I have hollowed out the second arm and attached it back onto her body. Then I fleshed her out a bit more and started to define her ears.

She needs to rest a bit and firm up more. Next I'll block in the hair mass and dress before heading back to start any refining.

It was quite fun to chop off her arms and move them around. I probably took them off and on about 5 times until I had both working in the direction that I was looking for. Really looking forward to the rest.

One thing I will say about paper clay is that it re-wets readily - sometimes a bit too easily and can become water-logged...but with a little time and the proper amount of circulation, you can get the firmness of the clay back to a workable consistency.

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #5

 No time to work on Monday and only an hour this morning...so not much change, but refined the form and the arms a bit. Later today I hope to have enough time to start her hands.

Then I may remover her head to make it easier to sculpt, be sure of my wall thickness and reattach - we'll see how far I can get....

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #4

Last post today. Would have preferred to go further, but hubby just got home and the last of my Studio Tour visitors recently left so will call it a night!

Having people come to the studio and sculpting in front of people was a fun experience! Though I didn't get as much sculpting in, as I stopped often to talk with people and show them around, I feel like I've got a good start to this sculpt. I'll let her firm up overnight and get back to work tomorrow. Plan on trying to have her done by the end of the week so check back to see her progress....

Thanks for visiting everyone - I had a great time at the tour and plan on doing it again next year. I think I'll book a model and try to compete a figure pose over the two days next year....

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #3

 Here is the progress - her arms have been attached. The clay is still quite wet. I would be further along, but as it's a studio tour, I stop working to meet with visitors to explain my work and methods ; -).

There is still 3 more hours of the tour, so I will continue to work and post photos the rest of the day - come on out to visit until 5pm today~

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay #2

Here is the progress - I've continued to move the sticks around at the form takes shape. The clay continues to sag and slump and I am continually bringing it back up to it's original height.

Next I will begin forming the arms and putting into place.

Stop by today to see the progress in person - I'll be sculpting until 5pm today as part of the Fort Collins Studio Tour!

900 Marble Drive.

Figure Sculpting Demo - young dancer in ceramic clay

For the Fort Collins Studio Tour I'm doing a sculpting demo. I'll be sculpting a young dancer with an attitude using ceramic Paper Clay. Here I've just started. The armature is a steel pipe attached to a board. I've put newspaper around the steel post and wrapped that with a slab of clay. The stick are temporary supports - the clay is wet and heavy and slumps while at this stage. It will be a couple of hours before it's stiff enough to support the weight and the sticks will come out. Will be updating the sculpt all day as I progress.

Come on out toe 900 Marble Drive in Fort Collins today from 10am to 5pm to see the progress!