play time

[mark yundt]

Lately I've been playing with ideas. In order to flesh them out and see just where they lead I decided to use clay. As ideas change I can easily change the clay as well to suit my needs. So last night I set up my toys to play,,,melted a bit of clay,,filled a board and let it cool overnight. I had to do it this way as if I didn't ,,I'd start playing right away,,and it was just too soft and liquid. It forced me to wait. And like I've said ,,I have no patience when I want to do something.

Today,,being a lazy Sunday,,I got around to roughing in the main elements and find the pertinent forms and structures. By lunch this is where I am. You can see the direction it's headed. Looks like fun doesn't it? Well,,it IS. I'm seeing possibilities and directions already. More and more ideas keep coming. Seems you take the first step,,and the flood gates open. Make a commitment and get rewarded. Now I have a half dozen variations I want to make.
Play,,,it's a neat thing.

Here is what I did last night,,prepped the board by building up clay. I used a bag of old shavings from other projects,,hence the burner and pan.

[mark yundt]

And here is where I got to this morning.Pretty much self explanatory ,,,build it up,,carve it off,,add some here and there...You know,,,just play. Push it around,,see how it looks.

This is based on the Shroud of Turin. Those are the negative and positive photos of it.

[Keoma]

This looks fun! I am so glad to see you are never bored!

[mark yundt]

Nope,,never bored! Too much to do.

Here I basically smoothed it all out to get a better look. No detail yet,still finding the shape.

I also have to keep in mind the swelling as seen around the right eye and just under it as if the figure was punched. Also the swelling around the nose as if it were broken. It seems to be heading in the right direction.

[tucker1931]

Mark, looks like ya got a real winner going there, just have to wait and see where it goes.
Cliff

[jharris]

Mark,
What kind of clay are you using that is has to be melted? I've worked with some water based clay and I've been told polymer clay if kept at 78 degrees will stay pliable and not dry out. Is this an oil based clay.

By the way, this looks great. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Jim

[mark yundt]

This is very much like a Plastilina, it too won't dry out. But given time does seem to get a sort of shell to it,,not the original consistency. I've found that melting it allows for a more uniform consistency and I can build more quickly as it is pretty firm. Once it's warm ,,in your hand for example,,you can easily add more clay to a piece. It gets sticky. But trying to build it up ,,it's a pain. Your fingers really get sore quickly.
But since I was using up a pile of scraps this made it much faster.
I started doing this when making up large reliefs as well as when I did the original life size Shroud model. Going from the blocks it comes it,,slicing it up with a wire "cheese slicer" I made,,and getting them all to blend over such a big area works much better. Even where I would try slicing the blocks like a loaf of bread and laying them out edge to edge to cover a large area they didn't blend well and you could see a quilt like look to the overall piece which made it difficult to sculpt.Even using a whole block,,I think the outside surface was just a bit harder than the softer center and made consistent shaping difficult.
You can buy extruders that will overcome this as well,,but this works great. Also,,with the original,,I used expandable foam as the core to save on clay,,and melting the clay made it a breeze to quickly build a layer over that base.
It just works so well and fast,,,I just do it.

[carvendive]

You are definately an artist!
The clay looks great!

One question, all I've got are some wooden tools that I use to shape the clay. I got them from the artist store where I got my clay. They worked so poorly that I ended up making some other wooden carving spoons. In your first pic I see a set of (I think) picks on the right and metal tools on the left.

If you get a chance could you take one shot of the business ends of your favored tools on the left and post it?

[mark yundt]

Thanks Dave,,I'm sure you know this isn't done yet.
As far as the tools go,,my favorites are the ones I made myself. But I have bought several,,in kits they are cheap. Some,,looking sorta' like mini chisels I don't really care for. I like the wire edge ones especially with a fine wire edge ( like I made)

1. These are the ones I made,,very fine wire,,can cut small neat detail. The pics are a bit fuzzy,,I'll redo them if you like. Several of these are double ended as well. A few were made with candle lighters,,epoxied together ,,then wrapped with floral wire for reinforcement before being covered with epoxy. Sort of like a ferrule on a fishing pole.

2. these are sorta' chisel like,,or a scraper,,don't really care for them too much except when pressing clay into a small spot. Don't generally use 'em.

3 & 4 again ,bad shot,,,but these are flat wire tools with sort of a sharp edge as opposed to a round wire loop or shape.

5,,looking like a paint brush,,these are shaped silicone ( I think ) that I use for detailing and smoothing out clay in hard to reach areas. The come in a variety of stiffness. Soft,,med,,firm. Work pretty well.
I have also carved up some of those white erasers into different shapes for smoothing as well. With a fine edge they do a good job as long as you shape them right. Fat fingers don't reach into small areas too well.

I'll reshoot the pics if you need me to.

[BobD]

Hey Mark,
Since you're getting a bit of depth of field problems with your camera, try holding a doller bill (or anything else with typed writing on it) just on top of the tools. Press the shutter halfway to lock in the autofocus, remove the paper, and press the shutter the rest of the way. It should give you clearer photos!

I can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

Bob