I don't really do a lot of sculpting. I haven't made anything for years and can probably count on one hand all the pieces I have made. My very first 'sculpture' happened quite by accident. One night my boyfriend at the time turned up on the doorstep with a big grin on his face. "I've brought you this!" he said, and handed me the foam cushion from a bus seat! I know, I know, other boys would bring flowers or maybe chocolates but he was a weird boy. Anyway, it turned out that he had been walking home the night before and some kids had thrown it at him out of a passing bus window - no, really. So after looking at it for a few days I set about it with a pair of nail scissors and eventually, out of the growing pile of foam clippings Bert the Dragon emerged.
Sadly, this is the only remaining photo of Bert, taken through a display case (yes, my art teacher made me put him on display :-O )
Later attempts at 3D work were done using Daz air-hardening clay - I wasn't very good, bits kept dropping off; then Milliput putty - nice but sticky. Finally a friend of mine, Jason who is an excellent sculptor of fantasy creatures, took pity on me and told me about Super Sculpey. I thought it was my birthday - this stuff is just fab and soon spawned the offensive little creature you see below.
So, suddenly this week I found myself with the overwhelming urge to make 'something'. Once I get a bee in my bonnet about this kind of thing, the meerest hint of a sniff of an idea forming, I want to working on it before the feeling fades or the images drift from my mind again. My work table is now covered with dental tools, pliers, masking tape and clay. I don't know exactly what I'm making yet but I'm going to chart my progress, problems, injuries (!) and hopefully successes here over the next few weeks.
Please tune in for the next exciting episode of 'Shona tries to build a creature' :)
Very impressed by your first efforts. I love sculpey it's so versatile. Have you tried using different colours and adding a light stain (acrylic or ink)rather than a heavy paint job?
ReplyDeleteI totally relate to the urge to just make, especially when playing with a new technique or material without inhibitions, experimenting like this often throws up great ideas or effects.
Thank you!! I'm itching to open the box of sculpey I've got waiting, just working on an armature at the moment. LOL the paintwork is defintely a lesson learned from last time - he looks like he's been under a sun-lamp for too long! Watered down acrylics, this time I think. I know I'm being a bit over-ambitious with this - lots of techniques to learn and try out - and I've chucked myself in head-first but heh, I'm enjoying it :)
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