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Sculptor's Tools...


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Debra, you are on the right track, but the handles might be a bit shorter. The real ones that I have are shorter. Of course, you don't say what your sculptor is sculpting... Ask Randall! He would know everything. After all, he is the sculptor in our midst.

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Van Gogh came with an extra head and since I glued his current one on, always wondered what to do with the other one. So I painted it clay color and it's going to be a self portrait in clay. Made a turntable out of two woodsies and a snap and need a few tools to scatter around. I figured Randall would pop over here sooner or later, also need some thoughts on how much clay to spread around to be realistic.

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Guest Sculptor

It depends on what you are doing and the material, but here's most of the common tools I use, most of the wood tools I make myself from hard maple, you will probably want some tools that are closer to the metal ones on the right, I seem to rememebr ordering those from DickBlick.com they carry several lines, Probably the wax/plaster ones would do well as most sets have small picks and blades, hooked ends with various shapes etc. this is what I bought, the 12 pick set a few years ago, stainless steel, very nice:

http://www.dickblick.com/items/33059-0129/

aImFbsF.jpg

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Oh, "Vincent's work" and the mini tools are wonderful, Debra!

I was a sculpture minor in college when I got my interior design degree. It depends SO much on what kind of sculpting you do, what tools you have in your stash. (Like anything else, I suppose.) If it's clay work / pottery work, you can't do better than Randall's collection of scrapers, shapers, cutters, and dental tools. I used to do work in wood and metal as well, and of course those require different tools (gouges, blades, and a zillion other things)—and now that I do mini-sculpting I've added ball tools to my scrapers and dental tools, and a whole bunch of homemade things, all to do the work that fingers & hands might do in full size.

Oh, and as to how much clay to mush around—I'm miserly about such things and always have been, but having done a lot of work in bigger shops I think most sculptors are. Maybe it was just the particular folks who used to hang out in the shop with me, but as far as I saw we all went to great efforts NOT to leave a lot of goo around. After all, lost clay (or other materials) is lost $$... and a future project that won't get to happen, as well. So a swipe right around the work surface is about all I'd leave around for realism.

Maybe leave out a nice bag of clay, though, like this:

post-3547-0-31512400-1402513169_thumb.jp

As if your sculptor is right in the middle of getting a little extra out to add to the nose or whatever. :)

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Guest Sculptor

Most of us sculptors traditionally use a rolling tripod stand with a top that can be turned (especially for portrait busts), and an easel, I use both, one can find very old photos taken in studios showing both of these.

Traditionally in the old days a lot of sculptors wore a smock in the studio which to me strongly resembles one of those white lab coats, something like that left draped over a chair or something would be appropriate.

Also a rollling chair, and other work stands, some examples of mine:

10cDKp7.jpg

no2NhRn.jpg

VepNEG4.jpg

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My oh my! You sure do great work! I think Vincent will have to manage with his turntable as I am not sure he wants to pursue this kind of work.... :bigwink: I do have one more question, ( I know, it never ends! LOL!) When you are working on a piece, do you have your tools laid out on cloth, keep them in the box or just set them down on the table? So that is the query for the day! LOL! (For now anyway.....) (Looks like he needs a pump bottle too.....)

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My oh my! You sure do great work! I think Vincent will have to manage with his turntable as I am not sure he wants to pursue this kind of work.... :bigwink: I do have one more question, ( I know, it never ends! LOL!) When you are working on a piece, do you have your tools laid out on cloth, keep them in the box or just set them down on the table? So that is the query for the day! LOL! (For now anyway.....) (Looks like he needs a pump bottle too.....)

Thank you Debra!

I normally keep my tools in that tray you see in the photo, it's actually a repurposed brass and wood antique that was thrown away which I found, I believe it was originally used for some kind of printing press ink pad/reservoir, it was perfect for what I use it for once I cleaned out the old ink that was in it.

The pump bottle contains water to moisten the clay periodically, also, you would have found burlap and similar cloth in the studios which were wet with water and draped over models between sessions to keep them moist, these days plastic is probably more common.

I don't use them but normally you would expect to see some large natural sponges too in the work area, and a bucket perhaps for scraps on the floor.

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Thank-you again! I stole a pump bottle out of my husband's miniature shop and made the handles shorter on Vincent's tools. I heard banging in the craft room and he had made himself another table out of a pizza box insert. He already had another bust started! Once he's on a roll, it's hard to keep him supplied with enough clay! I'm not sure if he will use a box, he doesn't seem to be as neat as you appear to be. But I know he will be moaning for something, so will have to dig around in my stash and see what I can come up with. Bucket sounds like a good idea too. This was a project that I started years ago and has just started talking again...so fast I can barely keep up! Thanks again for your help.

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... also, you would have found burlap and similar cloth in the studios which were wet with water and draped over models between sessions to keep them moist...

I hated it when I modelled for artists and they threw wet burlap over me between sessions.

;)

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I'm getting itchy just thinking about wet burlap on wet skin. It's a good thing I didn't pursue that modeling career after all.

Hey Randall, um, can I come play at your house? LOL!!! You have some awesome toys, er, I mean, tools.

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