How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 9

This is how the sculpture of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza came up in the end. A few things that I have to add. It is baked twice. One - the horse and the donkey are baked separately. Two the two riders and the stand are baked.

The variations in human figurines are subject to an entirely other and mighty big discussion which will be probably added later on.

The choice of theme for this figurine was made by the person who ordered it. For that matter choosing to make a popular literature or movie character is a very good idea. Such a choice gives the possibility to check how other people before you have treated the subject and get some ideas for our own work.It has a downside too - it is hard to come up with something really new and interesting and different.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 8

After the animals are made the saddles have to be installed on their backs. As you will see in the finished sculpture of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza the donkey's saddle is a different color than the one shown here. The reason is obvious - I changed it. The blue saddle seemed to be much better than the green one you see here.

Oh, I am forgetting - the animals are baked at this point. Before installing the saddles. Basically this is it as far as the variations from the Centaur and the Unicorn projects of the book. The rest is just two simple human figurines.Human figurines will be discussed later. Especially the knight and the variations of the knight which can be used in creating numerous other creatures and characters.

I hope the comments on variations have been helpful. Please if you have a question or need more info just post a comment.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 7

These are he pictures of the finished (not entirely but 90% finished animals). Again the pictures include the working surface in order to give an idea of their size. My guess is that the reader would now expect me to enumerate the variations.
I am not walking this path this time. My expectation is that at some point anyone who has read the book would be able to look for and find the variation, even create one of their own.
My expectation is that you would make comments and suggestions as to what the variations are from the Unicorn project and the Centaur project. There are at least 5 variations.
I do realize that there will be supporters of the 'scientific' approach. A leads to B, B leads to C.
It doesn't work that way when we talk about ideas. Generating ideas does not follow logic. Variations may appear by accident. Defects become effects.
Speaking of which there is a very nice effect when some of the mythical creatures are over baked slightly. Especially fire breathing dragons. But later about this, since it is a theme with 'parental advisory' and 'do not do this at home' tags attached to it.
For now I am interested in whatever comments you might have about the variations from the Centaur and the Unicorn projects in the book, that are used to create the animals on the pictures.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 6

These are the fine animals of the project half covered with polymer clay. There is nothing particular, nothing different than what is shown in the Unicorn chapter of the book. Steps 1 to 11 are the same, most of the following steps are identical too. The variation here concerns step 35 of the book project - the skin of the donkey and the horse will be one color only. White, gray, brown and you can choose any color. But only one color. Why is that. Well... Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and their rides are a concept rather than a reality, so no need to be super precise and make everything lifelike. The important is the concept - skinny horse, skinny rider. Normal donkey, fat rider. Again there is no rule on variation. You can make your own variation. Fat horse, skinny rider. Dwarf donkey, fat rider. You can even make Don Quixote fat, provided you find the way to make the original concept show.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 5

These are the tools I use for this projects. These basically are the tools I use on 90% of my projects. Over the years I have been fortunate enough never to catch the TAD ( tools acquisition disorder).

The TAD symptoms are piles and piles of tools that never get used. Or get used rarely. Say once every year. TAD can be dangerously costly too. It also takes every available space. It is my personal opinion that there rarely is a sculpting project that would require more than a clay shaper or two and a pointy needle like tool (the one I have is a dentist's tool). Dentist's tools are great for working with polymer clay, and most of the other types of clay for that matter.

My way of thinking goes like this ( it is not necessarily the right way) - Keep as much tools and as much polymer clay stored, as you can put in one bag (big or small it doesn't matter). Pretend you have to put all the polymer clay related stuff in one bad and go to another town to show someone what polymer clay is about. So this is my toolbox.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 4

At this point where the skeletons have to be covered with clay a work surface is required. I am going to use one of my favourite ceramic tiles. For two reasons: one - it is one of my favourite ceramic tiles (they are all the same tiles by the way), and second, as you see it is a square 6x6 inches. The size of the tile might also serve as a reference point to the highly scientific terminology I use - 'smaller', 'longer', 'bigger'.

The choice of working surface depends on ... mainly your personal preferences and the available space you have. But it is nice to have a flat, temperature resistant working surface. I prefer as small working surfaces as possible, because this enables me to turn it around and work on all sides of the creature or whatever I am working on.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 3

After the skeletons are done with the wire and the baking foil for filling is wrapped around the wire it is time to actually start the work with the polymer clay.

FIMO and CERNIT are the two brands that are sold locally, so they are the ones I use. The selection of polymer clay sold locally is the most important factor that will determine what brand one will use. Don't be afraid to use local and less popular brands of polymer clay. Although their qualities may be inferior, there are particular usages where they are better than the well known brands. Experimenting with the medium often gives very good results.

I'd like to comment a bit on my personal clay shopping habits. First let me say that every time I enter a crafts supply store I feel like a child in a candy store. And second ( and probably the more important ) I am horrified every time I hear the expression 'scrap clay' - this implies unused polymer clay, the same polymer clay I love as much as children love candy. 'Scrap clay' sounds to me a bit like 'abandoned candy'.

So what I do is try to roughly estimate how much clay I am going to need for a particular project that I have in mind and only buy as much as I need. Less is fine for me. I go back and buy more. This is a good strategy if your polymer clay supplier is close ( in my case 15 min. drive). I am not prepared at this time to speculate on the possibility of not having a polymer clay supplier close by. If the brand of clay you use is an import it might be a good idea to buy directly from the importer.

Anyway... the pictures show the white bar of clay I am using for the Don's horse and the colors I am mixing for Sancho Panza's donkey. It is inevitable that some pieces of clay will remain, the so called 'scrap clay'. If those are clean put them in an air sealed bag and try to find a usage for them as soon as possible.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 2

The following four pictures are of the donkey skeleton. The donkey Sancho Panza rides. Even though the skeleton is the same as in the Unicorn project of the book there are several variations to be illustrated. Variation 1 - the legs of the donkey are shorter compared to the legs of a horse/unicorn. Variation 2 - the neck of the donkey is longer than the neck of the horse/unicorn. Variation 3 - the body of the donkey is longer than the body of the horse/unicorn. Variation 4 - the body of the donkey is fatter than the body of the horse/unicorn.

Again there is a picture of the skeleton of the donkey next to a six inch ruler - just to give a reference point. And another picture of the two skeletons next to each other - for comparison.

It doesn't really matter how tall/big are the skeletons/finished pieces on their own. What really matters is how big they are in relation to each other. I believe the last picture gives a pretty good idea of that.

How to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - part 1

I have a custom order to make Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Since they are popular enough characters and basically a variation of the Unicorn and Centaur projects of the book I will document some steps of the making, because I think they might be of interest.

Essentially I have to make two riders. The Don who rides a horse and the servant who rides a donkey. So there are going to be two horse skeletons - Dinko explains that in the Unicorn project of the book. What I'd like to comment is the wire used. I like the most the type of wire shown on the picture it is a 0.8 mm diameter stainless steel wire. The roll is 50 meters long, so it should be enough to work with on a pretty good number of projects. This type of wire is a bit sturdier than the one sold in arts and crafts suppliers' shops. It can be easily obtained at any hardware stores for the approximate price of 9 $. I prefer this type of wire because for me it is easy enough to work with and at the same time sturdy enough to be used on bigger projects (long necks for dragons, sines for leviathans) too.

The next thing I'd like to discuss is the usage of wire, when making complex (well, fairly complex) skeletons for the creatures. It is good to always make sure that the piece of wire you are working with is long enough. It is visible on the right hand side of the picture how I left the tail part of the skeleton long. This is because I started with a really long piece of wire. On the next picture is the cut tail.

Sure it is possible to adopt the 'scientific approach and make exact measurements. And if you are inclined to do that, go ahead and do it. As for my own work I don't use that approach. I find it too time consuming and fun ruining.

The size of the skeletons you make depends on several factors: how big you want the creature to be, how big is your oven (you will have to bake the creature at some point), how much polymer clay you are willing to spend for this project, where will you place the creature once it is baked.
It is probably possible to make exact calculations but with time and experience one is able to make very quick rough estimations and combine all the mentioned factors. So I am going to stick with the rough estimates and comparisons. But for those who have a scientific approach the best I can do is take a picture of the Don Qixote's ride next to a six inch ruler. I would lake to apologize in advance for the obscure terminology I am going to use, which will include the 'scientific' terms: smaller, bigger, more, a bit, a bit less, small, big, tall, fat, bony and alike. I believe that the picture with the rules must be a good reference point for all the 'scientific' terminology.

Please note that in this project the horse skeleton has two main differences from the one shown in the Unicorn project in the book. Variation 1 - the space between the front and the hind legs is significantly smaller. The aim is to create an impression that the horse is tall and bony. A starved specimen of his kind. Variation 2 - the tin foil used on the body is significantly less than in the Unicorn project, again in order to create the impression that it is a tall, skinny horse - not the type you'd expect to win races or to stampede the enemies in battle.