7. HUMAN FIGURE-Coil Construction

Material — gray or terra cotta sculpture clay, about the size of half a loaf of bread

Tools       — fingers; two or three wood tools of various shapes; plaster bat about 5" x 5"

Visualize, and sketch if you wish, the particular pose or action you wish your figure to assume. For example, you may have a standing pose—a cowboy standing with legs apart and his hands on his hips; a boxer; or a man lifting a log, or carrying a box on his back.

Wedge the piece of clay thoroughly (see Intro­duction, page 12). Make a base about 4" square by patting a piece of clay to ¾" thickness. Roll out a coil to ¾" in diameter. Cut a piece of it and shape it into a V for the legs. Fix the legs by welding the ends (feet) to the base (Figure 1). Allow a few minutes for the legs to become firm. In setting the legs, arrange them in the action and shape of the figure you have in mind.

Make a smaller coil, about 1/4" in diameter, and from it build a torso by making several rings or ovals of clay and setting them on each other (Figure 2). Weld them together and fill in any hollow space in the center so that the torso is solid. Any spaces left inside the form will cause the piece to blow up in the firing. Now add ver­tical strips of the ¼" coil over the torso to give more thickness (Figure 3). Weld these together. When the torso is firm, add arms with coils about ½" thick. Score and paint joints with slip first. Add the head. Model the figure by adding or cutting away the clay with fingers and tools (Figure 4). Cut away the base if you wish with a knife or piece of wire after the sculpture is firm.

The piece is now ready to be fired. After firing it will have a terra cotta or buff mat finish, de­pending on which clay you have used. It needs no decoration as the clay is interesting in surface and color.

Other figures—poses such as reclining or seated figures—can be done by the same process as that described above.

Figure 1—Shape a coil ¾ in diameter into a V shape for legs and weld to base.

Figure 2—Build a torso of horizontal rings or ovals of clay coils ¼" in diameter. Weld them together.

Figure 3—Add vertical strips of the ¼coil over torso and weld them together.                     Figure 4—Make arms of coil ½" in diam­eter. Add head and model figure by add­ing or cutting away clay.

Figure 5—Ceramic figure by an adult student.

Figure 6—Woman Sweeping, terra cotta pottery clay, by 16-year-old high school boy.

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