Life and Times of a Noob Horse Sculptor

So there are quite a few fabulously helpful blogs out there covering every aspect of the model horse world. This isn't one of them. But maybe, just maybe I can help others by relating all my mishaps - and trust me there have been quite a few so far.

Now I am no stranger to sculpting and casting my work; just on a small scale. Mostly pendant sized and even a medallion when I was feeling bold. Those were ridiculously easy to make and reproduce. The next few posts won't cover those. Rather I will talk about my attempts to sculpt, mold and cast my very own traditional sized draft horse (seen in post below) and Oh what a disaster that has been!

To start, sculpting the actual horses is pretty easy, relaxing and even a little fun. That is when you have the right materials and aren't leaving finger prints behind on a beautifully sculpted neck. I envy the artists who can produce meticulous horses out of oil clay. They also look so flawless and smooth. Then I look over at my one and only attempt and actually cringe in horror at the blobby, streaky, fingerprinted mess and that ends my hope of using traditional clays. Next came Apoxie Sculpt. Now this is actually my favorite material to work with, however for doing a full sized horse it gets very heavy and sets up too quickly leaving me to sand and carve rather than sculpt. So that left me with Sculpey and so far it is what I use for the first part of my sculpture. It stays soft of course until heated which allows for the creation of perfect little skin folds and muzzle wrinkles. The key with Sculpey is to use a heat gun to set any finished parts so you don't accidently squish what you just did. Of course this means the Sculpey isn't terribly strong and it is vitally important not to drop your work (which I have done) and while you are setting heat on your piece avoid those pesky finger prints I may have mentioned, and not permanently set them into your piece (which I have also done). Lastly never, EVER leave your unfinished, unheated piece around cats (which I stupidly have done). Cats are the number one hinderance to the sculpting process as they can't seem to resist crawling over an empty lap and rubbing at the piece in your hands. Not to mention the mess a long haired cats fur makes on soft sculpting materials. Even as I write this one of my cats is sitting behind me having a bath. But I am not fooled, I know she is just biding her time before wreaking havoc. Next time, the molding process where the fun really begins.