My Tools and a Torso

Hi again, I'm here to keep my promise.

I don't have as much to say as I did yesterday.



So far today, I've basically finished mocha's torso sculpting. I still have a bit to refine, but I need to finish her arms and legs first. Above you can better see how she will be able to pose. The bare wire will have cotton batting glued on it, and then a pattern of stretchy knit fabric as skin will be glued across the gap onto the clay and filled with polyfil. Therefore she will be the right shape under clothes, but soft enough for the wire to bend. That's all after she has been completely baked though, to eliminate any risk of fire/burnage.

You probably can't see it in the above picture but she has developed a crack in the corner of her eye, so here is a close up shot...

Click to enlarge

I think it is from the Prosculpt in her clay mix, as I've only ever gotten cracks from simply baking using that. It's small and should be easy to fix, I only hope no more happen.

Today I also wanted to show the tools I have used for mocha so far.




From upper left to lower right:

• a mirror to check for symmetry
• a cup for holding tools less often used
• plumbers epoxy for armature strength
• rubbing alcohol that I use with q tips and a brush to smooth and clean the clay
• pliers to bend wire
• toilet paper to clean up spills and my ever running nose (damn allergies!)
• clay in a baggie to protect from dust
• floral tape that I wrap around wire or epoxy to help the clay stick
• my two sanding sponges and rough sanding sponge
• vaseline to smooth clay and get rid of white marks from sanding
• picture hanging wire made up of about 15-20 thin wire coiled together (I usually use plain steel wire of various gauges, but since she is poseable, I think coiled wire will be more durable)
• calipers to check more symmetry
• wooden tools of various sizes (including another tool useful for smoothing large areas, a wood tool with a square end that has notches cut out of it, I think its called a rake)
• a needle tool
• metal embossing tool...

I have even more tools that I use crammed all about my two rooms (my parents are divorced), but that would take hours to catalog them. : D

Wooo, I'll post again tomorrow. That's all, thanks for reading.

And as always please feel free to ask me any questions!