Clay Alchemist Secrets

Growth

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:53:00 -0400

My life’s been filled with distractions left and right, and I haven’t been able to truly focus on sculpting and on my photography for the past three months. My gut feeling is that it’s time to rethink how I’m using the internet, why I’m using the internet, and how I can do MORE by using the internet less.

First off, I’m just not going to be posting on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Tumblr unless it’s something worthy of being in a portfolio. Personal business should be done in person, and works in progress will stay off the main blog page. I’ll still try to post behind the scenes work here from time to time, but I really am aching to get off the net.

Sounds crazy, but my goal is to improve as a person and with tangible relationships. I know that the vast majority of the subscriber online don’t read this and probably miss 90% of my good work anyways, so for the few that actually check out my stuff in detail, just know that the work will be better the next time around.

See you in a few weeks most likely.

29. Dashing Combover (360º view)

Sat, 26 May 2012 21:02:28 -0400

29. Dashing Combover (360º view)

Time lapse and Explanation behind Dashing Combover

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:16:06 -0400

Time lapse and Explanation behind Dashing Combover

Who just thinks of these things?

Fri, 25 May 2012 20:18:09 -0400

So, if you’re wondering where the heck I came up with the last post (in reference to Dashing Combover), it’s from my silly childhood. My grandma had this lhasa apso that had really fluffy ears that I would push to one side and it looked just like a combover! I’ve been looking for images of people doing this to other dogs, but no one did it. Naturally I had to sculpt it…

I was also made fun of for having a part in my hair for years. Some jerks in school said I had a combover. lol

I actually removed the background for the gallery shot, this is...

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:10:36 -0400

I actually removed the background for the gallery shot, this is the original. lolz

Walrus Cabbie (360)

Fri, 25 May 2012 03:46:54 -0400

Walrus Cabbie (360)

Light setup.

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:00:38 -0400

Light setup.

This is the sketch for yesterday’s sculpture. Clearly...

Thu, 24 May 2012 16:56:20 -0400

This is the sketch for yesterday’s sculpture. Clearly different than what I wound up with, but it still is interesting to take note of the original concept.

View the finished sculpture.

Back from the store with 10 pounds of plasticine. Keep jumping between doing a themed series of...

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:49:04 -0400

Back from the store with 10 pounds of plasticine. Keep jumping between doing a themed series of clay characters or just having a lot of fun with it. I’m leaning towards the latter…

If you haven’t seen on my main site, I’m getting ready for a trip to the East Coast, and I’m bringing sculptures along to take pictures of them in ‘the wild’.

Postponed

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:23:44 -0400

I’ve hit a new low in creativity as my hands just got cut multiple times while making the armature today. I can’t even sculpt until I am not working so much. Since I work with food, I’m constantly washing my hands and they’re dry like sand.

To make things better, I have heightened sensitivity to everything, I always have. When my hands have small cuts, I might as well have gashed them. I’ll be miserable for the next few days thanks to the wire cuts.

Incredibly sad. I haven’t been able to sculpt for the past month, and I probably won’t be able to until I stop working so much. As nice as it is to be paid more, I get depressed every time I go a week or more without sculpting. Perhaps when my hands heal, I’ll just do sculpts without armatures, because I just keep cutting myself.

Hope tomorrow’s better. I am going to practice my harmonica playing in the meantime.

My time off

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:01:34 -0400

It’s been a very long time since I’ve even witten on any of my blogs. A mixture of circumstances have lead to this. At work, I have taken on the baking position for a temporary time. It’s about 40-45 hours per week so not very much time to work on sculptures. Sadly, whenever I take on baking, my hands always get very dry and it makes sculpting very difficult.

Regardless, I really want to get back to sculpting, although this heat might make it more difficult. Is it hot where you are? It’s hit here. Really the biggest thing keeping me from sculpting is me. Mentally, I’ve been in a negative place, and perhaps it’s a good time to use my sculpting to let out some of the thoughts. Art is about the full spectrum of emotions.

So hopefully I’ll get some sculpting in this week, but honestly, I’m just not sure.

Apologies

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:57:16 -0500

Life has been very depressing with changes and some of my friends going through hard times. I don’t wish to bring you down with sad work, unless that’s what you’re into. Might wind up sharing some of my thoughts in my sculpture tomorrow.

Couldn’t bring myself to sculpting today, my apologies. I will sculpt tomorrow regardless of how I feel. You’ll defintely know by then whether things are getting better.

Sometimes when you dedicate yourself to art, the world falls apart without you realising. It’s a definite character flaw that I have to work on, and I am constantly trying to care about others more.

Don’t forget about the world outside of your own head.

Apologies mean nothing, make a change in your life, get back to doing what you do best.

I’m saddened today that my dad had to go to the hospital. He got injured while he was serving...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:33:35 -0500

I’m saddened today that my dad had to go to the hospital. He got injured while he was serving at the local prison (he’s a chaplain), and so it’s been a bit stressful around here. He seems to be doing well, but I really was drained after visiting him at the hospital.

The strange thing was that at the same time that he fell and hit his head, I developed a strong headache, and later on experienced dizziness. A few of my friends say I’m really conscious of things around me, so I don’t know if that had something to do with it. I hope he’s feeling better…he’s supposed to come home tomorrow.

In any sense, I’ll be taking a couple days off to re-coop my mind. It takes a tole on your head. The sculpture I was working on today…I don’t see myself finishing. I’ll probably scrap it.

Kindness Pays Off

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:34:49 -0500

My brother was mentioning to me the other day how all of my videos were loaded with super nice, positive comments. Pretty much everywhere you go - YouTube, Tumblr, Twitter, etc - it’s all positive. There isn’t a single thumbs-down on my clay work of 2012 (aside from one of my friends that did it because I told him to). So, how the heck did that ever happen? How did I ever get such a nice following?

I’m not exactly sure to be honest, but I believe it’s because I’ve ignored the trolls and made good relationships with all the viewers that I possibly could. In any sense, I just wanted to mention how happy it makes me to hear from you guys!

It’s not all been positive though, there was something like 30 people that unsubscribed on YouTube, but as I said before, they were probably all the ones that were negative. Who cares, because 70 people that were positive started following 365 Days of Sculpture.

Accentuate the positive :)

Behind the scenes work on “Squirreling Away”

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:16:00 -0500

Behind the scenes work on “Squirreling Away”

Happy Black History month everyone :)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:18 -0500

Happy Black History month everyone :)

27. Squirreling Away (360º View)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:33:45 -0500

27. Squirreling Away (360º View)

27. Squirreling Away (Time Lapse)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:07:35 -0500

27. Squirreling Away (Time Lapse)

Fun and Tricky

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:42:45 -0500

It’s always good for an artist to have fun, but it’s even more important for an artist to push the envelope. For today I will be doing a really fun, fairly straight-forward sculpture that focuses more on details and balance.

Tomorrow on the other hand will be about really testing myself. I’m going to sculpt an upside-down character (it’s not a sloth, although I should do one of those!) and it’s going to involve a whole new method of sculpting! It’s going to be a really difficult but really fun sculpt, I just know it. It’s going to make you laugh as well.

Practically speaking, I just love making people laugh and hearing them laugh right in front of me as I show them a picture is always priceless. However, on occasions, I enjoy being serious.

365 Days of Sculpting: How it’s done An in-depth look at...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:35:45 -0500

365 Days of Sculpting: How it’s done

An in-depth look at how I go from sketch to sculpture to promoting my work using social media.