NEW PROJECTS FOR FEBRUARY 2013

 What’s the SkulpTools Tool Tinkerer up to lately?

I decided to get back to my first love for a while: sculpting. For me it’s kind of a Zen-thing. I get into the zone and don’t want to quit… until my eyes start crossing or my muscles freeze up and complain. It reminds me of why I began to craft sculpting tools in the first place, which I also enjoy doing. I love using those old early prototype tools, which still work just as well as the more handsome new versions. Plus it gives me a great chance to find new ways to use all of them. Sometimes I just can’t decide which is better or more fun – using or making them. I still come up with ideas for new tools as I’m sculpting, although some never make it off the drawing board of my mind – which occasionally may be a good thing. Others progress to the experimental or prototype stages, and some get fabricated and produced to sell [or maybe they don’t]. But it’s all good. I still work to perfect and refine what I make and find solid useful ways to serve the needs of sculptors, making helpful tools they just can’t find elsewhere.

It seems easier for me to come up with tool ideas but is often more of a challenge to decide on something I really want to sculpt. I’m not of the caliber of some sculptors who can create portrait likenesses in clay of most anyone. Although I had some measure of success with the busts of Hemingway and Twain, they each took me months to do, with many re-dos and “face lifts”.

So I thought it would be fun to get back to my favorite style of sculpting, which is character sculpting, because they can be as whimsical as I desire. Plus, with my quirky sense of humor, it gives me an outlet to express some sort of comic “hook” that will make folks smile or even chuckle when they notice it. I must admit that I get a kick of doing that.

I’m also looking for ways to stretch my sculpting abilities, to challenge myself to try new subject types and refine my skills and techniques. It’s strangely both encouraging and a bit troubling to look back on my earlier works and find myself thinking something like, “Yuck! I made THAT?” But then I realize we all have to start somewhere and not many of us can claim to be instant sculpting virtuosos. If our work did not improve and refine over time, I suppose we’d quickly get board and frustrated with ourselves for lack of progress. So in that sense, I guess it’s good to look back on what you used to make, once in a while, just to see how far you’ve progressed.
~~~

Having bought my first camcorder a few months ago, I’ve also been making some work-in-progress and tutorial videos and uploaded several to YouTube [Click Here to view them]. I’ve started sculpting a 1/12^th scale character-style figure of a sculptor  who's concentrating on making a self portrait bust. My aim is to sort of poke fun at the hubris of myself and other artists. This one required some research to find the best ways to resolve some sculpting challenges, like making my first full-body pose-able armature, sculpting two matching likenesses, sculpting wire-armatured fingers, fashioning wooden props and [I hope] adding synthetic hair – rather than sculpted hair. I’m certain there will be other challenges I haven’t encountered yet though.
~~~

I’d like to thank my blog followers and other visitors who have stopped by to read various posts here. It’s still a bit new to me, but it’s fun to write about shared interests in art and sculpting with others. So, thanks to all of you for tuning in.

SKULPTOOLS "TOOL-TORIAL" No.1

  What's that tool good for?

I’ve been asked to do some tutorials to show and explain how best to use some of the sculpting tools that I make, and I’d like to begin a series of posts on that subject.

When I set out to make my own sculpting tools I had in mind specific sculpting tasks that needed solutions by way of new shape or sizes of tool tips. But I was also frustrated by the awkward handle types on tools already made. I wondered why no one had improved on those and made it easier to control the tool, and thus, giving better results. If you have browsed my website or my Etsy shop, then you know what the handles of my tools look like.

As for many of the metal tip tools I make, their uses are fairly straightforward for the most part. I make several types of general sculpting “blade” type tools – 3/8” wide and smaller - with smooth edges that can be used by most any sculptor to manipulate their clay to make designs or to fashion a certain form. Some have angled tips and others are straight.

Dual-tipped tools make sense for the sake of economy, both for the artists’ pocketbook and to, in effect, have two tools in your hand at once – for the sake of economy of motion, so to speak. Although I have crafted tip designs that are different, as far as I know, their purposes and uses are fairly universal and familiar.

But there are several tools that I make whose designs are unlike anything I have ever seen. As I sculpted, I would think “If I only had a tool that would do this or that…” and then I would set out to engineer a way to craft a tool to do “this or that”.

***

The subject of this post is one of those types of tools:

THE MINI ROLLER TOOL

 

 

This tool was borne out of my frustration with trying to smooth out inevitable lumps and bumps in my polymer clay. I tried using my finger, rolling a cylindrical tool or rod and using clay shaper silicone tipped tools. But none of them would do what I wanted to do. I thought, “If I only had a tiny sideways brayer, I could get in here and smooth this out real quick.” And so 

the Mini Roller Tool was born!
Several folks who bought them remarked that they don't know how they got along without it for so long!

Here’s a quick 4-minute video tutorial that explains just a few of the situations where this tools shines. I'll bet you can think of lots of other uses for this handy tool!

SKULPTOOLS NEWZ FOR FEBRUARY 1, 2013

  SkulpTools was Published in Art Doll Quarterly Magazine's Spring 2013 Issue

 I'm very excited to announce that award winning art doll artist, Lynn Cartwright reviewed seven SkulpTools and wrote up a modest “blurb” in the February Spring issue of the magazine. [Page 123] They sent me a complimentary copy and I was quite impressed with the way the magazine is made and the caliber of the writing and content. More like a paperback book than a magazine, its pages are high quality paper, the photo work is really top notch and the articles are designed to appeal to the serious art doll creator. This is for sure a publication designed to be kept as a reference piece for many years, rather than be destined for the recycling bin, once read.

One other review is in the works for the summer issue of Polymer Arts magazine and I hope to share more news on that and much more soon.

True Confessions of an Admitted "Sculpting Tool Hoarder"

Am I a Hopeless Case?

Like some of my customers - who shall of course remain nameless - I may have a serious affliction. I may be in need of "sculpting tool addiction rehab". It's gotten more chronic since I began to fabricate my own sculpting tools years ago. 

I really do have a perfectly logical explanation

why I own hundreds of sculpting tools. 

 

It started out innocently enough.

Working in polymer clay, I of course needed several sculpting tools to complete my sculptures of small character figures. Along with those bought online and at craft stores, I utilized [read: abused] various "found objects" like manicure tools, paint brush handles and such. 

 

I also had to prep for a clay class with up to 50 students. I fashioned five different tools for each person, plus bought several sets of plastic ones besides.

 

When I discovered the fun of experimenting with making simple canes I had to have blades, extruder, roller, pasta machine, etc. Then along with embellishing items with slices of canes, I wanted to add stamped patterns and shapes, so I had to have texture sheets, rubber stamps and such. 

 

Then I tested out using polymer clay as one would use paint on a wood plaque, only making the subject matter 2-dimensional rather than flat. I of course needed more tools to accomplish that.

 

Next I thought I'd challenge and stretch myself to see if I could actually make a face really look human rather than like some cartoon character. At first I just doodled with a single color of clay several times, then balled it up and began again. [kinda reminds me of the old "Magic Slate" I had as a kid!] 

 

Then I thought it would be more challenging if the subject was made of natural colored clay, with colored hair, eyes and clothing, Then I got the absolutely crazy idea to try and sculpt a 6 inch tall Mark Twain bust [the face being only about 2" tall]. Now if any of you have ever tried to sculpt a likeness of someone, you know how tough that can be to do. In the process of doing that sculpt, I found that traditional tools on the market were all "too something", too long, too big, too sharp, shaped all wrong, so on. So I made one small double ended tool to help me in making those tiny facial features. That lead to needing another tool for slightly different applications, and on it went until I had made about 6 tools that were just right for what I 

needed.

And so began my despicable downward spiral

into chronic sculpting tool addiction!

 I would buy sets and groups of tools to test out to see if they would work for certain sculpting challenges: Silicone Clay shapers, wax carving tools, old dental tools, cuticle tools, sgraffito tools; all purchased for testing purposes only, you understand.

 

Nah. Who am I fooling? I was playing and experimenting with tools and having a blast! Some had some merit and practical use, but many were just plain rejects. The worst thing was having to buy a full set of a dozen or so, just to get maybe three tools I could actually use! 

 

A spark of hope flickered...

 I have a gal in mind that I met and truly admire very highly. She sculpted for years with just three tools - including a plain round toothpick and her fingernail! She created absolutely exquisitely detailed small scale pieces and sold many of them. I so much wanted to be like her; so pure, so simple, so natural, so streamlined in her use of scant sculpting tools. She didn't have to lug around a whole box of tools like me! I thought if I could just observe her while she sculpted, just maybe her good influence would rub off on me and inspire me to turn away from my tool-hoarding ways!

 

Alas, this story has such a sad ending; I almost can't bear to share it with you. Well, she began to talk with me about my tool designs, making helpful suggestions, recommendations, and giving me great ideas and feedback. And then she saw what I made and...oh, horrors, SHE BOUGHT SEVERAL OF MY TOOLS! Then she came back to me again and again and bought more tools from me! Oh the ruin of it all! MY HOPES FOR REDEMPTION WERE TOTALLY CRUSHED! This virtuous paragon of spare and simple tool usage now owns well over a dozen SkulpTools!

 

She told me the reason she used those scant basic tools for so long was because she never found any tools she really liked and wanted to use...until..... Well, you can guess the rest.

 

[The above is a true, though perhaps slightly dramatized, story!]

 

My tool travails persisted

Oh, I've repeatedly tried very hard to limit myself to using just a small handful of tools, as I work on a sculpt, rather than my usual tray full of some 30 tools!. I've even moved my work piece to another room, out of sight of the hoards of bins, boxes, carousels and trays of various tools I have accumulated over the years. I would will myself to keep just the few tools at hand that I know I will need for the task, and no more. Then commence to sculpting. 

 

Then I would begin to hear that nagging little voice of the tiny sculpting tool mongering devil tugging on my ear, saying, "If you just had that certain tool you made, from the other room, you could do this action so much easier and better..."  ARGHH! And though I tried to fight it, it was useless. I would finally end up giving in to the voice, go to retrieve that single tool I was thinking of. And then...Oh wait...while I'm here I can also use this one, and this one. And oh, this one would be so handy too, I might just need this one. Ah, heck, I may as well grab the whole group. And so, sadly I regress back again!

 

But then, EUREKA! It occurred to me that my "tool addiction downfall" is actually the sculptor's gain! Early on, if it were not for a process similar to what I have just described, I would never have developed the urge to design and produce the tools that my artist customers have come to rely on and enjoy using.

Alas, I fear I'm a hopeless case!

 When I look at some of my earlier tools now, some are a bit embarrassing. I used whatever components I had on hand to make them, so I could test out my designs. But hey, they still work well and they helped me develop the tool designs I have now. The problem is I can't bring myself to throw those old "beater" tools away! And so they are stored in one of the three carousels I have, or the big tray I keep for my tools-in-use. Then there are those storage bins full of old tools that I bought that just didn't do what I wanted them to do. The ones that were all "too something"... I know I'll probably never use those tools again. But I just can't bear to part with them just yet. Ughh! I got it bad! 

But it's for sure about the only addiction I know of 

that inspires such creativity and joy!

 

What's your sculpting tool "true confession"? Do you dare to share it? Write me back on this blog and we'll all share a laugh along with you. 

Perhaps we should begin a thread: "You MIGHT" be a sculpting tool addict IF..."

~~~

I love hearing from my SkulpTools buyers across the globe and processing their orders; from a dozen different countries so far, plus the good old USA. I see all of their strange looking addresses, and as I pack up their orders, I wonder what beautiful objects they'll be using my tools to create. [Of course, to them, my Arizona address on their packages must look pretty strange, too.]  In a span of about a week, I had consecutive orders from the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Germany. [Hmm. Makes me wonder if they have a Scandinavian clay guild and were passing the word around on SkulpTools, or something.]


I really do enjoy producing and sharing these tools I make with my buyers. How many folks get to share something they make all over the world that helps other folks be creative? One lady told me the tools she bought helped her transform her work from just productivity to creativity. I couldn't wish for a better result than that!

Sometimes I wonder how someone like me ended up creating sculpting tools and selling them all over the world! I enjoy making things that others find useful. So as long as I'm able and folks keep buying them and I keep coming up with new designs, I'll continue to produce them! 

Here's a salute to all you creative people out there!

[And to my fellow tool-addicts! You know who you are!]

Thanks for sharing my tongue-in-cheek story. I truly hope you got a healthy chuckle from it.

NEW TOOLS AND OTHER NEWS FOR FALL 2012

SKULPTOOLS NEWZ FOR FALL 2012

What's new and on the SkulpTools Workbench Now?

New SkulpTools Distributor!

I'm delighted to announce that Clay Alley, an online webstore based in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is now a distributor of SkulpTools. [www.clayalley.com] Clay Alley sells polymer clay and many other products and supplies for sculptors and creative folks of all artistic persuasions. 

Years back, as a customer I was impressed with their 

great customer service. 

So I didn't hesitate to begin working with 
Clay Alley owner, Karen Rhodes

Check out Clay Alley's selection of all sorts of craft and sculpting supplies, They carry a well-rounded assortment all of the major brands of polymer clay, as well as air dry clay and others.

 ~~~

SkulpTools Tool Reviews Coming Up Soon

I am VERY excited to say that I have been corresponding with several online and print publications and forums who are interested in reviewing SkulpTools. I'll certainly have more to write as those details are firmed up. But I will say that some of the more well-read pubs' are enthused about writing about SkulpTools for their readers to view.

 ~~~

New Tools on the Workbench!!

I'm currently working on a new combo tool. Photos and details will be coming soon. At this point it's a prototype tool, which will soon be checked out by some of my "beta testers". 

Although I make several specialty tools, which perform specific sculpting tasks, I'm always looking for an all-around tool style that appeals to a broad spectrum of sculptors. I may just have found it with this new tool. Stat tuned!

NEW TUTORIAL VIDEO FROM SKULPTOOLS STUDIO!

Just began a new project: Producing Video Tutorials

I made two basic still photo videos on a past sculptures.
You can view each of them below.

They may be basic, but Hey, it's a start!

It includes details like how I used series baking to make them.

I will be posting more detailed videos soon. 

They will include information on tips, tools and techniques. 

So stay tuned!

1. Video on how I sculpted a Small polymer clay bust

2. Video on how I sculpted a Small town post office in polymer clay

New Tools in SkulpTools Studio Store

SkulpTools Acrylic Clay Shaper Tools!

Featured tool has short and long tapered points

Three exciting new acrylic clay shaper modeling tools are now available at SkulpTools Studio Webstore and in the SkulpTools Etsy Shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SkulpTools. 

 

It seems, no matter how careful you are, if you drag a tool across clay it leaves marks. These Acrylic Shapers fill the need for small tools that are sturdy enough to push a lot of clay around with some force behind them, while leaving a smooth finish. 

SkulpTools Silicone Mini Roller tool quickly smoothes out clay in open areas with medium pressure. But these acrylic shaper tools get in to tight spots to roll clay smooth in situations that call for some targeted “muscle”. They have a glossy-smooth finish and work ideally for moving clay out of or into areas with a rolling motion. They work out bumps and creases in spots that would be hard to reach with fingers. And they create a very smooth surface and quickly wipe out tool marks and fingerprints. Used with a rolling motion, these tools quickly smooth out lumps and creases and can shift the clay around, leaving a nice smooth surface.

The various shaped ends work on different contours of your work piece. And yes, you could just move the clay with your fingers, but then you’d have to follow up and correct any mis-shaped parts and then smooth out all the finger prints and marks. Plus some spots are just too small for fingers to work in.

As with all my tools, these are designed as time savers for small scale clay work.

They come in three styles: Long & Short Tapered [pictured above], 

Blunt & Rounded

  

Blunt Tapered & Flat Tip. 
 


They also are sold as a three-tool set.

They are are ideal for working in polymer, water or oil-based, air-dry, cold porcelain clays, fondant or dough. They are ideal for bead and jewelry makers and sculpture artists alike. You'll find lots of uses for them.

Beaver Tail Sculpting Tool by SkulpTools

When I began to design sculpting tools, I was frustrated by the limited control offered by the slick wood or very skinny metal handles of other tools on the market. SkulpTools have unique easy to hold handles - perfect for those with hand pain or difficulty gripping tools. The handles allow you to focus your concentration on your art rather than on controlling your tool!

This deluxe SkulpTools original design called the Beaver Tail Sculpting Tool has a paddle-shaped end and a tapered paddle shaped end. These tips have a very subtle curve to them so that they can be used for smoothing, sculpting or flattening your clay. The outer edges are rounded and smooth, allowing for sculpting without cutting, which minimizes tool marks.

This tool style currently comes in four sizes: 3/8", 1/4", 3/16" and 1/8"

To purchase these tools and see many more SkulpTools you can either click on the "Etsy Mini" at the upper right of this page or go to: www.SkulpTools.com

These tools are ideal for sculpting with minimal tool marks left behind, they are made in four sizes: 1/8", 3/16", 1/4" and 3/8" wide.