before touching the sculpt
-moonies are little crescent shaped marks or cracks that may be caused by handling a sculpt while still warm, pockets of air/moisture trapped in the clay, baking at too high a temperature
-I use an outline drawing of the doll to create the size of armature needed
-I like using a wire armature with clay baked onto places where bones would be, leaving the joints free of clay. This makes it easy to pose the doll after it is sculpted. Although sometimes a sculpt may need a super sturdy wire/rod and the armature will be posed before sculpting.
-I like using puppen fimo clay for its strength and flexibility, although it tends to get more moonies
-I also like a prosculpt mix (with super sculpey or cernit) for its creamy texture and few moonies, although it is more brittle than puppen
-some great tools are knitting needles, tapestry needle, pin, knife, 2-pointed compass thingy, wooden tools, and soft paint brushes for smoothing
-wash your hands before sculpting
-have a ball of scrap clay ready to clean your fingers and work surface while you sculpt, helps lessen the dust & lint
-studying reference pictures is very helpful -I like using genesis heat set paints to blush my dolls after they are baked -I paint the eyes with genesis or acrylic paints -sometimes I use glass beads for eyes/sometimes I sculpt the eyeball