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If you’re new to sculpting and eager to try it out, you may be asking yourself: what do I need to make clay sculptures? As a newbie, navigating the overwhelming quantity of tools and resources available can be difficult, but don't worry: here's all you need to know.
To make a clay sculpture, you need clay of the type that responds to your needs (non-drying, self-drying, or baked), aluminum wire to support your sculpture, clay adhesive to help hold and shape the clay, and various tools for modeling and carving: loop tools, dental tools, knives, and so on.
In this article, I will discuss many types of clay and how to choose the one that is ideal for you. I will also cover the helpful tools and sculpting essentials with recommendations on how to pick them and what to use them for. View our art gifts.
First things first, you need to get your primary sculpting material, which is clay. Clay can be of various kinds, each good for its own purpose.
With good skills, you can create incredible sculptures from any clay type. However, as a beginner, you want to understand their differences and work with the clay that responds to your aims and needs.
It is important to set up a comfortable workspace where you can work freely and have access to everything you need. Many people work on the floor, while others prefer to devote a separate desk to sculpting.
However, the biggest essential here is proper lighting. It is very important that you can clearly see the project you’re working on and feel comfortable throughout the process. If you spend a lot of time working on your sculptures, it is crucial to adjust the lighting so that your eyes don’t get tired quickly.
The best way to ensure comfortable lighting is to position your workspace by a window. It will allow natural light into your room and give the most suitable conditions for working. However, if you prefer to work late in the evenings or don’t get much sunshine during the day, it is also a good idea to use lamps.
Any lamps you have at home can work well for this. It helps to get multiple lamps and position them around your workspace so everything is well-lighted from different angles. This method also makes it easier to adjust lighting as you go, whether you need to highlight a particular element or let your eyes rest a little.
Aluminum wire is essential for creating support for your sculpture. Flexible clay can’t always support itself and hold the shape you want, especially if the sculpture is complicated. You can use various materials for this purpose, but an aluminum wire is probably the handiest and most versatile one of all.
Whatever shape you’d like to create can be easily constructed from this material. It is also relatively inexpensive, considering its flexibility and convenience. Go with thinner wire for more miniature sculptures and thicker wire for big ones.
In addition to supporting the clay, the wire can help you stick to the right proportions and create a sketch for your work. This is especially important for beginners and can help you out a lot.
Another benefit is aluminum wire allows you to use less clay for a project. As you’re building around a pre-existing structure, less material is required, so unless you’re using oil-based clay, this can help you save up a little.
It’s no secret that cold clay has a less flexible texture and is harder to work with. This is why it is crucial to keep the material warm, and if you’re sculpting a lot, this becomes an increasingly pressing issue. A heat gun is a handy tool that can help you quickly warm the clay up whenever you need to.
With complex shapes, it can be pretty challenging to attach clay effectively and ensure it holds and sticks well. That’s where clay adhesive can come in handy. It secures clay pieces and quickly glues them to one another.
Adhesive can be used along with your aluminum structure. It will easily attach new clay pieces to the metal improving adhesion and minimizing the effort on your part. On the other hand, you can use adhesive on its own to add other elements the aluminum does not support.
Some even use adhesive instead of aluminum wire. While it can work well, I would only recommend it for smaller projects. If you’re a beginner, working on complex figures with a wire carcass in place will be easier. Still, adding adhesive will make the entire composition more secure.
Adhesive can also be used to even out the surface of your sculpture. If you don’t want much texture for your project and need to make the clay look smooth, combine the adhesive with clay softener right on the sculpture and use it to make the surface slicker.
Modeling tools are typically made of hardwood and shaped like little knives. That is because they are used for modeling complicated forms, cutting sharp edges or curves, and similar. These tools give you much more control over the details and are essential for sculpture shaping.
You can find modeling tools in a variety of shapes and materials. It might seem overwhelming, and beginners often get confused about which ones to get. Yet, it’s all individual: as you use the tools, you’ll see which ones are most comfortable to work with for you.
Buy your first set of these for as cheap as you can find as you’re figuring things out, and then repurchase similar items of better quality once you know what you need for your work.
Another useful tool is a pallet knife. It is very convenient for adding or removing clay, structuring it, cutting, and other things. Pallet knives can be differently sized and shaped. I recommend purchasing two or three varied ones so you can easily deal with big and small amounts of clay, work in hard-to-reach areas, and adjust to challenging angles.
A pallet knife can also help you make the surface of your sculpture smoother, restructure clay and add or remove volume. Paired with clay softener, it can effectively modify the surface of your project without leaving any unwanted traces on it.
Carving tools are similar to modeling ones but are typically made of steel instead of hardwood. While they are more expensive, the material gives them a significant advantage as it is more solid and reliable, which allows for more diversity.
While hardwood is a strong material, too, it can quickly break while dealing with heavy and thick clay pieces if the tip is too tiny and thin. This is why wood carving tools are pretty thick and cannot be effectively used while working on smaller and more delicate details.
Steel carving tools, on the other hand, are not likely to break that easily, which is why they have a wider variety of tip shapes. The diversity can be truly game-changing for your opportunities in sculpting.
Here, again, the assortment can be overwhelming. You can only figure out which tips you actually need for your purposes as you use them and try out different tools. This is why I recommend getting a big bundle for cheap to test various options and determine which ones are worth repurchasing in better quality.
Many sculptors also use dental tools for similar purposes. If you have an idea of what they look like, you can imagine the potential of extremely thin needles, pointy tips, and curved hooks. They allow for even more detail and convenience in your work.
Loop tools are made of metal, too; typically, the loop is created from one or two wires. Loops can be big or small and differently shaped.
These tools are very versatile. You can use them to remove part of clay by scraping them out with the loop: this allows you to easily create smooth curves and change shapes. Loop tools can also add texture if the tip is modified. You can also perfect the outline of your sculpture and improve its form.
Finally, we have a scraper, another handy tool I really recommend getting your hands on. It is pretty self-explanatory: scrapers are used to remove clay, cut through it, and generally modify the sculpture shape.
Scrapers serve a similar function as loop tools; however, they have their unique features and therefore are used a little differently. These tools are typically thin and flat, in an oval or rectangular shape. Materials also vary: scrapers can be made of wood, metal, or plastic.
Because they have a larger surface and sharp edges, scrapers can deal with bigger amounts of clay and easily cut through it, which is often extremely helpful. They, too, can have modified edges to leave textured traces on the clay.
Clay sculpture uses oil-based clay, also called plastilina, that doesn’t dry and can be reused. Polymer clay hardens if baked, as well as ceramic clay, so with them, you can create projects from start to finish. Air-dry clay is self-drying and can produce solid finished sculptures.
Each sculptor prefers their own material, and you can also find the one that will be most convenient for you. In general, clay can be divided into three categories: non-drying, self-drying, and those that require baking.
All three types have their advantages and disadvantages and are used differently. Here’s a brief overview of clay varieties to get you started.
Plastalina, plasticine, or oil-based clay is non-drying. That’s its main feature which can be both a benefit and a downside, depending on what your goals with this clay are.
Oil-based clay is excellent for practice and is used by beginners and professionals alike. As it doesn’t dry out, you can work with it as long as you wish and reuse it as often as you like. This clay type is highly versatile and very convenient to work with.
You can’t, however, create a finished statue from oil-based clay as it will not become solid. That is why this material is typically used for training, trying out ideas, and making sketches. Professionals make statues in oil-based clay and then cast them in other materials with the help of molds.
This clay type allows you to create projects in the same material from start to finish is flexible, and can be baked without using a kiln. It is a very popular choice for beginner sculptors as it is quite easy to work with.
Polymer clay can get solid once baked, which means it, unlike oil-based clay, can be the material used for your finished projects. It also allows taking your time with the sculptures, as it doesn’t dry out in the process.
Another benefit is you can bake polymer clay at home in your oven. 15 minutes at 275°F (135°C) is typically enough for it to harden. This makes polymer clay very handy, as you don’t need any additional equipment to create a finished sculpture.
Clay that doesn’t require baking to harden is called air-dry clay. You can find it very cheap; however, some types, like epoxy clay, can be quite expensive. The quality is also better, though, and you can use less clay if you have a solid model on which the sculpture is built.
Air-dry clay is preferred by some beginners as it doesn’t require baking, is convenient to work with, and is typically inexpensive. However, it poses challenges, too: you are limited in time as the clay dries out while you work, so you won’t be able to continually work on one project. It is also known to crack as it dries.
Ceramic clay is another type that has to be baked. It also requires a kiln, which makes working with it a little more challenging. Natural clay easily cracks under high temperatures, so the projects must be thin-layered or hollow.
This clay type is mainly used for pottery or small sculpture projects. Overall, it is suitable for beginners only if you are specifically interested in pottery-making.
