Day 99: Clay Cat – realistic

So… today’s cat was going to be part of an upcoming more elaborate project. Alas, it was not to be so. This is definitely a year of learning lots. (This apparently does not include grammar :) ). For instance, I learned if you want to have a  polymer clay figure that can stand and you want to be able to move it:

1) if there is no wire and you have skinny “legs” on your project, it will collapse, and

2) if you put a wire in, your wire can’t be too thick – otherwise, when you push to make it move, you have to push so hard the clay deforms.

The wire in the hind legs of this cat were unfortunately too short and every time I tried to stand him up on his own, his back feet broke off. So I had to “hang” him by his tail and bake him.

It is rather embarrassing how long it took me to sculpt him. Maybe 6-8 hours? I had to finally stop fussing, just to be done with the project – fighting perfectionism. The wire in his head prevented me from tilting his head up, he’s covered in finger prints, every time I work on a back leg to smooth it more the wire starts to show.  Like I said, no chance of being perfect here! LOL

I also learned,

3) it would be better to sculpt a clay figure while it is held up by some kind of supporting base or wire so you only have to touch the part you are working on. Because I was holding the body in one hand and working on another area with the second-hand, I kept disfiguring areas I had already “finished.”

Oh well, it’s all good. I really do love this project, even when things don’t work out like I planned. I’m learning what art/creating I actually like to do.  Eight hours of Photoshop = torture. Eight hours sculpting clay = fun. But you know, I’m really stubborn and don’t like to be defeated by anything and I find myself thinking of more Photoshop projects… masochist? persistent? You decide! Ha ha! I also hope that once I find the things I like to do and practice them, I’ll get better.  These are really all first attempts and kinda suck.  But I’m good with that too.  Just happy to have creativity in my life again. Thanks Noah Scalin!

And Noah Scalin fans, if you didn’t know already, he was interviewed on the Accidental Creative podcast again if you want to listen here. He rocks!

And wow, the next cat will be #100.  It’s going so fast!!! Nothing grand planned. Not even sure what or when it will be at this point.

Thank you for checking out the cats!

• 365
• art
• cat
• challenge
• clay
• create
• creativity
• doll
• handmade
• kitty