Taking up a new craft or practicing a different art form is an excellent way to not just pass the time, but to destress and cultivate a skill that could lead to a viable side hustle. One craft that has been experiencing a resurgence as of late is clay sculpting. While it may seem like a complicated craft to pick, it’s actually just a matter of mastering a few basic techniques. Clay is a highly specific medium that requires its own set of tools, and foundational knowledge of how the material itself can react to being shaped and manipulated. Once you’ve managed to get the hang of it, however, you’ll want to keep practicing this wonderful craft and create your own special works of art. The following are a few pointers to help you get started in the art of clay sculpting.
You Need Lots of Room
Creating a clay sculpture, or even figuring out how to practice the craft, is going to be difficult if you don’t have a decent workspace. You don’t need a huge amount of space, but just enough to be able to move around, set up a work table, store your tools, and just be able to make a mess without ruining the furniture. The garage would be an especially amenable place to set up your workstation, although you can focus anywhere in the home with enough space and good lighting to get started.
Tools of the Trade
One of the best things about clay sculpting is that you will have a lot of fun playing around with various tools, including the clay itself. There are different types of sculpting clay to use to help you accomplish a variety of effects. And there is a wide assortment of knives, brushes, wire, and even stencils to help you create an array of textures. There are more advanced tools you can invest in once your skills improve, which help to add various subtle effects to your clay sculpture which can allow the creations to come to vivid life.
Become Familiar with the Armature
An armature is absolutely essential in your ability to cultivate a longstanding clay sculpting practice. It is basically a support structure around which you build the rest of the sculpture, which is essential in keeping the clay from collapsing into a puddle of mush. It is usually made with wire, which is especially helpful when making smaller sculptures since the wire is incredibly malleable. However, if you plan to experiment with a bigger work, then it is advisable to choose something like PVC to give it a stronger foundation. The end goal is to keep your sculpture standing and keep it from collapsing as you work. So, putting it together is one of the first things you need to do as you begin practicing with clay.
Once the armature sculpture is built up, you will add some filler around it to continue forming the basis for your clay work. This is basically done by adding lumps of clay in such a way that becomes a shapeless mound which will give you a place to start from. The point of this process is to add enough material that you have a strong backbone for whichever shape you ultimately come up with.
As you work, test the clay for wetness and make sure that it isn’t too dry, or else it will become a crumbly mess. Keep it moist – but not sticky! – so that you are able to work.
Sketch Out Final Piece
Before you continue doing the precise work of sculpting your creation, it’s important to start out with a clear idea of how you want the final clay sculpture to turn out. Beforehand, you should start by making a few sketches of the piece you envision – it is actually advisable to produce various sketches from different viewpoints and projections if you can. This helps you to better consider the dimensions of the main shape and how to approximate the ratios between lengths. Or, you can start out by thinking about what direction the sculpture will be enjoyed from, and work primarily from that viewpoint. So, if even your work isn’t perfect from every angle, you can ensure that it looks good from one position, and your work would not have been for naught.
Clay sculpting may seem inordinately complicated, but it is actually a fairly straightforward process once you get the hang of it. Just invest in the right tools, and be patient with yourself as you learn. Clay sculpting is contemplative, and you should allow yourself the time to produce sketches, and think of how you approach the craft. You will get better as you practice, provided that you have space – both physically and mentally – to do so.
