This is lovely. The back is a difficult area to sculpt, it looks like you've done a really nice job here. And the hair is great. =)

What kind of clay are you using? :)

Two-part epoxy clay. I use Apoxie, there's also another brand I've seen called Gapoxio or something like that. Equal parts of A and B, knead until color is even and solid (no swirls). Smooths with water or alcohol, cures in a few hours, once cured it's totally sandable, drillable, etc. and NO BAKING TIME woohoo! <XD (my main complaint with the Sculpey clays)

Its awesomeness is matched by its price...it's a bit expensive compared to Sculpey. =_= But only because I can't buy it in person and must pay shipping to get my supply.

I have a bunch of that stuff too called Magic Sculpt (or something along those lines), but I only really use mine for repairing and/or stabilizing certain parts of regular clay sculpts... However, I'm curious to know how well it works for just flat-out sculpting like this. How much working time do you generally have for a larger project like your Cat Dancer sculpture? I was thinking of offering commissions made of this stuff in the future, but I'd rather play with it first to see if that's really what I want...and I thought I'd ask you about it since you mentioned you work with it. Hope you don't mind, and take your time replying! <3

The trick with things like bigger sculptures is that I don't do it all at once. I built an inner armature of wire and foil, to take up the bulk of the inside (that way less clay gets used, so less expense). I like to start with the head, because that's the most important part of a figure...the times I don't (like this current sculpt, for instance; her head started on a much smaller figure but I cut it off to give it a more proportional body) I find the head can grow too large and the proportions on the rest don't fit anymore.

I'll do everything else from the inner parts outward, so that I can sand them smooth before other stuff starts blocking my access. So like, using the Cat Dancer as an example, I built the head without hair, then the torso and legs, then attached the head to the torso, then put on the arms, and lastly the tail and the hair (the hair was built as a separate piece and attached also). Each step involved a lot of sanding and minor adjustments to get it right.

Cat Dancer was actually made in Super Sculpey though, and all the baking and rebaking made it really difficult to cleanup (parts kept cracking). That's why when I discovered Apoxie, I really liked it. Because there's no baking, it worked a lot better to get precisely what I wanted to do. The supposed working time of Apoxie is supposed to be a few hours, but it slowly gets more and more firm as you work it, so I just do a little at a time, let it cure (so I don't accidentally smush details) and then come back, add a little more, let it cure, etc.

I'll probably add some in-progress shots for "She Walks" later on to give you an idea of what I mean. At one point one of her boobs was significantly smaller than the other while I worked on other parts. <XD

Thank you so much!! ;w;

I was already doing the wire and foil thing, and I even wrap the foil in floral tape sometimes to make it easier to remove the clay later if need be...but again, thank you so very much. Next time I make a personal sculpture, I'm going to try it with epoxy putty... Hopefully I can do it!

Also, I would absolutely love to see your progress shots if you decide to upload them - that would be so wonderful! I always love seeing how stuff comes together, and it's all the more awesome when it's such lovely work. :3

Superb.....
That reminds me, how is the cat dance sculpture going ? :)

It's all sanded and ready to paint, but I'm waiting until it gets a little cooler here because I can't use the airbrush indoors. <XD

Ha ha, I imagine !! ^^
Can't wait to see the result, I hope you'll do many more sculpts of this kind.
Say, still about the cat dance one, were you satisfied by the number of preorders you had ?

Why do I have the suspicion that this lady is a centaur?

:)

Your sculpts are really getting alot better, I'm impressed.

Thanks! Actually I feel it's more like getting back skills in a new medium. Used to do the jewelry wax thing, so worked in millimeters instead of inches then. ;D

This is a much smaller sculpting scale too, her head's less than an inch tall.

Centaur???

:3

That was me, speculating from not much.

I will never understand how you do this. She's amazing, and so tiny!! ;w;

having watched you work on this one, I'm still amazed at how small you are able to work and get such details. Hell you even did the folds of skin under the arms in the back.

You're very good. ^_^

I've been trying out the Apoxie Clay myself. Wonderful stuff actually although honestly, it gets to be like trying to sculpt with used bubblegum after a while but other than that it's tough as nails once it hardens. I suggest avoiding the Superwhite Clay unless you intend on doing super smooth areas as it is a bit stiffer than the regular clay and has a smooth, almost glossy finish once it dries.

I like Supersculpy better for detail work quite honestly but the baking is a major pain. I did find that I can lock in details with Supersculpy easily with a heat gun to reduce the frequent fingerprint and smear accidents that always occur.

Here is a link to what I'm working on. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2649451

I have been using a Dremel tool on the fur texture to sharpen it up some since the Apoxie clay can soften sharp details before it completely hardens. No big deal and would be desirable on most sculpts (hides minor imperfections like a light fingerprint for example) but I find fur texture is better with a Dremel. Also, the clay had yet to chip or flake while using the Dremel and that is just downright awesome.

Ah, cool!

Most of the stuff I do tends to be kinda smoother, and yeah, I mostly got annoyed with the 'oops' smushes. <XD The Apoxie I have is "natural" color, whatever that means...keep meaning to get their normal white but somehow I always find deals on the natural instead.

Keep meaning to experiment with the dremel that was lent to me, but I've been doing so much as it is. <XD Ah, someday.

I use something like this to do tiny detail like adding fur. It is a bur with an inverted cone shape and a sharp top edge. http://www.widgetsupply.com/page/WS.....-cone-2/D-EH09

I've had many Dremels but by far the best is a pistol style rechargeable I got on sale. It's pretty awesome compared to the normal die grinder looking thing or even a shaft drive. http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/P......aspx?pid=1100