Sculpture from a first timer

Air-Dry clay model of Batman bust

When I was young, I’ve tried making elephants and dogs with semi-solid wheat flour that’s used to make Chapatis (Indian dish). But the next day, it’ll smell so bad and the insides would be liquidy. So I had to throw them out. I’ve never played with the common clay that’s available for kids. But I’ve always had an itch for creating models.

So I looked up for an art class nearby and tried to join there for clay modeling. When I went there I saw a lot of kids and I felt I couldn’t be at the beginner stage as the kids. Speaking with the artist there, he wanted to see if I’ve done anything so far, so that he could evaluate me and place me at the right point. So, to prove and to find what I’m capable of, I bought some Air-Dry clay and came home. Air-Dry is a basic clay type, which is kept in closed space and when exposed to outside, it’ll tighten itself. So you only get limited time to make the model. Also, after it’s dry, it’s very likely for Air-dry clay to break. And on exposure of water, it’ll start to slowly dissolve, layer by layer. Basically it’s a horrible clay, but I’ve never tried any other clay, so it was a good start. I just realised I’m using too much commas, noted.

The head

On a sunday, while me and my friends were watching a movie, I thought I could try something with the clay. I had no idea what to do, I made a sphere. Then instinctively I pulled a nose out of it. So I thought, okay a face would be a great start. So shaped the skull and jaws, nudged the eye holes and I had something. I held it in a screwdriver because I didn’t want my hand pressure to spoil the shape and I didn’t have a proper holder setup.

After seeing a head, I drifted towards batman head and so I added the ears. As the clay was getting less moist, I added the details on the face, the mouth especially using a ballpoint pen and scissors. After shaping a nice chin, it sorta looked like Ben Affleck. It was before the release of the movie and I was super excited. So I thought my model would be Ben Affleck Batman. This was on may 3rd, 2015.