An Elf is Born: Part 4

This post picks up from An Elf is Born - Part 3

Styling the Elf’s Hair

Tibetan lamb hair behaves very much like human hair, or should I say unruly human hair (like mine)
I allowed the glue to dry overnight before going for the 'royal hair treatment'
The royal treatment consisted of washing the elf's hair using my personal shampoo and conditioner. With the texture and frizzyness greatly improved (I’ve had years of practice on my personal mop of hair) I added some leave-in conditioner, and hair moose for good measure. I combed her hair using a toothpick and small hair comb, then set her aside to dry.

Blushing the Elf

The elf was sculpted using my personal combination of random ‘flesh tone’ clay colors. However, if you look at your own skin you will notice that certain areas, especially where blood flows close to the surface, are slightly pinkish. This includes your forehead, nose, cheeks and chin, knees and elbows, hands…
‘blushing’ is a painting method that adds a nearly invisible layer giving sculptures a 'flushed' look. Once I get better at this and perfect my technique, I may create a tutorial.
The overview for now: I used brown acrylic paint mixed with water for a very runny consistency. I painted small sections of her skin, then wiped it off. Then painted some more and wiped some more. A subtle amount of paint was absorbed with each layer. While tedious, the results are nearly life-like and provide so much depth to her carefully sculpted features. Notice these in areas of the elf's face, hands and knees.

I repeated this ‘blushing’ using red paint on the face focusing on the cheeks, nose, chin and forehead

Painting the Final Details

The elf’s face was detailed starting with the eyes. I used a mixture of green and brown to outline the iris, then painted the iris alternating between yellow and green strokes. Alas the green was too dark and her eyes did not quite achieve the bright consistency I was aiming for. I finished the eye with a black center for the pupils.

Using a fine brush I added black eyeliner and brown eyebrows. The eye-shadow was painted in layers using watered down green paint
Lips and finger-nails were painted using a less watery method of ‘blushing’ with a heavier layer used for the fingernails.
Additional photos of Ha’ela can be seen on my website

CONTEST WINNER!!

My ‘name the elf’ contest had an interesting turn-out, with one contestant adding to the suggestion of another for the perfect name
The first suggestion Ha’el was submitted by Debi
Second suggestion by Donna was to add an ‘a’
And so her name is… HA’ELA
Congrats Debi and Donna, you have both earned a gift certificate to my Artfire Shop

And Finally – My Secret Santa Gift

I participated in a Secret Santa Exchange on the Promotional Frenzy Team on Etsy and received this STUNNING Necklace Handmade by the wonderful Natasha from GreenhouseGlassworks
This necklace features a fused glass pendant, custom designed to my style of liking dark colors and magical themes. Notice the fiery red and black design. I LOVE IT!! Thank you Natasha!
And… it goes very well with black (my favorite)
Second photo shows me wearing the pendant this past weekend (pizza is Di Fara's yummmmm)

An Elf is Born: Part 3

This post continues from Part 2

My Sexy Christmas Elf finally has hair!!!

Adding hair to a sculpture is quite tricky. When it comes to sculpting, I take my time. I do each step slowly and carefully. When adding hair, I don't have that luxury. The glue smells and dries super-fast. Hair gets stuck everywhere and makes quite the mess

But I'm jumping ahead of myself. I use Tibetan Lamb Fur, also called Mohair, for my sculptures.
Mohair is an animal friendly product as it is shorn from the lamb without causing any harm to the animal. (like getting a haircut)

Mohair is soft, dies easily, has natural curls, and according to my boyfriend, looks just like my hair ;)



I wasn't sure which hair color to go with. My four choices pictured here include black, dark brown, dirty blond, or Santa white. I held each swatch against the elf’s head letting the curls drape her face. I even tried a two-color look for kicks (looks too much like a skunk)



I prepared all the tools and supplies needed.
- Fabri-Tac a VERY strong, fast drying glue
- Acetone to mix with the glue for a slower drying and thinner medium (smells to high heavens)
- toothpicks
- small sharp scissors
- paper towels (did I mention this was messy)
- Open front/back doors and windows (I'd rather freeze than choke)

After selecting the dark brown hair (the elf requested it personally) I selected the curls one at a time and cut it from the pelt.



This is where the very fast 'slow' process begins. As soon as the glue touches the hair, the curls are on the clock. I held each strand of curls by the middle and removed any loose strands. I added a bit of glue, and pressed it to the back of her head.

Perhaps when I'm more proficient at this process I will create a proper hair tutorial.

Like human hair, fairy/elf hair begins at the base of the skull and goes all the way up. Each layer of curls was added carefully to ensure no excess glue or hair strands wind up in the wrong place. I worked my way up the head and around to the temples.


The top of the head proved a challenge between ensuring that the hair is properly glued, yet not allowing the glue to show. I accomplished this (nearly) by gluing the hair on the wrong way, then folding it over itself, almost like making a part in your own hairstyle.


After each layer I took a 'soap break' to scrub my fingertips raw from all the accumulated hair, glue, and paper-towel residue.

She is now sitting on my desk watching me type, with her hair flying in every direction. Once the glue is 100% dry she will get her hair done, shampoo, conditioner, and even hair moose (I use my personal hair products)



Tomorrow I plan to add color to her face including eyes, cheeks, and lips. I'm still debating on nail polish (red?) what do you think?

Hopefully she will be completed, set, and photographed by this weekend to be unveiled in my next newsletter issue. Not a subscriber yet? Join now using This Link

An Elf is Born: Part 2

This Post Has MOVED!! Click HERE for updated post with full-color images

I am happy to say, that after a few dozen hours of work, the sculpting/baking of my elf is FINALLY COMPLETE

If you are curious about the process, read on. It will be a bit lengthy, but I'm sure you'll be intrigued. If you are simply anxious to see the results. Simply sit back, relax, and wait for the completion photos to arrive via my newsletter sometime mid-month.
(Haven’t subscribed yet, do so HERE

This post picks up from Part 1 Where I took you through all the pre-sculpting steps.

The Face

I start every magical sculpture by sculpting the face. I find the face to be the most difficult and tedious part to sculpt. If it turns out 'bad' then I start again (or leave it for the day). Since I don't follow a 'pattern' the face practically designs itself. I have a basic idea of the features I'm looking for. I sculpt them one at a time, and wait for a magical creature to look back at me. When the face is complete, I use that as a guide for completing the rest of the magical creature.

My 'guidelines' for this face were simply to make it about an inch tall, and somewhat lean, for a young sexy feminine look. I started by covering my foil/wire armature (see Part 1) with the conditioned clay. Conditioning the clay ensures that it is soft, consistent, and easy to work with. I formed a basic 'egg' shape for the head, and then sliced off the front section, for a flat 'blank palate' where I will slowly added facial features one at a time. Knowing the size of the eyes, I prebaked 2 partially flattened eyes using white glittered clay.

In a future post I will go into details on sculpting a face. For now, here's a brief overview. I marked the face in sections, carved in simple shapes for placement of the eyes, nose, and mouth. I first sculpted the mouth, lower then upper lip, then the nose, then added cheeks and chin. This process took nearly 2 hours as I added the clay in tiny pieces, smoothed, sculpted, smoothed some more... Once I was satisfied with the result I added features for the 'upper head' starting with the pre-baked eyeballs, eyelids, and forehead.

A freshly sculpted face is very soft and easy to damage. So I set it aside for the day to 'set' (slightly harden)

Many artists will choose to bake the face at this point. And while it's 'risky' to handle a 'raw' face I prefer to bake head and torso together. The torso core was created by wrapping a thick sheet of foil around my armature wire. When the foil was shaped and set, I sculpted ears onto the face. Ears are rather fragile and so I don't risk breaking them before the torso core is set.

The Torso

I sculpt a torso based on the final desired costume theme. Since my plan for this elf included underwear and a coat, I was able to 'tone down' the detail in the chest area and entire back since those will not be visible. I started sculpting the torso by covering the foil core with well-conditioned clay. I added more clay as needed to form the chest, ribs and belly. I then added clay to form the neck and spent a few hours adding details with a small needle and pen ink-well. The torso took me about a day to complete.


After a full day of sculpting I tend to get a 'lazy' attitude towards minor flaws. Knowing this, I don't like to bake the same day sculpting. I set the torso aside to 'set' with the intention of returning with 'fresh eyes' to edit any major flaws I missed. I poked 2 holes for inserting the legs to help the future raw clay adhere to the baked torso. I would normally do the same for the arms, but not for this one. Since I plan to sculpt a coat, I wasn't sure yet about the final arm pose and didn't want to sculpt hands only to have them miss-aligned with the coat sleeves. In addition, I planned to have the coat modeled to the body, providing support for the arms from the neck down to the base.

The first Bake

As I mentioned above, raw clay is fragile and easily destroyed. I complete larger projects using 'series baking'. This means I sculpt major features, bake, sculpt additional features, bake again... this allows me to work on the details in question without worrying about destroyed meticulous details added previously.

I baked the torso on a bed over paper towels in my deni-convection oven. I use 2 oven thermometers to keep an eye on the temperature and 'stalk' my oven checking every few minutes lest she burn when I'm not looking

Under garments

A sexy elf requires sexy undergarments. I chose red of course to go with the Christmas theme. Since the coat will hide the elf’s back, I only sculpted the visible portions. I sculpted the panties and bra using a dark red glitter mix and smoothing it to the body. I first attempted to trim the underwear in green. this made her look like she was wearing a strawberry (my bf said watermelon) so I changed it for a green and white striped 'candy-cane' trim
One thing I've learned from past sculptures. If I don't like something, I better fix it NOW despite the extra time. Otherwise I'd hate it down the line

Legs

The legs proved to be rather tricky. I planned for the elf to wear tall green boots. Sculpting these over the leg wires would be a nightmare. However, cured (baked) clay is tricky to attach to baked clay. After much debate, I decided to sculpt the legs without boots, and hope for the best when attaching to the body. The fact that my elf is seated worked in my favor as I will not have to rely on the legs for support.

Legs are tricky to sculpt. There are so many bumps and grooves that make less sense that a face or torso (to me). After a few hours I was happy enough with my results. Alas I dropped one on my jeans which resulted in more lint than usual (there's no real way to prevent lint getting on the sculpture) I cut and fitted the raw thighs to the body allowing a bit of wire to protrude for attaching to the torso. Alas the legs got slightly darkened (this happens with flesh colored clay). After baking I covered the thighs with more clay to 'fit' the torso, build the buttock region, and help provide a means of adhering to the torso.

The Boots

The high-moccasin boot is my favorite for 'magical' creatures (so you will be seeing those frequently on my creatures. I started by mixing up a magical green color (green and black) and made a bit more than I needed (better to have leftovers than to run-out and not be able to replicate). I measured the sole against her face for size control (my sculptures tend to grow) then added clay as needed building the boot. I built the boots one at a time then cut and smoothed as needed for a 'matching pair'. I twisted red and white 'candy-cane' laces, added them in pieces along with a matching 'bow'. I added some natural 'wrinkles' and folds, and lay aside to 'set'

Thighs

The thighs proved to be as tricky as I had anticipated with the raw boots making it even more difficult to maneuver lest I destroy the delicate features. Working slowly and carefully I added layers of clay between the thigh and torso and to the buttock region until the legs were secure and the elf looked 'well rounded'

Hands

And this is where the 'delay' occurred. After dislocating my finger in volleyball I had to 'abandon' her for about a week and resumed over the weekend.
I started with the hands giving her long and lean 'magical' fingers. despite their tiny size, the hands took nearly as long as the face. I added as much detail as possible using a tiny needle and shaping tool to give her knuckles, fingernails, and finger joints. After sculpting the forearm and upper arm, then set aside to 'set' while I worked on the coat.

Fur Trimmed Coat

I had no 'real' plan for the coat, which makes it more 'fun' in my opinion. I mixed up some really dark red clay adding some pearl and glitter for a magical shimmer. I rolled, cut, smooched and tried again till I was happy with the result. I padded her upper back, shoulder, and lower neck with raw clay shaping it into the grooves to ensure maximum adhesion and support. I draped the coat 'body' over her back letting it hang towards the front. I capped the upper arms with short red 'sleeves' and attached to the shoulder. I added additional clay to mold the shoulders and support the hands.
The hood was a mystery in itself. I knew what I wanted but had NO idea how to shape it. I tried, shaped, cut, and tried again. and again, and again. I finally created the hood using 2 'off-squares' attached at the center, and ripped away at the extras ON the elf to get my exact idea.

The arms were still hanging precariously at her side awaiting the 'fur-trim'. In a future project I will trim the coat and THEN add the arms. Lucky for me, this didn't break. For the 'fur' I mixed White Premo with 'original sculpey'. I added a layer of 'fur' to the coat, hood, and sleeves. I used the softness of the Original Sculpey to my advantage and attacked it with a needle and blunt blade for the 'fuzzy fur' effect.

Now that all the sculpting and detailing was done, I secured the raw arms to the coat (attaching them here prevents them from flopping about. Alas, since the knees were already baked the hands refused to stay ON the knees, which left me with yet another puzzle

The Final Bake

This was one of the scariest hours of my life. dozens of hours of sculpting and more sculpting hung in the balance, to be determined by the results of this final bake. There are so many things that can go wrong in the oven. From scorching, to over-baking, distortions and breakage. I was terrified.
Raw/warm clay is extra week and will happily fall apart in the oven. I set the elf in a small baking pan, then lined, padded and secured every aspect as best I could.

I placed a small box wrapped in baking paper in the small of her back to support the hood and keep her from leaning back. I used a glass votive to hold that in place. I wrapped her right hand (the stubborn one) in a small strip of baking paper to hold it directly on the knee and secured with a paper clip. The other hand was secured to her side, and all was padded with paper towels and baking paper.

I positioned my TWO oven thermometers, did a quick calculation for the time needed, set the timer, and held my breath (and not just because of the baking clay odor). I stalked the oven, checking every 2 minutes to ensure the temperature was just right. About halfway through I placed a wet paper towel over her face (A trick I picked up from Katherine Dewey's Book) to help prevent the delicate facial features from scorching.

An hour later I checked the oven, and whew!! she looked ok. Allowing sculptures to cool slowly and evenly in the oven (by leaving the oven closed) increases their stability down the line. So I held of taking her out till hours later and breathed a serious sigh of relief.

THE SCULPTING WAS A SUCCESS

She now sits on my table awaiting 'hair and make-up'. I plan to complete these steps this weekend and unveil the final photos in my Newsletter early next week.

In the meantime, she Needs A Name!! Are you up for the challenge? See details for the contest in my last blog
HERE

Name the Elf Contest - $25 Giveaway

Sculpting Santa's Sexy Elf - COMPLETE

Due to a volleyball injury, my elf sculpture got postponed for about a week. But last night, after dozens of sculpting hours, I FINALLY FINISHED!! well, the sculpting anyway. She now sits patiently on my table awaiting her 'tan' (baking) followed by 'hair and make-up'
Tomorrow's blog will give you a quick run-through from where I left off last time, all the way to the pre-baking stages.
But for now I want to share with you my newest brainstorm

NAME THE ELF CONTEST

(Teaser Photo)

The concept is simple. Every magical creature deserves a proper name. Can YOU pick the right one?

The Rules are fairly simple:
1 - Come up with the 'perfect' name
2 - Add a sentence or two explaining your reasoning/thought process
3 - SHARE THIS POST (this is a must) on your social network including Facebook, Twitter, Stumble or others
4 - Post the above as a comment below (include your social media 'announcement' link

Winner will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to my ArtFire Shop

Your chosen name will be the elf’s official name to be printed on her Birth Certificate of Authenticity’

Winner will be announced in my Newsletter when the final photos will be unveiled. (about a week or so)
If you haven’t signed up yet do so HERE

Facebook Users: Tag me HERE
Twitter Users: Mention me HERE

An Elf is Born: Part 1

This Post Has MOVED!! Click HERE for updated post with full-color images

SPOILER ALERT! For those of you anxiously awaiting the 'grand reveal' in my Dec 1 newsletter, be warned, this post may give away some of the details. However, the final product will NOT be shown here till AFTER the newsletter is distributed. (subscribe HERE)

There are certain rules/formulas that a sculptor is expected to follow. I DON'T like to follow the rules, but I do take them into consideration. So if my methods appear a bit 'off'... rules are meant to be broken after all

In my Last Post I gave you a quick tour of my studio/tools. And while that was important for the set-up, we're still a long way from the actual sculpting

Sunday 20 November 2011 (Playing catch-up on the blog)

Certain rules should not be broken, and the important one is following a plan, sketch, or model for sculpting a larger magical creature. While I had a basic idea of the creature I intended to sculpt, I had to take 2 important things into consideration

1 - the size of my oven. I use a Deni Table-top convection oven which is dedicated to clay only. The oven is about 12 inches in diameter, but only gives me about 4 inches in usable height. This limites the height of my seated creatures (I can sculpt a standing creature and bake it lying down)

2 - the pose of the creature. The more 'complex' the stance of the creature, the more internal support will be required, and the more difficult it will be to complete. For this creature I wanted to go with something simple and thus 'faster' to complete (days instead of weeks)

Taking these into account, I have chosen a 1:10 'scale' creature, seated on a flat surface.

A scaled sculpture is one that has similar proportions to a life-size model, but on a smaller scale. Imagine looking at as 4x6 photo of a real life person. Proportions are the same, but everything is smaller (to fit your photo size)

A 1:10 scale creature will be one tenth the size of a real model. For every 10 inches of 'real' there will be just 1 inch of sculpture

But that is too 'strict' after all, this is a magical creature, and so I let the magic 'speak' to me. I will give this magical sculpture a larger head (than the 1:10 rules) and somewhat childish features to help capture her 'magical' essense.

The Pose

(photo blurred due to 'adult content' so as not to offend)
At times I will work from random 'models' or envision my own pose, however, since this is my first 'sculpt-n-blog' here I will keep it straight forward. Using my online Magical Modeling Agency I have chosen a pose that fits my basic idea.

Magic Sculpture has a great 3D program that allows me to view my model from every angle. While I will continuously refer to my 3-D rotating model on my computer screen, I still print some basic views so I can measure and compare at each step in the sculpting process. My print includes a Front view, Back View, Right Profile and Left Profile

The Skeleton

Clay is a very soft medium, and like the softness of human flesh, it requires an internal skeleton for structure and support. The internal skeleton for my sculptures, also called an 'armature' provides strength and support for my desired pose, but it also provides me with internal 'bulk' helping me reduce the overall thickness of the clay used. A thicker layer of clay will require alot more time to bake in the oven. A project that has too much internal clay may not bake properly, increasing the chance for the sculpture to break down or crumble in the future.

A standard armature is made with these 2 concepts in mind. I will first start with a thick gauge wire and follow the basic shape of the torso/head. This will provide strength. The next step is to create a foil core for any areas of the sculpture that are greater than 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Since the head and torso will be the thickest parts of my sculpture, I create a foil core for these areas.
This is achieved by crumbling and shaping standard aluminum foil over the wire, then molding to the desired shape.


The head will be egg-shaped, about an inch tall. So I start with a smaller egg shape on the wire. I like to sculpt the head unhindered so I prepare the body foil core but will only add it after the head is completed

Preparing the Clay

There are many different brands of polymer clay out there, and while each has its own advantages, every sculptor will gravitate towards 'their' brand. My favorite brand is Sculpey, specifically the Premo Sculpey. For sculpting flesh-tone creatures I will also use Original Sculpey and Sculpey Living Doll. Perhaps in future blog I will break down the differences in great detail.

Clay type - overview
Original sculpey: This is a soft and very easy to use clay. It is very forgiving (you can 'erase' mistakes) but this feature doesn't make it ideal for sculpting very fine details like a face or fingers. The flesh tone is also a bit on the darker side (See my Valentine's Day Troll )

Sculpey Living Doll: 'medium beige' is great for sculpting detail, but this in turn makes it very unforgiving and will show minor flaws. I also find the color to be a bit too light

Premo Sculpey: While Premo is my favorite brand, they come in very small (2 ounce) packages, and somehow is not ideal for sculptures by itself.

Left to Right: Living Doll, Premo, Living Doll, Original Sculpey




Soo... I mix them all together. And this is a perfect example of 'not following the rules'. I don't have a color recipe. I take a guestimate of how much clay I will need based on the creature to be sculpted. Then I randomly mix them together untill I am happy with the results. The Original Sculpey gives me softness and workability, the Living Doll gives me a paler color, decreases the 'softness making my 'mix' easier for sculpting finer details. Then I add some Premo Translucent (honestly, just for an excuse to mix in my favorite clay) while the premo translucent 'color' disappears, it gives my creature a bit of a 'doll' look and shined finish. (Premo bakes to a beautiful smooth shiney-looking finish)

I slice each clay thin enough to go through my pasta machine (used ONLY for clay) Notice how the Living Doll crumbles as it goes through (left), but the original sculpey is too soft, and easily yields to the pasta machine. (middle)
and then I mix, mix, Mix, Mix, MIX, MIX, and mix some more.



Polymer clay is a 'plastic' clay, and the components sometimes separate in the package. A properly conditioned (mixed) ball of clay will yield a stronger and more enduring project.


Guestimation for the amount of clay needed

AND NOW THE SCULPTING CAN BEGIN