Clay is a versatile medium to work with in sculpting.
Created by nature and one of the most versatile, three-dimensional art mediums available, clay is a favorite of dedicated professionals, amateur sculptors and even children. Whatever your reasons for working with real or man-made clays, some basic techniques will help you get the most out of your sculpting, strive for a greater artistic pallet and increase your structural success.
Support Structures
Some clay sculptures must be made of something more than pure clay. If the structure is larger and has a shape whose mass is not largely positioned low and in the center of the overall structure, you will probably need to build a non-clay frame to give the sculpture balance. Some good options include craft wire (good for small human or animal form shapes), chicken wire and dowels or stakes (good for larger frameworks) or balled-up aluminum foil (good for building lightweight, filled-in structures that will need to be covered in clay).
Finding Tools
Clay sculptors use standard tools that are made commercially and improvised tools from household and found items. Choose your tools based on what you need as a sculptor; don't be afraid to keep a large arsenal of items at the ready. Professional sculpting tools are roughly pencil-shaped items with tips designed to dig, cut, poke small holes or smooth areas of clay in ways you can't reliably do with your fingers. Some improvised tools that achieve the same results include toothpicks, bamboo skewers, needles (especially good for miniature sculptures), nail files and cuticle pushers, miniature sugar spoons, wooden butter spreaders and disposable wooden chopsticks (which you can customize by shaping them with knives, pencil sharpeners and sandpaper).
Firmness
Most modeling clays need to be softened before you can easily work with them, but you can control how firm or soft it is to help you get different levels of detail and effects in your sculpture. Firmer clay is better for tiny, intricate detail while softer clay is easy to manipulate when forming larger shapes. If the clay is water-based, soften it by adding water and harden it by letting it dry for a few minutes at a time. With oil-based clays, mix in mineral oil, but take care with how much as it won't evaporate to re-harden.
Connected Pieces
Many sculptures must be formed in several pieces and then joined. Poor joint seams are a common cause of structural and design failure. If you are attaching two heavy sections, add short pieces of toothpicks (or other non-clay framework) to spear the center of both sculptures and enhance the connection. Soften the clay at the connecting parts as much as possible to help them stick together. After joining the pieces, smear clay over the crack to cover it.
Texturing
Add visual and tactile interest to clay sculptures by pressing other objects against the surface to imprint a texture. Be on the lookout for objects that might give the clay an interesting imprint, such as coarsely-woven fabric, leather, hair combs, the edges of thick book pages, lace, sandpaper, spools of wire and a metal screen.
