Sculpture is one another Art that I am very fascinated about. In the past, I tried some sculptures on the soap. I have been doing Ganesh Idol with natural clay since 2010 and this is my fourth year in a row. I think each year, I find myself improving at it and taking less time than previous year. This year, it took about 5 hours from start to finish. I captured the images of it at various stages.
Sculpture is a three dimensional Art. Doing it with clay is fun and challenging too. It is fun as it is easy to blend it into any shape easily just by hands. You almost need no tools to do a clay sculpture. Little tools help making some fine and accurate marks at the very end.
The following are the different stages of this year's Ganesh. One can see it taking the shape through these images:
Stage-1
It's a 10 pound (~ 5kg) block of Natural Clay just out of the box. I usually buy it at
Michaels. It comes in Red and Natural colors. I prefer Natural. It's a heavy and compressed block of Natural clay. Once opened, I usually put it on a tray covered with Wax Paper. That is my platform I work on until I finish it. Next to it can be seen is my little tool set that I kept handy.
Stage-2
I usually change the square block into the very abstract shape that I wanted in the first stage; all done just by using my two thumbs and nothing else.
Stage-3
Next, I give the very rough shape of the final shape. It looks like an abstract model of the the end shape.
Stage-4
The fun stars from now. Also, it is from here the challenge starts and is bit time consuming, at least for me. I start working on the final shape. I also start adding little things around the main shape. Things like additional hands, back-drop for the crown etc.
Stage-5
The additional things added can be seen here. You don't need to have these things planned as part of the main shape as carving these is not easy. They can always be added later. But they should blend and be attached to the main piece like it is carved. Otherwise they come apart very easily once it is dry.
Stage-6
I added the Mushikam (mouse) here on the little stool which I already planned for it to place. From here on, it's just as many fine details as you can add to it. This is when I start using the tools, Until this point, my tools are my fingers. It's really fun using fingers and blending the clay. It easily blends as you want it to.
Sculpture is fun. I wish my passion for sculpture goes from clay to other material like wood, stone, plaster of paris, and even marble in future ;)
Believe me, you don't need to have any artistic skills to make a sculpture, especially with clay. It's just Fun and all need o have is willing to spend time and the desire to do it. It's just that simple ;)
Happy Sculpturing and have fun with it ;)
