Prosculpt Clay Hair sculpted Mermaids OOAK

My next set of mermaids I used two other Patricia Rose Press molds. The larger one is Pearl. Here is what she looks like from the mold. 

I added more curves to her to make her older. I did not record too much of my WIP for these mermaids. I am very behind posting my projects. I want to post everything that I have on my memory cards so far and clean them before going on to next project. I have like 3-4 memories going and its a bit crazy keeping track for me right now. 

The white shell is eco-resin from a silicone mold. Here I'm doing the hair using prosculpt clay. So no mohair wig for these. 

Here im adding in the details in the hair and smoothing it over with polymer clay thinner. 

Here is the Goldie Press mold. The body is a young child. I painted her a teen.

Here I am also sculpting in the hair. All 4 of my mermaids have fins for hands. Fingers are not my strong point. I have to work really hard on them and it I just thought it wasn't worth the time/effort for these as the fin hands look ok. 

The smaller mermaid ended up with some breakage during the baking stage. I wanted a strong bond and I was still baking in the oven at least for the painting, so I had to use something that is oven safe. 

I used magic smooth. It is a very strong adhesive once cured. and it is oven safe for polymer clay baking temps. It takes 24hrs to dry. Even after 10-12 hours, the magic smooth will still feel slightly sticky. Becare it can dry in very sharp points, so be sure to smooth it out. can be sanded as well. smooths with water. Very sticky though. I use gloves to mix, then change gloves to apply. 

Here is the sanding box with the hand holes on the same side. This one is actually much bigger than the other type with the holes on either side that I showed in my mohair mermaid post. The plastic walls are much thinner on this model though, so it is very flimsly. This has since broke when it fell off the counter an a part chipped. I replaced it with a smaller same size as the other model with the holes on opposite ends, thinking it will be the same thicker plaster. Well I was wrong and its the same thinner plaster as the longer size. It seems to be studier since it is smaller. 

Up to painting now. Again, I am using the Gemini heat set paints, starting with the skin first. 

more painting pictures. 

Almost finished 

Painting the tail 

Back to the larger size mermaid. These will not be ornaments,  and instead each one has a white shell as a base. 

I just didn't like the hand fins on this one, so mid painting, I went back to sanding the hands. still went with the fin look but I think it's an improve from the far-left picture. This Gemini paint is really great though, because it really stayed on the clay even after sanding and getting wet, once it was heat set, it stayed. 

Here it is complete. 

Video is coming soon!

Available for sale on my etsy shop: https://blueorandasculpts.etsy.com/listing/4424904354/ooak-mermaid-sculpture-handmade

Here is this one. 

Video coming soon!

Avaulable for sale on my etsy shop: https://blueorandasculpts.etsy.com/listing/4424910162/ooak-mermaid-sculpture-handmade

Prosculpt Polymer Clay Mermaid with Mohair Hair.

 

This post will cover how I created this mermaid using polymer clay, mohair, and Gemini heat set paints. 

This is the "Ava" mermaid press mold from Patricia Rose. Sadly it seems that many of these press molds are not available anymore, though they come up on ebay from time to time. These plaster molds can only use polymer clay, other types of clay will get stuck in the mold and being a rigid type one, the clay will be very difficult to remove. So just best to stick with polymer clay. I am using prosculpt polymer clay. 

Cleaning the mold seamlines. It's better to have excess clay to trim then to have to add more clay later on, as the two halves will not stick together then. I am leaving the hook in to keep it as an ornament. 

Here I am making the wire frame for the mermaid tail. 

The clay tailfin is blended into the rest of the tail. 

Here is another angle. 

I made a mistake here. I used cotton balls as a soft bed for the mermaids to be laying on, but actually it is not a good material to do this with. The cotton balls are not at all the same as polyfil, which is what I should have been using. The oven smells a bit stronger after this baking. My oven was quite old at this point so I thought it was breaking not realizing it was because of the cotton balls. Also the backside of the clay did not heatup correctly either. 

here I am using a sanding box that I got from temu. This version has the hand cut out holes on either side. It was not comfortable to me. I know this is a more popular style and other more expensive models follow the same design, but I much prefer the style where the hand cut outs are both on the same side. Sanding paper I use 100, 240, 400, 600 grit, usually starting with the 240. 

The smaller mermaid pictured is from using the minnow press mold. I was working on these two at the same time.

Sanding the smaller mermaid was fine inside the box but the larger one was difficult to get good angles. There exists different size boxes, I got the smaller, about 7in x 12in one. 

So I ended up taking the larger mermaid out of the box to sand, defeating its purpose.  

Here they are all finished sanded right before painting.

I started painting the smaller mermaid first. This was the first time I used these Gemini heat set paints. I has previously used the well-known Genesis heat set paints but they are no longer made. The feel of using them is basically the same. I start with a thinner and then paint in the shadows. 

I paint the full mermaid with the Gemini heat set paint so I moved on to the tail now. It is nice to just heat them in the oven and know that the paint is all set and permanent. 

Here I'm painting the larger mermaid. 

I thinned the paint and did a light blue. 

Finally, I am gluing the wig on. I only did a few mohair wigs in the past but I dont remember having as much difficulty with it as I did for these two. I think the problem was that I had the wire still in the head and so there wasn't as much room for the hair to go and adhere too. 

It's not as great as could be but they look ok, the bigger one looks better I think. 

Here is the smaller one finished. You can see a video on my process here: https://youtube.com/shorts/1fmgp62jyhk?feature=share

It is available for sale in my etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4406069289/ooak-polymer-clay-mermaid-ornament-hand

Here is a longer video on my work progress: https://youtu.be/DsOB2qC8Wo4?si=OIw7OquLx_cTMFJx

And she is also available in my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4406204139/ooak-75-polymer-clay-unique-ocean

Up Next is my next set of polymer clay mermaids

 

Painting with FolkArt TerraCotta acrylic paints, original aspergillus sculpture

 

I am going to be using Folk Art TerraCotta paints for the first time. I picked up a 6 pack from Amazon that included the light blue "Seastone" and "Snowbank",  the white. I had to buy the dark blue,  "ocean cavern" separate. These paints are made for outdoor/indoor use. Any paint for "outdoor" use should be more scratch resistant than regular craft paints. These have a slight texture to them as if the piece being painted if made of clay. 

Before painting, I applied Liquitex Acrylic Gesso and let it dry over the Polymer Clay sculpture for 24hrs. 

If you are interested in seeing a video of this process: https://youtu.be/c9xABkTLvLk?si=WvOiCUG9JpDRj8n1

I started out just using the lighter blue seastone color. I thought it looked too light without any contrast. So I added on the Ocean Cavern color to darken it a bit. I thinned the terracotta paints with water and they painted just fine with no brushstrokes. If I applied the paint thicker with no or minimal water thinning, the texture was much more pronounce as the paint dried. I also noticed some pulling away of color if I thinned the paint very much. I mean that I painted an area blue, but as it dried the paint pulled into itself, so that area was now the white of the primer underneath. Thicker application did not do this. It was easier for me to blend the colors if they were more watered down.

FolkArt TerraCotta Paints blended fine with Vallejo model color white paint that I was using initially before just using the terracotta white. Areas with more Vallejo white, like the face ended up being less textured.

Eye painting. 

Painting the back of the sculpture. Actually, I really think the back of this sculpture is amazing, with the way all the grooves are and accentuated with the painting. Total painting time was about 3-4hours. 

If you interested in seeing a 3 minute video of me actually painting: https://youtu.be/0-3pjaSSzcs?si=hJ0dKiXBHhonwX90 

Or if you prefer a short video of it : https://youtu.be/LHb-m7CERxY?si=WSrBXHKxFG4o7Smv

So all done and in windowed giftbox ready to ship. For sale on my 

Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4366056260/polymer-clay-ooak-sculpture-aspergillus

Here are some completed pictures below. I will be working on some Mermaids next!

Latest Scratch built Polymer Clay Original Sculpture of Aspergillus Mold humanoid Woman Statue

 

I thought it was time I did another complete scratch built sculpture before doing another work from a press mold. In this post I am going to show how I created my Standing Aspergillus Lady from scratch. She will be posted to my Etsy shop once I'm finished painting her. This post will only cover the sculpting part. 

I started off with a wire armature with only a little bit of foil in the torso area. For polymer clay I am using super sculpey living doll mixed with colors of cernit translucent clay. This sculpture finishes up the custom mix that I have been using for my last few polymer clay creations. The cernit that I received from mail order Michaels was incredibility crumbly. I have not used cernit before outside of this purchase from Michaels, but I would think that the clay is just old as opposed to that's how it was supposed to be. Mixing with super sculpey seemed to work well, although it took awhile to get a nice mixture. I liked the blue tint of this mixture. 

For sculpting tools, I am using a hard wooden tool that was actually original purchased as part of a doll making kit from Patricia Rose many many years ago. I almost ruined by having epoxy resin dry on it but I think I was able to save it.

 Also I use Clay shapers by Royal Sovereign Ltd. You can get cheaper silicone tip tools on Amazon but these are really made better. The extra firm black tip ones are the ones to get and they work well for any type of sculpting, Blick sells size 0,2, and 6 in 5 different shape tips sets. I only got the flat chisel in size 6, shown above, since I try not to sculpt too big. 

I start off just adding clay to the armature. Because this a humanoid type sculpture I am not concerned too much for the hands, individual legs, etc. 

At this point I baked the sculpture for the first time in the Deni oven, about 250F for 10mins or so. I am not concerned with the back of the sculpture at this point, so I lay the clay figure flat on the tile. After baking the areas in contact with the tile will be flat. I know many people use their regular oven to bake clay but I just don't feel comfortable doing so. Many times I find oily residue inside the Deni oven in-between bakes. I read that if I don't bake completely, this will happen. But for my final bake I bake for the full duration thickness at 275F, still finding the oily residue inside. I just really recommend getting a stand alone oven just for clay. I only spent maybe $50-60 on this. The only downside is to be limited by the space of the oven. This setup wont work for really huge one piece sculptures. 

After the basic shape is there, I start working on the face next. I carve, then sanding, followed by adding additional clay back. Cycle repeat until satisfied. 

Here is some progression pictures of the face. 

I move on to working on the hair next. 

next sculpting progression, working more on the hair. I switch between using the wooden tool and the clay shapers. 

I work on the body a little bit more. I am going for as if the body is made up of hyphae. 

Sculpting progression back of hair. 

Next baking I already did quite a bit of details on the back so I don't want it all be flatted by the baking. I put a layer of cotton balls underneath the sculpture, and on top of the tiles. I put the cotton balls in foil to kinda keep them together. I had before where once the oven turned on the individual cotton balls swirled all around the oven. 

At this point I am done with the polymer clay and will finish up this sculpture using Fixit Sculpt. Why? I sculpted this one as a standing figure, so I want the bottom of the sculpture to be as the base, and be nice and strong. I actually think a screwed up woth some of the hair peices, I should have done them in fixit sculpt instead of polymer clay. It seems to be fine now but I just worry if the hair stand is strong enough. 

Fixit Sculpt will just stuck to anything. The Idea is to just have it gradually flow into the base part. I really will miss this color of polymer clay since it looks to be a good match for fixit sculpt once cured. Fixit Sculpt is very soft until it hardens. It hardened on a slight slant that needs to be sanded. 

I added in some more fixt sculpt to fill in some areas, I couldnt do the whole thing in one batch. 

The sculpture is almost done at this point. You cannot see where the polymer clay ends and the Fixit Sculpt begins. 

I used 100 grit sandpaper in a bin filled with water and went back and forth until the bottom was sanded flat and the sculpture could stand on its own. 

Here I'm gluing the conidia to the phialides. 

And this is it until painting. Working time probably would have been only a few hours if I was able to work on this continuously, maybe 5-6 before painting.

I will post a short priming video before moving on to the painting.