Okay, you're back. Good. Now let's get started. Before we actually get down to the making of heads, you've got to get yourself acquainted with some of the basics. So here's where I pull the equivalent of a Mr. Myagi with a "wax-on" "wax-off" approach. Now don't worry, I am not going to make you sand my deck. But alot of sculpting is based in the ability to make and apply certain fundamental shapes like the following:
- Spheres
- Ellipses
- Ropes/Snakes
- Boxes with rounded corners
- Tetrahedral pyramids
And you need to be able to make them in a variety of sizes and handle them with a delicacy that won't deform them. So drop any expectations you had of actually getting to the sculpting today, and begin your training by seeing if you can make these simple shapes in several sizes. You will only need your fingers for this, but you can use your tools if it makes it easier. For the smallest shapes, see if you can make them about 1/2 the size of a grain of rice. (Try gently rolling between thumb and forefinger). Follow (fig. A) as a guide. Take a few hours. I'll be here when you get back.
Okay, now for your second lesson. See if you can make all of the preceding shapes, but with no fingerprints in them. This can be accomplished by lightly, but swiftly, brushing your finger in ONE direction over the surface of the clay. This is one of the most important techniques to learn. You can also accomplish this to some degree by using your roller tool. Finally, when you've got fingerprints in a complex area that you can't get out, apply a small smear of Isopropyl (Rubbing) alcohol with a paint brush to the area LIGHTLY. Isopropanol is a solvent of polymer clays and can be used to dissolve imperfections provided you don't use too much. If you put too much on, blow on it quickly in order to evaporate it as rapidly as possible. Apply only with a paint brush, not with a q-tip. Okay, go practice this and come back.
Okay, are you feeling confident? Are you feeling like you've got a handle on this clay? Alright, then let's begin.
One of the mistakes that beginning sculptors make when dealing with Super Sculpey is that they don't realize that it can be baked partially, have more clay applied, baked again, add more clay and so on... This comes in really handy because it allows you to bake certain areas of the sculpt that are relatively finished and that look good, and will allow you to handle them while you work on the rest of the head w/o ruining your job.
Now when working with other clays, sometimes it's wise to create an inner armature of wire for the sculpted piece to anchor itself to, but I've found this only causes trouble with S.S. (super sculpey), because the heat generated by the wire inside the clay causes hairline cracks to form as it bakes. No, I like my approach much better, and we will thus assemble our head in the following stages:
1) Neck,
Stump, bake
2) Head rudiment, eye sockets, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, ears, bake
3) Finish detail of eyes, hair, bake
4) Sand and fix imperfections, and final additions, bake
5) Paint
By baking in stages we don't have to worry about ruining previous work. So let' s being with the first part, the neck, and neck plug:
Pull off a lump of S.S. about the size of a Mego head and knead it until soft and warm. Roll it into an ellipse that is about as thick as a Mego neck and tapered at both ends (fig. C). Push this into the neck hole of a Mego body. Some of the clay will be forced through the hole into the body cavity, and this will serve as your neck plug since this squeezed clay will be the same width as the neck hole. Coating the inside rim of the neck with a little cooking oil will ease in the removal of the stump from the neck hole when the time comes.
Taper the upper part of the stump to a point (this point should end about 1/s" lower than how high you want the uppermost portion of the future head to reach. So if the crown of the head is x-inches high from the base of the neck, the point of the stump should be about x-1/2"). This point will serve as the armature of the head and you will "impale" (for lack of a better term) the future clay of the head on it.
Smooth the stump by running your finger over the surface of the clay in one direction, lightly. Use the X-acto blade to cut away any excess that you have smeared onto the torso now. Preheat your oven to 275°F, and take a large lump of clay and press it into the shape seen in (fig. E). You are creating a pedestal for your future sculpt to rest in as it bakes. To keep it from sticking to your sculpt, cover it with a scrap of aluminum foil, and then place this on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Holding the stump near the top, so it won't matter if you damage it, remove the stump (fig. D) from the neck hole and lay this onto the pedestal, and bake this thing for 35-40 mins.
