Emile, in Super Sculpey

[Bob Botha]

I am not a sculptor, in fact I could count all the 3D art I have ever done on one hand and have a finger or two left over, but after I recently sculpted a cheetah at the request of my son, I felt the urge to do another. I bought a slab of Super Sculpey, a polymer clay, which
is baked in a regular oven, then did several loose sketches of a figure playing a saxophone. From these sketches, I formed an armature out of copper wire and starting with the head, I worked my way down, making it up as I went along. It was originally intended to be a flowing, highly simplistic figure, but, like with my paintings, I soon got bogged down with the details and once the head was complete, I had no choice but to continue in the same realistic mode as I had started. Since I had no reference at all, it took me a lot longer to complete than I had hoped, as I had nothing to follow regarding anatomical accuracy, or details like the folds in the clothing, resulting in having to redo certain areas until it looked right!
Nonetheless, I had fun, learned a lot, and will definately try my hand at sculpting again. After seeing Heidi's work on this forum, I am really inspired!
The figuerine is 9 1/2" tall and is finished with a gold metallic wax. I still need to make a base for it.