I need a sturdy armature for my clay sculptures ! ?
I need a sturdy armature for my polymer clay sculptures , I have heard that epoxy putty clay works as a good under-structure I have tried wire and aluminium foil but I want to try something a little more sturdy any suggestions? Also I would like to know if La Doll air dry clay is easy to work with , I have seen some beautiful dolls made from that clay but would like to know a little more about it before i buy it, for example does it dry to a sturdy finish, does it dry while you are working with it or before you finish your sculpture, I have mainly used super sculpey so i would appreciate any suggestions for better clays, Thank you.
If you work with air dry clays the easiest way is to make a small former as you did with wire and either damp paper or foil – once you have this as a base then cover with a single layer of the air dry clay. Allow this first layer to dry hard before you then add your actual sculpture layer of clay, the dried layer should give enough stability to stop the wetter overlays from slumping etc. To avoid the dry layer stealing moisture from the top layer too quickly give it a squirt of water before you add the next.
Using a paper or foil base is a good way as you can choose to leave it inside the sculpture or to pull it out (leave a hole) giving you a hollow form. It also uses less clay and tends to dry out more evenly and without cracking than large lumps of clay do.
I dont know the clays you refer to, but the air dry one i have used before with good results is manufactures by a company called DAS, theres a link below.
