From Michael Richards:As promised, here are photos of the ventriloquist figure I made using Bill Andersen's book. The figure is sculpted with plastic wood, using Apoxie Sculpt for final details. He is a full sized, 40" pro figure with slot jaw mouth and side to side moving eyes.
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From Clinton: Great job, Michael. And such strong character expression. Well done. Thank you for sharing your photos. To those of you reading this, the book Michael is referring to is Make Your Own Dummy by William Andersen. I do have this book in stock. $6.00 
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From Michael: Hello, everybody. I agree that the plastic wood currently on the market isn't very good, but I found I could get it to act more like clay by adding some white flour into it. I didn't have access to any fine sawdust, since I live in an apartment, and don't have a studio. Flour worked great.
I tried all the wood fillers on the market, and the one I like best is Elmer's Carptenter's Wood Filler. Mixed with some flour, it works great. When working, I would just add flour until the stuff was the right consistency. To keep it from drying too fast, just add a little bit of water while you work. I kept a cup of water beside me at the table, and I would dip my fingers into it and work the water into the sculpture.
Also, I didn't use molds. I first used paper mache over a balloon to get a hollow head. Once dry, I put the plastic wood over that. As I said, I used Apoxie Sculpt (similar to Magic Sculpt), which is an epoxy clay, for finer details. Although, I would not do this again, because epoxy is really hard to sand. Also it's pretty heavy.
I'm making a figure now out of paper clay. I recently met a professional and well-known sculptor named Bill Nelson. He makes vent figures and dolls for celebrities and such. And he uses paper clay. I tried it, and the stuff is amazing. It's very easy to work with, can be kept workable with water for as long as you need, and dries in less than 24 hours. When it dries, it's rock hard, but sands like a dream. I found you can still use Mr. Andersen's book. You just replace the usage of plastic wood with paper clay. I wish I'd known about paper clay ages ago!
Incidentally, I didn't use anyone to pose for my old man figure. I actually changed the face three times as I sculpted, deciding on an old man at the very end. I used pictures of my own grandfather when sculpting the wrinkles and making the age spots.Thanks for all the wonderful comments! -Michael Richards
Wow that figure came out beautifully!
ReplyDeleteThis is truly excellent work, Michael Richards. I have a brother-in-law in Alabama and you would not believe the close resemblance. I am going to send the page with photo of your figure and ask him if he posed for your sculpture sketch.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you do to get the plastic wood to a workable consistancy? I remember making figures of plastic wood and dap wood dough in the 70's and 80's- but after they changed the formula it always seems too "loose" to use.
ReplyDeleteI bought the book many years ago and found the information very informative. I did try some of the ideas but had really bad luck with the Plastic Wood.. The only way I could make it work was to put it over the clay sculture.. I found it to drie extremly fast, almost to fast to work with. Just curious if you could elaborate on your technique and how you where able to create such a fine figure... Thanks, Dave
ReplyDeleteYou can mix in fine sawdust to thicken. I had no problem with Dap. But that was 20 years ago. I'm going to have to experiment with products currently on the market.
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with fine sawdust mixed in Elmer's wood glue to a working consistency, and if drying too fast to work, brush in or finger touch water to make malleable again.
ReplyDeleteI have got to try the glue and sawdust, I have heard of it but never tried it. Do you mix it up to a thick consistancy and then use it by pressing into the mold or by going over the armature. The reason for me asking is becuase I have tried almost everything with poor results. I have gotten the furthest with fiberglass. I will post pictures if I can figure out how to get a profile etc.. Thanks, Dave
ReplyDeleteShould the sawdust and elmer's glue be used alone or should that be put into plastic wood?
ReplyDeleteThis is just something I read but have not tested but I thought I'd throw it out there for inspiration. On a forum some one needed to strengthen a foam prop. He ended up putting a layer of cheesecloth over the foam and applied a mixture. The mixture was 2 parts wood glue 1 part Durhams Water Putty and 1 part water. I'm sure some one out there will find a use for the mixture when making a ventriloquist figure.
ReplyDeleteHello, everybody. I agree that the plastic wood currently on the market isn't very good, but I found I could get it to act more like clay by adding some white flour into it. I didn't have access to any fine sawdust, since I live in an apartment, and don't have a studio. Flour worked great. I tried all the wood fillers on the market, and the one I like best is Elmer's Carptenter's Wood Filler. Mixed with some flour, it works great. When working, I would just add flour until the stuff was the right consistency. To keep it from drying too fast, just add a little bit of water while you work. I kept a cup of water beside me at the table, and I would dip my fingers into it and work the water into the sculpture.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't use molds. I first used paper mache over a balloon to get a hollow head. Once dry, I put the plastic wood over that.
As I said, I used Apoxie Sculpt (similar to Magic Sculpt), which is an epoxy clay, for finer details. Although, I would not do this again, because epoxy is really hard to sand. Also it's pretty heavy.
I'm making a figure now out of paper clay. I recently met a professional and well-known sculptor named Bill Nelson. He makes vent figures and dolls for celebrities and such. And he uses paper clay. I tried it, and the stuff is amazing. It's very easy to work with, can be kept workable with water for as long as you need, and dries in less than 24 hours. When it dries, it's rock hard, but sands like a dream. I found you can still use Mr. Andersen's book. You just replace the usage of plastic wood with paper clay. I wish I'd known about paper clay ages ago!
Incidentally, I didn't use anyone to pose for my old man figure. I actually changed the face three times as I sculpted, deciding on an old man at the very end. I used pictures of my own grandfather when sculpting the wrinkles and making the age spots.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments!
-Michael Richards
Lots of fine sawdust and then a little glue, add more if needed, and sawdust all by itself not in plastic wood. If I made a figure using walnut wood, I would save that sawdust for filling. If making figure using redwood, same, etc. and of course Elmer's glue is water soluble.
ReplyDelete