The Model- Clay

      I have numerous frustrating memories of working with clay in the past, with it either being too wet and slimy to hold its shape, or so dry that it cracks and crumbles; so all in all I can't say I was that excited at the prospect of working with it again. However, as part of our ceramics induction workshop, we were tasked with creating a larger scale model, using earthenware clay, of our character's head.

        The initial process of creating a hollow head from a ball of clay began to change my opinion of the material, and cross hatching and applying slip to adhere two pieces of clay together was less messy than and more successful than anything I had never been taught before. But once the basic shape had been created, and we had moved on to crafting the finer facial details, the old problems began to recur. As I reworked areas again and again in an attempt to create the perfect nose or mouth, the clay became softer and softer and began to cave in on itself, not helped by the hollow structure. This also made it difficult to contour the face or make the eyes, as there was only a centimetre or so of clay to make indentations in.

        Admittedly, the detailed and realistic design I had chosen for the character's face had made my task more difficult than it needed to be, and I had accepted that my modelling skills would not be able to match my drawing abilities on my first attempt. But I still feel that had we been modelling in plasticine, I would have been able to maintain greater control than with clay, as the former is more forgiving and easier to manipulate.

        Yet despite all of this, I intend to persevere with clay, and hopefully improve my skills in modelling with it, as it is no doubt an important material, particularly as armatures, and puppet and model making is the area of animation that I am most interested in.