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Sculpturally Speaking
A Different Type of Armature (Part 2)
by Lynda Sappington
Last issue, Sculpturally Speaking - DEC 2000 A Different Type of Armature (Part 1), I wrote about a different type of armature and told you I was working on a dragon made of Sculpey. I thought I'd do a follow-up to that article, since the dragon is now at the foundry.
Heeeeeere's Arnie! I call him "Arnie Swartzendragon" because of his build, but the edition name is "Dragon's Dilemma." He will be holding an amethyst crystal in his hand, and another will be at his feet. His eyes are blue Swarovski crystals, flatbacked with a metal backing so they appear to have an "iris" but also have a beautiful glow, and show rainbows when seen at the right angle. He's in "Frankendragon" mode right now (a term coined by AFAP Charter Member and dragon expert who I consulted about this project, Steve Austin) because of problems with the Sculpey, which is why I'm writing this followup article. (Oh, the "dilemma" the dragon is facing is whether the crystal is edible or not.)
I've used Sculpey only a couple of times before, mostly the Super Sculpey form. The Sculpey/Super Sculpey materials are polymer clay. It's not supposed to harden until it's baked in a kitchen oven. Once the package is opened, as I learned to my dismay, after a while it starts to dry out and become brittle. If you can warm it and get it workable in your hands, you're all right, but I worked on this dragon over a several month period due to my show schedule, just whenever I could. When I got around to detailing the fingers of his outstretched hand, and the points on his spine, they broke off!! The material had dried out and become brittle over the time he'd been sitting.
There is nothing in the Sculpey or Super Sculpey boxes that tells you the material must be used and baked in a certain amount of time. Ol' dopey me thought it was as tough as plastilene and didn't dry out, or if it did, you could add something to it (as you can add Vaseline to plastilene that has gotten tough). Nope! I contacted the Sculpey help people (www.sculpey.com), and all they said was "it's a polymer clay" as if that was supposed to explain to me how to fix the problem! They do have a tutorial on there somewhere, but it was too late for that by the time I found it. So okay, I made a mistake -- this is how I learn, being a self-taught artist.
As I tried to replace the broken hand with a plastilene hand built on an armature, the Sculpey on the arm cracked off its armature. That's why he now has a red arm. The red is Chavant clay. The uneven spots in his white wing were filled with Roma Prima plastilene. The Sculpey points down his spine were cut off and replaced with Prima plastilene. And when I tried to put Sculpey on that other wing armature. . .what a mess!! If I'd bought more Sculpey, it would have worked (if it was fresh!), but I was too disgusted to bother, and I already had the Prima -- it gets used over and over. (When a plastilene sculpture is cast, I ask for all the materials back and reuse them. This plastilene has been through "Breezy," "Lady in Waiting" and somebody else, I can't remember who -- and now Arnie.) The plastilene worked just fine on the wing, hence the brown wing.
Making a mold on this piece is no different than making a mold on anything else -- it does not matter that it's made of three different materials (the blue crystal eyes were removed prior to molding -- each resin will have these crystal eyes installed after casting).
So a word to the wise -- Sculpey and Super Sculpey really are good materials. But they aren't tolerant of slow sculptors! So use them quickly once you open the packages and you'll be fine.
Arnie's mold has been made and the first resin has been cast. When I get a picture of the completed piece, I'll put him on here. Aren't you glad you can learn from my mistakes and avoid making them yourselves? ;-) Back to plastilene for me! Well, first that seascape mural in water clay. . . .
Lynda Sappington is happy to share her adventures in sculpting with you. She invites you to share your expertise and even your mishaps in sculpting so the rest of us can benefit from your experience. Send your story ideas to ARTVoices. You can see Lynda's work at www.TheSculptedHorse.com
