My First Time-Sculpting a goose in 54mm

[the Baron]

Hi, all! I recently completed my first full effort to sculpt a figure, using proper techniques. I have some progress pics

to share...

Now, at the outset, I have to admit that I have no pic of the very first step, which was the armature. I completed it and

started covering it with putty, before I thought of taking a picture! I apologize for that; I'll have to describe it.

Since my subject was a goose, what I needed was an armature to frame the body and neck, and the wings. So, I made a simple

shape, like a "b" or a "d" (or a "p" or a "q" ), that is, a piece of wire, bent back on itself at one end to make a bow,

for about one-third of its length. At the point where the round part of the "b" meets the stem, I wrapped another piece

around the "neck", to support the wings.

I used aluminum wire, which I have on hand for pinning and other uses. But it's a little too rigid for this use, and I

have learned in the meantime that florist's wire is easier to work with (thanks to none other than Mr. John Jenkins for

that tip!).

My sculpting medium was Sculpey, first time using it, and I like it and can recommend it (though I will try other putties,

too, in the future, like Aves). Sculpey has to be baked to set it.

So, now we're at the point where I took a picture. Here is the armature, roughed out with Sculpey and baked to cure it:



I think that the temperature was too high, and that's why the clay turned dark. If anyone else has used Sculpey, he might

be able to help clarify. I followed the instructions as far as the temperature is concerned, but with subsequent pieces, I

adjusted that down. My oven burns a little hot, too. Here is a picture of the piece from the back:



Once, while walking past the bench, I saw this out of the corner of my eye, and thought it was a bug! Here's another

angle:



The armature provided shape for the body, and attachment points for the sheets of Sculpey that made up the feathers of the

wing.

More pictures to follow...

 

[the Baron]

After I had the basic shape set, I used some files to add some surface detail, like some of the feathers, and then some

fine sandpapers to remove things like fingerprints , and just to clean it up. The exercise was to practice

sculpting, but my goal is a piece in toy soldier style, so I wasn't too worried about reproducing every little feather.

In the next step, I coated the surface with Gunze-Sangyo's Mr. Surfacer 1200:




Again, the idea was to get a uniform surface, and also, to act as a primer. I also built up the area around the goose's

head with layers of Mr. Surfacer, to round it out a little bit more. Here is another shot:



and this:



Looks a little like a tiny Rodan, doesn't it?

More to come...

 

[the Baron]

The next step was to make the drumsticks, which would then be attached with CA glue. For these, I made armatures of fine

copper wire, scavenged from an old appliance cord. I used three pieces braided together for each leg:



This meant that I could fan the three ends out at the foot end of the leg.

Here they are with a ball of Sculpey applied to the thigh ends:



You can see I learned my lesson about the temperature.

Here you can see the legs attached to the body:



and another angle:



The little third hand stand is very handy (no pun intended!)

Next, the goose is cooked!

 

[the Baron]

In these pics, we see the final details and colors added.

For the feet, I used masking tape for the webbing. I put a piece under each foot, trimmed the excess with a fine scissors,

and then flowed a little CA glue over the legs and feet to seal them:



At this point, I had to do some research, because I realized that apart from having white feathers, I didn't know much more

about how a domestic goose looks. Also, I wanted to make sure that I painted it as the right kind of domestic goose for

Central Europe. As it turns out, we have the same domestic goose here, too (though there are other varieties, in other

colors, elsewhere in the world). So, it's overall white, orange legs and feet, and some black at that snout with an orange

beak.



As I said earlier, this is in my toy soldier style, so the level of detail is sufficient for my tastes.



You can see how I formed the armature with the curve for the neck...



...because ultimately, it was to hang, limply, in the hand of a poultry thief:



It was fun to take the plunge, and I'm going to keep practicing. I want to sculpt a full figure in 54mm someday. And I'll

try to take pictures at every step, too!

Thanks for looking!

YbiC
Brad

 

[DreamKnight]

WOW! That came out great!

There's also another putty out there called Magic Sculpt that everyone is saying great things about. I used it for models as filler to sculpting little parts I lost or broke.

http://magic-sculpt.com/
http://www.magicsculp.com/

Both links same places. I think one is just a very old version of their website.

 

[MrNatural]

The goose is loose! but seriously this looks great! sculpey is really awesome stuff i use it all the time. Looks like you figured out the temperature thing, I usually take my sculpey sculptures out a little earlier than what the instructions say cause i think there is a little carry over baking time while you let it cool off this assures that you wont scorch your hard work. Oh and keeping an eye on it while it bakes helps not to burn either.

Rock on!

 

[Junkie]

That sure is good for the gander. Nice.

 

[the Baron]

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

I encourage anyone out there who's thought about trying his hand at sculpting to do so. The hardest part was to stop thinking/worrying about how hard it might be and just plunge in. But it really makes sense, I think everyone can agree--there's so many pieces that we'd like to add to a model, or a figure, and you just can't find it on the market. So, you make your own!

 

[Shark]

That gave me goose bumps!

 

[elend]

Wow, that's some great work. It's so tiny, yet so beautifully sculpted. Very well done!

 

[Chas]

You got the limp look just right mate!

Looks great.