Dragon Sculpting

[DragonCat]

[DragonCat]

As far as my knowledge goes, all the windstones cast came from a single “master copy” sculpture right? Because i’m in high school ceramics and I LOVE dragons, I was going to try making my own original special-to-me dragon. So I wanted to ask:
1. What is the longest it has taken you to make a single sculpture?
2. What do you think is the best way to make scales, by hand or tool?
3. How do you come up with these ideas anyway? 😀 (you don’t really have to answer that one.)

Any other bits of wisdom with sculpting is cool too…. 😳

[Nicole]

I made a dragon in my high school ceramics class a few years back. I spent around two weeks on him I believe only to have him explode in the kiln 🙁 . Despite the tragedy he was still fun to make and it gave me more appreciation for Melody’s work. I think I tried sculpting him when i was about to start seriously collecting. I would recommend keeping it simple, doing layers of clay when you have to fire it can be a disaster when you have to deal with air bubbles. You could always try an air drying media like apoxie sculpt or an oven baking clay like sculpey. Those are at least less temperamental. I know this was a question for Melody but I hope this helps, figured I would put my two cents in since I attempted the same thing you are about to 🙂

[Melody]

DragonCat wrote:

As far as my knowledge goes, all the windstones cast came from a single “master copy” sculpture right? Because i’m in high school ceramics and I LOVE dragons, I was going to try making my own original special-to-me dragon. So I wanted to ask:
1. What is the longest it has taken you to make a single sculpture?

I haven’t counted actual hours a sculpture has taken, because we are usually working on several at the same time, but in actual calender time it always seems to take a full year from original rough sculpture to finished production piece. The longest one was the Secret Keeper. She took two years to finish!The original sculpture only takes a week or two, but the sanding ,detailing , casting, and other fiddling around takes forever.

2. What do you think is the best way to make scales, by hand or tool?

Things made out of ceramic clay have different properties than carved gypsum… you need to work really fast. I have used tools, press molds on saggy wet clay to get scales, and I have carved scales in leather hard clay. I haven’t had much success sculpting scales with a tool just because it takes so darn long. Ceramic clay drys too fast to allow very much fussy detailing. I have had luck creating scales by making an pile of soft little clay balls in various sizes and then quickly smooshing them onto the surface in overlapping rows. I’ve also seen some nice patterns created by pressing textured fabric onto the wet clay. The possibilities for textures are endless.

3. How do you come up with these ideas anyway? 😀 (you don’t really have to answer that one.)

Have a beer and brainstorm. Then edit heavily.
Actually I really don’t know the answer, it is like these things are all ready made when I make them.
Oh an another big source of ideas is suggestions from people on this forum! ( Bengal meerkats?!?)

Any other bits of wisdom with sculpting is cool too…. 😳

Are you working in “low fire” or “high fire” ceramics?

Be sure to follow the rules for making ceramic sculpture… keep the walls consistent in thickness, no trapped air pockets, score and put slip onto joined pieces -etc., etc. It takes practice. I’ve made lots of ceramic sculpture and I’ve blown up a few!

[DragonCat]

NicoleH wrote:

I made a dragon in my high school ceramics class a few years back. I spent around two weeks on him I believe only to have him explode in the kiln 🙁 . Despite the tragedy he was still fun to make and it gave me more appreciation for Melody’s work. I think I tried sculpting him when i was about to start seriously collecting. I would recommend keeping it simple, doing layers of clay when you have to fire it can be a disaster when you have to deal with air bubbles. You could always try an air drying media like apoxie sculpt or an oven baking clay like sculpey. Those are at least less temperamental. I know this was a question for Melody but I hope this helps, figured I would put my two cents in since I attempted the same thing you are about to 🙂

Actually, its the kind of advice I was actually hoping to get. 🙂 Stuff like this actually helps, because we get about 50 minutes in class and some stuff likes to blow up (not mine… knock on wood…) and its great there’s a whole bunch of people here who understand its WORTH days and weeks of work. 😀

Sorry about your dragon though…. 😥

[DragonCat]

Thanks so much! 😀 That’s a pretty long time to make one and I like the ball scale method. Its like wow…. 😮

And we work with the generic, from Michael’s art supply low-fire. Kind of grey-ish… and normally it keeps for a week in a plastic bag unless there’s a hole or you forget to water it a little. I forsee a lot of work… but its worth it.

[Kyrraven]

I’ve noticed one thing that hasn’t been mentioned about clay sculpting yet. If you need to do something utilizing both thick and thin areas, such as a horse, you would make the thin areas out of solid clay, but for thick areas like the body, you tightly crumple newspaper and coat it with clay, leaving a small hole or two in a discreet location for air to escape. That way you can have a thicker body but not have the piece blow up. The main reason pieces blow up is that air pockets in the clay expand as it heats, so if you have holes the extra air has a place to escape. This is one reason why ceramic sculptures often have a large hole in the bottom (the other main reason is a lot of them are made in bulk via slip-casting). And the newspaper? The heat of the kiln burns it to ash, leaving your sculpture hollow.

[DragonCat]

Kyrraven wrote:

I’ve noticed one thing that hasn’t been mentioned about clay sculpting yet. If you need to do something utilizing both thick and thin areas, such as a horse, you would make the thin areas out of solid clay, but for thick areas like the body, you tightly crumple newspaper and coat it with clay, leaving a small hole or two in a discreet location for air to escape. That way you can have a thicker body but not have the piece blow up. The main reason pieces blow up is that air pockets in the clay expand as it heats, so if you have holes the extra air has a place to escape. This is one reason why ceramic sculptures often have a large hole in the bottom (the other main reason is a lot of them are made in bulk via slip-casting). And the newspaper? The heat of the kiln burns it to ash, leaving your sculpture hollow.

Huh. Never thought of that… squeek* That’s such a good idea, I might actually try it. It would probably make the inside a cool-looking black. 🙂 Thanks!!

[Melody]

DragonCat wrote:

Kyrraven wrote:

I’ve noticed one thing that hasn’t been mentioned about clay sculpting yet. If you need to do something utilizing both thick and thin areas, such as a horse, you would make the thin areas out of solid clay, but for thick areas like the body, you tightly crumple newspaper and coat it with clay, leaving a small hole or two in a discreet location for air to escape. That way you can have a thicker body but not have the piece blow up. The main reason pieces blow up is that air pockets in the clay expand as it heats, so if you have holes the extra air has a place to escape. This is one reason why ceramic sculptures often have a large hole in the bottom (the other main reason is a lot of them are made in bulk via slip-casting). And the newspaper? The heat of the kiln burns it to ash, leaving your sculpture hollow.

Huh. Never thought of that… squeek* That’s such a good idea, I might actually try it. It would probably make the inside a cool-looking black. 🙂 Thanks!!The trick to stuffing a clay sculpture with paper is to have the paper be somewhat “squishable” ( soft crumpled paper is good, I would use paper towels out off the trash) otherwise the clay may crack around the paper as it shrinks. A really quick way I found to make dragons (during my short-lived period of production ceramic dragon making) , is to make a hollow ball using two “pinch pots” joined together WITHOUT any stuffing at all…just leave the air trapped inside to keep the ball from collapsing while you workon it. Roll out fat coils of clay and add them on for the feet, head, tail etc. and finish the sculpture with clay balls for scales and other miscellaneous decorations. You can open a hole into the air-filled ball when it is dry enough to support itself. Saves time.

[DragonCat]

0_0 I think i’m going to try both methods. No one should be alone right?? 😀

I actually appreciate all the ideas, everyone. Everything helps! 🙂

[Author]

Posts