So, remember that faceless, hairless, non-descript polymer clay bust I posted pictures of in March?

Behold.

I’ve named her Nandi. I went searching a bit through some African history to find a name/personality that suited her, and this was perfect. Nandi gave birth to an illegitimate son, Shaka, who later went on to become a feared and ruthless warrior and king of Zululand. Both of their early lives were miserable, despite the greatness Shaka eventually achieved. It felt right to credit my sculpture to her because although she has a queen-like feel, her eyes are somewhat sad and lack the pride and arrogance of a queen born into power.

The process: first she was sculpted with Super Sculpey (with an aluminum foil core), as previously documented. I put her into the oven, where she was nearly burnt to death and came out highly plaqued (white half-moon marks show up on the surface of the clay). Discouraged, I let her sit in my WIP drawer for a few months. This last week, though, I decided to finish her up. I airbrushed her skin tone on with model paints; then I added the hair, clothing, and jewelry (done in Premo and Kato clay). Finally, I painted her eyes and lip color with more model paints, and then shined them up a bit with Sculpey glaze.

Although she clearly has many flaws– my fingerprints baked into the clay, a lack of symmetry (especially considering how the nose is crooked in relation to her chin), not particularly smooth, and a rather terrible mouth–I’m quite proud because she was the first sculpture I had done in almost seven years. (The last thing I sculpted was a Jimi Hendrix doll for an 8th grade art project when I was 14.) She was a great experience to get me back into the sculpting game (even if it was a six-month-long experience), and I can already tell that I’ve improved since I started her.

For old times’ sake, here’s what she used to look like:

And now here she is. Voila! Nandi.

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Posted by admin at 11:53 am