March 17, 2023

New Adult Clay Sculpting Kit

by Daniel Wiseman

Behold the new adult clay sculpting kit in Ignite Studio! This new clay sculpting kit is designed to get you into sculpting and working with clay or refining your skills. Ignite will phase out our pottery wheels in anticipation of the full pottery studio at the Fishers Arts and Municipal Complex slated to open in 2024. In the meantime, we’ve created some alternative and engaging options for working with clay for adults and teens.

About Ignite’s NEW Adult Clay Sculpting Kit

Within the clay sculpting kit are the following tools:

Sculpting Tools
Spray Bottle
Rag
Books on Sculpting
16 ounces of Air-Dry Clay
Wire

While this kit does have clay within it, the purpose of the air dry clay is only meant to introduce you to sculpting. Like the pottery wheels, we encourage you to purchase and bring your own clay. Below are some of the best options for sculpting with clay in our space.

Chavant Medium Clay (2lbs) – Intermediate and Above
Monster Clay – All Skill Levels
DAS Modeling Clay – All Skill Levels

What Can I Create?

You can create just about anything with clay. The most popular kinds of work people produce with clay are busts. Busts are statue based portraits of people and usually stop at the base of the neck down to the upper chest like the examples above.

Other popular pieces feature figurines or figures of creatures, characters, or people. They might also be objects for decorations like small plates, cups, and jars.

Included with the kit is an introduction to clay sculpting, and will also be useful for giving you ideas on what you can create!

How Do I Learn to Sculpt?

Learning to sculpt with clay is a long process and your experience in the learning process will vary greatly depending on what your goals are with sculpting.

If you’d like to learn to sculpt a bust of someone or anything relating to the human figure, learning anatomy will be key. This is best done through drawing. Below I’ve included some tutorials on learning to draw anatomy by popular artists Proko and ergojosh, who do a fantastic job of breaking down anatomy.

The EASIEST way to start Learning to Draw Anatomy – ergojosh
Learning Anatomy for Art? Study this first! – ergojosh
10 Parts of the Skull Every Artist Should Know! – Proko

Once you feel confident in your understanding of anatomy, gesture, and posing. Learning the fundamentals of clay will be key to taking your skill with clay to the next level! Included within the kit will be some books on getting started with clay. It’s recommended you work with the air-dry clay, since this is the easiest kind of clay to work with and doesn’t take too long to dry.