Tiny Aspergillus Fumigatus Sculpture Polymer Clay WIP OOAK Fantasy Creation

I used Living Doll Polymer clay to sculpt this little humanoid Aspergillus Species figure. For those that don't know Aspergillus is a mold like fungus. Under the microscope, the characteristic appearance is that of a vesicle with phialides and metula extending from the vesicle. So using your imagination, the face would be the vesicle and the hair would be the phialides. In this case, the phialides are on the upper 2/3 of the vesicle, and is uniserate, so no metula present. Aspergillus fumigatus is very common clinically entered specimen, especially in sputum samples. It has a blue green appearance on routine mycology media. 

in addition to the other structures mentioned, there is also chains of round conidia extending from the tips of the phialides. I used polymer clay for some and fixit sculpt for others. originally the tips were pointed, but I blunted the ends to better have the conidia have a bigger surface to stick to. I used gorilla super glue to attach each individual piece. 

I use a Deni convection oven to bake my polymer clay sculptures. I wanted to get a separate oven dedicated to clay only. I think this specific model is not made anymore, as I had it for many year, but there are similar models from different companies available now. The clear body makes its easy to monitor the internal temperature. 

This is what he looked like finished and painted. This one was available for sale in my etsy shop but it was sold. Originally, I was going to sculpt a bunch of these with all the different Aspergillus species, but I stopped after 4.