That time I sculpted a skull and was pleasantly surprised
I have been studying some amazing artists lately who sculpt, design and create these amazing masterpieces. It made me feel inspired to give 3d sculpting a go.
Being me what else would I attempt but a skull first?
So first things first I trawled the internet for some great reference pictures, personally I found this 3d computerised omage really helpful it was all the angles of the skull on one image (sorry I found the image through google search so have no idea whose work it is!)
I found some other photos of skulls as well to use and in the style that I wanted it to look like in the end.
I started off shaping the basic shape of the skull and then I started to add details. It was a lot of shaping and reshaping to get it right, everytime I shaped the eyes right making the nose or the teeth or anything would mishappen them again!!!
I found it difficult to sculpt the teeth because of the size of the skull so I used a ridged tool and pressed into the teeth area to create a rough shape. I figured once it was baked I could use my tools to get a more toothy look.
So this process only took about an hour you could probably do it quicker but I'd never done this sort of modelling before.
After I sculpted the skull I was unsure what to do with it, it was 3D and didn't sit well enough for a necklace so I thought what if I cut the back of the head off and make it into a ring?
I decided to make some roses to go along the head of the crown to give it a little colour, I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like in my head but I was so scared of destroying what I'd just spent an hour making!
I had to delicately chop the back off and make the little roses. There are heaps of how tos on the internet to make your own roses, in this instance I just rolled a few small balls of clay and just flattened them with my fingers because for a ring I wanted it to be durable and not crack and break off for the normally thinner bits of rose petal.
Then I stuck them onto the skull, I shaped the roses into the clay so that the skull and the roses were all on one piece. I baked it in the oven at the temperature suggested on the pack but I like to normally double bake it, 1 reason because the piece was quite thick and 2 because I feel like the clay is stronger when it gets baked a tad bit longer.
Next came the painting, before I painted I used some fine sandpaper to go over the whole skull. This creates more of a surface for the paint to adhere to and you can use this opportunity to sandpaper off any dust and dirt that got stuck in the sculpting process.
I used acrylic paint and did about 3 layers of white, red only needed one layer. Of course you had to let it dry completely after each layer to make sure you don't get any sticky bits.
After that I used a skewer stick dipped in (in this case i used black house paint haha I guess you can use acrylic paint but this was all I had at the time) black paint and did the outlines
The last step was to encase it in some epoxy resin, this again makes it stronger and more durable and gives it a glossy sheen. With the epoxy I always mix with a plastic stirring stick (easily reusable as long as you wipe the resin off immediately after use) I stir it for a good few minutes slowly to minimise bubbles and let it sit for about 10 minutes. It was pretty cold when I did it so I think that slowed down the curing time a fair bit, I like to use it when it is thicker and less runny because I find that stops it from being a total mess!
I used a toothpick to spread it on, I filled in the eyes and nose cavity first then just went about the rest of the skull and roses. Use some e6000 to secure it to a ring base and now we're ready to go!
Let me know what you think and if you have hints and tips for me! I've never done this before so need all the help I can get!
