Sculpting a Hand out of Sculpy Clay - The Wine Grab Sign

I had never Sculpted a hand before.

Yet I had a vision of a sign

for an upcoming fundraiser.

This idea would require a hand.

So I just jumped in, as I tend to do, 

using the clay I had on site.

 Which was Sculpey clay.

After one weekend and about 18 hours into sculpting
my first hand ever, I thought it might be helpful
 to read a little about sculpting.
(Most people would do this first, but not me.)

I could not find any information about using Sculpey

in this way. Sculpey clay seems to be used
in smaller art forms. Not life sized.

I think the reason maybe
that Sculpey clay should only be one quarter inch thick.
(This fact did make this project challenging
but not impossible.) 

I was determined to try
 making a life sized hand out of Scupley.

You have been looking at photos of my second attempt and the process
of sculpting a life size hand out of Sculpey clay.

In my first attempt I did everything

wrong that a person can do wrong when sculpting.

This led to cracking, 18 hours

of experience and a hand of cracked

clay in the trash.

My second Sculpty clay hand went much better.

Experience is a great teacher.
Books are wonderful teachers as well.
 
 I continued to sculpt my hand. I enjoyed
the tactile pleasure of working the clay.

With each movement a part of me
was being placed
and given.

I am now 24 hours into this sculpture.
I start to see signs of possible cracking.
I know I need to finish.

My sculpture is not where I want it to be but
I have to stop or I could lose the whole piece.

 I get as close as I can to a finished,
sculpted hand and I stop.

I was a nervous wreak as I placed this hand in
the oven to be cured.
It came out perfect with no cracking.

I placed my sculpted hand into my
 Wine Grab Sculpture.

My vision is complete!

Let the Wine Grab begin!