odf posted at 2:41PM Sun, 25 July 2021 - #4423890

Oh dang it, I can't resist posting another update. Finished up the abdominal area for now (I think) and started adding some volume on the upper chest. Serratus anterior and such are next. This is too much fun, although sometimes I still think I'd rather have a large bag of clay to play with.

You think. One thing I'll say for certain, don't ever try sculpting with fine porcelain... it's like sculpting with cream cheese; you'll be very lucky to make it to bone dry greenware stage without cracking or springing and then you better say a mighty prayer to the kiln gods. Most challenging material I ever worked with, even with slip casting. I spent close to 200 dollars on doll porcelain slip to cast a life size torso I sculpted, without success. Had to resort to low fire earthenware and painting and low fire glazes... below* is one of the painted versions. There's probably about 5 of these scattered around various weed dealer's houses in the bay area lol. The anatomy is passé; surreal and lurid being more the intent, but still made for interesting conversation pieces on the living room table lol. Much easier to sculpt polygons or even polymer clay than the traditional ceramic stuff... too temperamental, especially the needing to soak in a volcano for upwards to 24 hours and more, multiple times if glazing. I lost probably 5 years of my life working with the stuff. It's why I often find the discussions of realism and consequential judgements here hilarious. You should see my portfolio and how often I keep my mouth shut when I hear some of the things said :-D, it's pointless. Nevertheless, I get it.

But... there IS 3d printing now so...

Anyway, your sculpts are coming along nicely, especially using the morph brush. Sorry about the drift but your mention of sculpting with "real" clay caught my interest. Well done.