Free Inquiry #2 Beginnings of The Little Ghost!
So far, I am not nearly as far into my learning journey with clay as I had hoped to be. For my second post I had hoped to have at least begun the painting. However, I started my first sculpture a little later than I had planned so it is currently still in the drying process as I write this update.
How did the actual sculpting part go? I can say patience is an important skill to have before getting into it with clay. It is a very calming and fun process, but after attempting to create the same shape for the 8th time it can be a tad frustrating. Another way to avoid the frustration though is try to forget any perfectionist tendencies! Clay is a thing of nature and molding it is a skill learned through experience. Once I stopped trying to make it perfect is when I felt I made the best progress and allowed myself to work with the imperfections as it was one of my first projects there was bound to be imperfections.
Before I started with the actual clay, I wanted to get to know the basics of working with it, best ways to dry it properly, painting it, etc. To learn the basics, I watched the video below where the youtuber Red Rocking Bird briefly goes over the basics and tips about working with airdry clay.
After watching this video, I got to sculpt! I started off quite small with a project that fits the season, a little ghost (also below). In the video of tips, it’s mentioned not to make the walls of your sculpture too thin otherwise it won’t dry properly. I fear I leaned a little too far into this tip, so my ghost turned out a bit too thick and is taking a long time to dry and didn’t end in the exact shape I had planned. I think next time I will know how to better balance the thickness of my clay while working with it.
What Next? Next, I am excited to paint my little ghost and give him some more character and am also considering giving him a little pumpkin hat. I also hope to start on another larger and more complex sculpture. I have gotten a little more familiar with clay and have found some different methods to put it into the shapes I want so hopefully I can implement these more into my next project. I will look for some resources that will help me further my skill in sculpting so I can have a (somewhat) neater project with more complexities and I hope to have 2 complete by my next post, if not that at least a finished ghost and the beginnings of another interesting piece!