Polymer Clay Fan

We know how difficult it is to come up with new and yet inexpensive ideas for classroom art projects. Our staff is always on the alert for great new ideas (if you have any, let us know! We are always adding to our library of free downloadable lesson plans). Our art lesson plans are either in PDF format or PowerPoint presentations, and they can be downloaded absolutely free. For elementary school students there are easy-to-follow explanations of lithography; portrait sculpture in clay; dinosaur bone clay relief sculpture; polymer clay bead making; prehistoric cave art; and even making clay skulls to celebrate Mexico’s Day of the Dead. For high school students there are more advanced art projects such as multi-color printing; sculpting insects with polymer clay; relief sculpture; making reproductions of Chinese vessels in bronze; sculpting life sized heads and ceramic self-portraits. There is also an Introduction to Glass in the Classroom; making fused and slumped warm glass objects d’art; glass casting; and glass jewelry making. Read the rest of this entry »

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Caliper

If you ever plan to sculpt anything that is symmetrical in design then a caliper is a must. Calipers are an important sculpting tool because they help you accurately measure of length, width and distance of the different pieces that make up a sculpture. There may be some sculptors out there that can accurately sculpt a symmetrical design by sight alone but for us mere mortals the caliper is a must have tool.

If you have been sculpting for some time and do not own a caliper, there is a very strong chance that at one time or another you still have used a very crude and basic caliper tool. What I’m talking about is your thumb and index finger. Have you ever sculpted an arm on one side of the body and use your thumb and index finger to measure the length so that you could accurately match it to the arm on the other side of the body? How about when you sculpt a face or a torse, are you like me and draw a center line seperating the object into two? Did you ever use a string, a ruler or your fingers to check that both halves of the face or torso were even in both the width, length and thickness?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you have turned your thumb and index finger into a very crude caliper. The problem with the “homemade” version of caliper is that it doesn’t always provide the most accurate results. A professional caliper eliminates the guessing game and gives the artist the ability to take measurements with ease.  Unlike some of the other tools that are required for sculpting, this is really only a onetime investment.  You wont use it all the time but it is a real gem in those situations when an accurate measurement is needed. Read the rest of this entry »

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What is Polymer Clay

Polymer clay is a material you can sculpt. It is based on polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC) material. It usually contains no clay minerals and is only called “clay” because its texture and properties resemble mineral clay. Polymer clay is sold in craft, art and hobby stores. It is used by artists, hobbyists and children.

All polymer clay brands include PVC and one or more liquid plastic. Pigments may be added to the base to create colors along with small amounts of kaolin or white china clay. Mica may also be added to make a metallic looking clay.

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There are several different ways that I could approach sculpting the scars on my sculpture and no one way is really better than the other. Since I’m working with polymer clay, Super Sculpey to be specific, the easiest approach in my opinion is to roll out snakes of clay and remove the unwanted pieces. If I was working with wax I may take a different approach such as adding small balls of wax one at a time but I would have to experiment first before confirming.

* Note: I’ve blocked out parts of the sculpture in case anyone is sensitive to nudity. Once I’m finished I’ll add a link to an uncensored picture of the sculpture for anyone that wants to see the complete design. This will be done at the end of the tutorial and for now I’ll just censor the pics as needed. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m going to use wax for this tutorial but the same effects can be achieved with polymer clay.

Tools needed:

• Polymer clay or wax
• Mechanical pencil
• Dental Tools
  
• Soft brush

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Polymer clay example

Polymer clay is a unique sculpting medium that offers a versatility unmatched by any other product in its class. Although other sculpting mediums, such as waxes, may allow more ease for sharper details no other medium can duplicate polymer clays ability to easily create a completed work of art. Details are not foreign with polymer clay either, with enough time and practice anyone can create highly detailed artwork using nothing but polymer clay.This site is a collection of information, tips and sculpting tutorials for my favorite sculpting mediums…Polymer Clay.

My name is Gerald Gore and I am a self taught sculptor. The tutorials on this site are a step-by-step pictures of some of the sculptures I have created. You can read more about me and how I got started sculpting on the About page.

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Polymer clay is a very versatile and wonderful medium to work with. Whether your polymer clay art interest is jewelry, wildlife art, dolls, figurines or other polymer clay projects, there are no limitations to the quality of work that you can do. Listed below are examples of a few sculptures created in Polymer Clay.

Polymer clay angel

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From my experience there is a vast difference in the amount of effort that is required to smooth out wax sculptures versus sculptures sculpted with any of the polymer clays. The underlying principles and concepts are the same but wax, when cooled, is a much harder medium and thus requires quite a bit more work to achieve the desired result. Keep in mind that this is under the assumption that you smooth out your polymer clay sculptures prior to baking, which I have always done in the past. Some sculptors will bake their polymer clay sculptures and use wet sanding techniques for the final smoothing stages (this process will exponentially increases the amount of work needed to smooth out the sculpture).

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Recently I had put together a little article that outlines some of the key differences between sculpting with wax and polymer clays (http://www.polymerclayfan.com/sculpting-with-wax-vs-polymer-clay.htm). In hindsight, the review was more of a comparison between sculpting with Super Sculpey and a relatively new wax called FUSE. I think it is important to point out that not all polymer clays are created equal and the same case could be made for wax. As of the writing of this article, FUSE is the only wax I have ever tried so the chances are that my opinions regarding sculpting with wax could drastically change from one wax product to another.

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The Lazy Susan is one of those tools that once you start using it you will wonder how you ever got along without it.  Maybe not ideal for small pieces but when sculpting larger pieces it really is a must have.  If you are not familiar what a  Lazy Susan is and have no idea what I am talking about you can read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_Susan.

When I first started sculpting I used a Lazy Susan for all my pieces.  Back then I was using a water based clay and the last thing that I wanted to do is pick a piece up and move it around.  When I shifted from water based to polymer clay based clays I for some reason for forgot all about this tool.  I recently rediscovered this little gem when I started working on one of my newer pieces (centaur image included at the bottom of the article - the Lazy Susan is the yellow plastic circle at the base of the sculpture).
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