Completed Poodle clay sculpture is now ready for the mold process

The clay poodle dog sculpture is now completed. The client will now review the images and make last minute requests for any modifications. Once the poodle sculpture is approved, I will give the entire sculpture a wash with a solvent in order to minimize any tool marks and shavings that may still be visible on the surface. The process will take 2-3 days to allow the solvent to dissolve and ensure the clay returns to its natural hardness.

The solvent is used to slightly soften the clay in order to aid in the blending.

Applying a wash at this stage helps with the surface detail in order to give it a more realistic look and feel. By not cleaning the dog sculpture surface before the mold fabrication will create additional work for me during the wax-positive stage.

Molds capture every detail; therefore, it is wise to only fabricate a mold after everyone is happy with the final clay sculpt.

A wax-positive is an identical replica of this clay sculpture; the only difference is that it is a wax casting from the mold. Wax-positives for most bronze castings are hollow. The walls of the wax cast vary from 1/8” to 5/8” in thickness.

More on the process once the images are available.

View of the under side of Trackers head.

Front view...

Profile of the entire dog sculpt.

The paw area showing the poodles nails. Let me know if you wish to have the toenails shorten.

Tracker (poodle) front leg.

Detailed image of the fur texture.

Another view of the fur texture.

click on any of the images for a better better view

Final details are added to fur texture

Adding the final detail to the poodle’s fur texture. After building up the clay layers for the fur texture I am now using a fine ballpoint tool to create the hairlines. The clay is very hard; therefore, I am only able to work 3-5 hours a day before my hands cramps. It looks like I may miss my target date of Tuesday as the completion date. I will not cut corners; therefore, I anticipate it will only take an additional 2-3 days.

The head, neck, chest areas are completed. Tracker's right side still need to under go the final detail.

Here you can see a detailed view of the ear and head area. A final wash will remove the minute clay shavings. Mineral sprites will be used for the wash.

Here is another view of Tracker's right side that still needs the hairlines applied to the fur clusters.

David, do you wish to have the tip of the jaw narrowed a bit more. I narrowed it once, but I am not sure if it needs to be narrower.

Fur texture for Tracker the poodle

The images on this post show what Tracker looks like after his second coat of clay. I will apply one more coat of clay to finalize the fur texture.

For a better view of the texture, click on the image...

Here is tracker standing on my kitchen table...

I do not remember if Tracker is neutered, for now I made him a full male.

Right side profile.

Left side profile.

First layer of clay for the dog armature

Tracker (poodle) gets his first coat of clay. Two to three layers will follow in order to capture the poodle's fur texture.

The first image shows where the rods became embedded into the legs. Molted clay was allowed to saturate the groove and rod area.

I used a crock pot to melt my bricks of NSP hard Chavant modeling clay. The clay was applied using a brush and spatula.

Here you can see where I reattached the head to the body. A 3/4" x 12" pipe was used to join the two sections. Clay was then brushed on to fuse the sections.

The additional layers of clay will fill in the areas that do not look quite right. For instance the rib and neck sections.

The ears and jaw areas will also be revisited.

Aluminum rods used to reinforce styrofoam armature

Here I embedded a 3/8” diameter aluminum rod in the legs in order to support the weight of the dog sculpture. Aluminum is used because of its lightweight and softness in case the mold maker needs to sever the legs to make a multi-part mold.

Tomorrow I will proceed with the clay-up on the remaining exposed foam.

The groove, which houses the rod, will be filled with molted clay.

Poodle head sculpt critique

Here are some images of the current stage of the head sculpt. I need you to give me your input. In other words, where do you want me to tweak the sculpt. Please note, once the head is reattached to the body, we will encounter additional corrections. For instance, the ears will be modified in order to better fit the pose of the slanted head. Below you will note I made additional notes for myself.

In this image, I rotated the head in order to best compare it to my sculpt.

Here are my notes...

1. The tip of the jaw needs to be reworked, it appears to broad
2. The ears will be detached and refitted once the head is back on the body and cocked to he left as in the image you provided.
3. The cheek areas appear to need more hair.
4. The bottom jaw area can also benefit from more hair as well.
5. The bridge between the eyes and nose may need to be defined a bit more. I other words remove some of the hair in order to show more bone structure.
6. Feel free to email me any additional areas you wish to have altered; however, if you do not agree with the items I noted above please indicate. The image I am using to capture Trackers likeness is the one you provided; hence, his coat appears to be much more fuller than in the images to shot.

Here you can see his bottom teeth as depicted in the image. Since the upper teeth are hidden; will not be seen, they will not be sculpted. The eyes were reworked to give him a happier look.

Another view of the teeth and snout area.

On this profile image, you can see that additional hair may be needed on the lower jaw.

Detail work has begun on the poodle's head sculpt

I have started on the detail texture for the head fur sections. After the ears and snout fur is detailed I will remove the jaw and commence on the teeth and tongue sections.

Poodle gets his new eyes and fur texture

Tracker gets his new eyes and the sculpting of his fur texture begins.

Canine Tracker gets his nose sculpted

Today turned out to be a dog nose day. I spent a couple of hours proportioning and detailing the canine’s nose.

The teeth will be introduced after the interior of the mouth is completed. I inserted eyes, but they still need work.

I will add more hair towards the upper section of the nose.

From this image I noticed, I need to build the snout area to give it a fluffier look. The ears need direction.

Poodle head armature clay-up begins

The first application of the hard NSP Chavant Clay. To get started I inserted two bricks of clay into the small crock-pot. The crock-pots are very inexpensive at your local Walmart or Target. The clay was brought to its melting point slowly in order not to destroy the clay's properties. It took about 3-4 hours to get the clay into a melted chocolate like texture. The temp dial on the crock-pot was left on “low” the entire time.

My beloved crock-pot... how my wife misses her kitchen tools... LOL

Here I used a paint brush to apply the clay. A small spatula was also utilized.

The goal was to first apply a complete coat of clay on the entire surface before I began to build up the features.

The face coat is just about complete. It is basically the same size and shape as the Styrofoam armature.

Profile of the poodle head.

Here I added plastic temporary eyes and a temporary nose. I also opened the mouth in order to match my reference image.

Here is Tracker (poodle) after the first clay application. Many more layers are to come within the next few days

I slanted the head to get an idea of what areas I need to focus on in the next few days. I will have family members critique the sculpt at this stage. My middle son is ruthless with his critiques. He takes no prisoners, he reminds me of a Simon Cow with his criticism. But that is what I need complete honesty, the goal is to capture the poodle’s likeness.

Preparing poodle head for tilt table and clay application

Today I removed the head from the foam sculpt. The head was removed in order to mount it on a sculptor's tilt table. The tilt table gives me greater leverage. Tomorrow I will begin the clay-up process.

Rear view of the poodle's head as it sits on the tilt table.

Front image of the dog's head.

Here is a bird's eye view. Notice I removed a section of the nose. I will sculpt the nose and attach later.

Note how nicely the table tilts.

Here is the headless poodle. The head was removed using a hot-wire tool.


Another view of the tilt table at work.