by Glenda
Glayzer 3/25/07
I picked up my first box of Sculpey more than 20 years ago.
Partner in a freelance sound recording business serving the Motion Picture Industry
in Los Angeles, I found myself stressing over all the uncertainties associated with
a small business. Somebody suggested that working with my hands on an art project
might calm my nerves, so I picked up that green box at Aaron Brothers and took it
home.
I'd always been an artist, but a performing artist. I made my first record with my
family when I was thirteen. I was a singer who, of necessity, became an actor and
dancer to go along with the theatrical package. The first part of my adult life I
spent living in Europe, doing American Musicals in the German language. When I returned
to the United States, I went to San Francisco where I was an original cast member
of a long-running Musicale called Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon. Unfortunately,
time catches us all, and I was, as they say, no longer as young as I used to be; this
resulted in the aforementioned freelance location sound recording business.
I had never done much in the arts and crafts department; a bit of sewing and crocheting,
but I had no indication that I had any visual arts talents. I knew that when I visited
museums, I was attracted to the sculpture, but I didn't have a clue about "how to"
or why. I remember that I wasn't interested in making little dishes or jewelry or
ashtrays. If I did sculpt, I wanted to make a person - a face.
So I opened this box and it contained all these white, hard strips of rather oily,
sticky stuff compressed into a block. What was I supposed to do? I pulled one of the
strips loose, and it was so hard I didn't see how I could possibly shape it. I noticed
that as I pushed and pulled it, the Sculpey warmed and softened, a relief because
the box had cost me $8.00 and I didn't have money to waste.
I remember sitting on the couch, bent over this little clump of white stuff on the
coffee table. Okay, so I want to make a face, but what do I do about the head? I mean,
heads are round at the back and I just want this to be flat so I can actually work
on it. So, I left it that way - flat. That decided, I went on to, "How do you make
the nose stick out"?
Well, you can imagine how long it took me to construct cheekbones and the nose. (By
the way, the face has a copy of my own nose because I used a mirror and myself as
model.) I gave up on ears and covered them with hair or headdresses. I took me a while
to get around to learning "ears". I never successfully planned who would come out.
I just put my hands to Sculpey and let the individual characters flow through.
I'm not saying it was easy, but eventually I got the hang of it. I learned how not
to burn the noses off and that I could use a ball of foil as an armature to make the
sculpture not quite so heavy. I learned the hard way not to use acetone to smooth
the final product. The poison enters through the skin, and baby powder works fine.
Acrylic paint works well to finish the project.
For validation, I entered one or two contests, not realizing my work was too small
for regular sculpture contests. Finally, I entered my first miniature contest and
one of my entries was chosen for display at the San Bernardino County Museum, primarily
because of the medium. It seemed at that time the judges had never heard of Sculpey.
Deciding to learn "how sculpting was really done", I enrolled in a summer school at
Los Angeles Community College where I also took drawing and beginning design. There
I discovered acrylic painting. Since then I've continued to explore the use of Sculpey
in my artwork. My favorite piece is a bas-relief sculpture bolted to masonite, finished
with additional media and painted with acrylic.
Sculpey is a great medium, clean to work with and durable. Don't be daunted by the
initial cold, hard feel of it. Like people, with a bit of tender loving care, it will
warm to your touch and bring you fulfillment.
Glenda Glayzer is an artist,
writer and website designer.
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