Odds, Sods n ......Stuffs. A Medley of Mayhem

Not exactly an old project per se…….. but a new one from an old work.

So, I have never sculpted before. Greenstuffing and the like on conversions and filling gaps on minis is about as far as I have travelled into the world of sculpting. I did make a tiny hedgehog or two for bases but thats the sum total of my sculpting experience!!

While going through some old sketchbooks and the like I came across a few drawings/doodles I did of faerie-kin some 16 years ago.

So for no real reason whatsoever I decided I wanted to have a bash at sculpting a bust!!
Never sculpted before? No problem!
Not sure where the hell to start? YouTube!!

So after a bit of a fiddle around on YouTube and a few videos watched from folk who know a hell of a lot more about what they are doing than I……… I decided to get stuck in!

First up – make an armature! I had a box of SuperSculpy Firm lying around that I had bought before and as its a medium that does dry out but instead is baked it seemed perfect for me as I was not going to be finishing this project anytime soon!

For bigger and thicker sculpts with SSF,  you need to have a core of tinfoil apparently.

Armature……. Check!!

Next up, I learned from the You of Tubes (actually most of what I learned was from one guy  – a sculptor called The Dark Lord. very rec/mnd) is to create the base form or under form or something like that.

Need to cover the armature with a thinnish covering of the SSF and get the basic form shaped out and then on top of that we’ll sculpt the actual features and so on.

well ok then……

Well that didnt seem tooooooo bad. And comparing it to my original drawing that I was going to try and make a bust of…… I was pretty happy! Shape seemed ok and resesesmbled the drawing well enough…… aces. I also marked in the rough areas for the eyes, nose and mouth.

I was still missing a few things though. The real sculptors had a few tools that I didnt have and looked rather handy. I already had a fair wee selection of tools like clay shapers and various pointy, sticky, pokey tools but a tool called a ‘rake’ or a ‘hoop tool’ looked rather handy as did a ball on stick device thingy…… couldnt find them in my local craft shop soooooooooooo just made them myself with some violin string and a few old dead cut down brushes! Making my own tools now…… I was beaming!
I was also missing eyes. YouTubey people were using glass eyes…. makes sense as the piece needs to be baked and plastic would probably melt in the oven.  To Amazon we go!! ……… yup glass eyes on metal pins…….found them…… I now am in possession of over a 100 bloody glass eyes of various sizes….. I only needed TWO!!!

Next up…… let’s schedule a 12 hour stream on Twitch to get really stuck into this sculpting! So to celebrate one year of Twitch Partnership,  said long stream was scheduled and it went………… rather well!!  I dug out my old Prince August moulds from when I was a kid and we did some metal casting of a goblin catapult first, which went well; didnt burn down the studio or pour molten metal on my person so that was good.

Then was the time to get into the sculpting. A few tasty craft stouts defintely helped! Buuuuuuuuut was really happy with how it started to turn out!

That was about 6 hours or so work I think……..

Overall the bust was really begining to take shape. Primary features were in place and startig to look……… not shit and was still looking at least related to the original drawing!

I had beamed and self congratulated a little too early and quickly though………. I had not yet got to working on the ears………………

‘Ears’….. quite simply put ….. are BASTARDS!!!!

Jesus merciful hour! Bloody ears!!

On a subsequent stream,  I went about sculpting the ears…. wow…… I hate ears!! fiddley, fandingely feckers!!! Finally they started to take shape and once again look…….. well……. not too too shit!!!
And this is where Diabhlai the faerie-kin sculpt is now at!!!

Overall, I am really really happy with how this project has started and is progressing. As I siad I have never sculpted before and it is something I’ve always wanted to try but always just put it off and put it off.  It’s coming along and I think is begining to look pretty fun if not good! But most importantly, I really am having fun with this!! Any questions, please do ask but a bit of a caveat……. I’m NO Sculptor!!!