Making of a Maquette and Preliminarily Sculptures

I will be sharing with you some basic instructions for sculpting a maquette; however, you can also use this guide to create finished sculpts and other pieces of art. You could use this to create decorations for your home and yard for the holidays, set dressing for plays, or, in my case, it is being used as a demonstration for an upcoming archaeological display. Beyond this, you can feasibly make molds for fiberglass or cement casting for a more permanent piece.

A maquette (pronounced muh·ket) is a preliminary model or sculpt; think 3D concept art. Because of this, we want to be efficient with our materials so that it won't cost us too much. While the sculpt may seem complicated, the materials we will be using are beginner friendly, an easy way to dip your toes into sculpting. Just to show how beginner friendly this can be, I'll even reveal some of my mistakes and how to correct them.

Required Materials:

1. Rigid insulation foam - This is the bulk of your maquette. I use pink FOAMular, but you want any kind of dense extruded polystyrene you can get from a big box store. Styrofoam can be used as well, but its not as dense, so your mileage my vary. This can also be where it can get a bit pricey, but there are workarounds.
2. Rasps - these will be the work horse tool. Get the most aggressive coarse set you can find. In all honesty, a cheap set from Harbor Freight was perfect. (This set specifically)
3. Foam safe super glue - as the name implies, you need an adhesive that wont melt the foam. I prefer this Bob Smith's Super Gold, you can get it at a few hobby stores or Amazon. There are a few alternatives though, such as using a spray insulating foam, but that can get messy.
4. Retractable utility blade(s) - For cutting the foam, really, anything that's sharp enough will work, but it can dull blades quickly, so its easier to be able to just replace them.
5. Air Drying Clay - This one can be a bit tricky, as there are many brands with many pros and cons. I use two brands, Das and Nara. Depending on what is available to you, you may need to experiment.
6. Basic Clay Sculpting Tools - a basic wooden set should work, but you can also experiment and use things like spoons and spatulas from your kitchen.
7. Mod Podge - we'll be using this quite a bit.
8. Various Paints - Primarily, you want an automotive filler and primer, but the mod podge can be used instead. You'll also want any paints to finish with, such as hobby acrylics.
9. Sandpaper - various grits from 80-220, this will be used to help with the shaping of the foam and finishing the clay surface.
10. N95 mask - see Safety

Optional tools:

1. Linoleum cutting tools - these are sets of gouges used for block print making. They're great for carving some lines into air harden clay after its hardened. You can find them at many hobby stores, or here.
2. Riffler rasp set - These are odd shaped rasps used for complex curves and getting into little details, very versatile. Like the rasps, get a coarse set. You can use sand paper for this instead. These are the ones I use.
3. Surform tool - this tool is practically a cheese grater and can be used similarly to a rasp.
4. Hot Wire Cutter - similar to this on Amazon. This allows you to cut chunks out a little cleaner.
5. Wooden dowels - various sizes. This is used as a stabilizer for some parts, but may not be needed. Thinner skewers can also be used to "pin" some parts in place.
6. Pattern making supplies - general drafting and crafting supplies; pencils, markers, scissors, and large card stock paper. Patterns are a great way to keep symmetry, but free form sculpting is fine too.
7. Drywall repair filler - can be used to fill in small gaps and errors, especially when preparing to finish. Clay can be used, but this is often times easier, as long as it's not a huge area.
8. Shop-vac - this can get insanely dusty, best to clean as you go.

SAFETY - just a few things to be concerned about, cutting, airborne particles, vapors, and burns are a potential so be sure to observe proper safety practices.

1. N95 mask - this process creates a lot dust and debris; you don't want to breath in any of this stuff.
2. Cut Resistant Gloves - can be easy to nick your finger.
3. Safety glasses - the foam dust can get everywhere, including your eyes.
4. Don't forget to work in a well ventilated area and/or use a P100 respirator mask if you intend to use a hot wire cutter to cut foam.

We want to start by cutting out the silhouette, if using a pattern trace it with a marker. Because we are making a 3d object, we want to have multiple repeated pieces that will be stacked to create the thickness of our sculpt. This does not have to be the whole thing, the foam acts mostly as a bulky armature. You can cut out separate filler pieces or use clay for the rest. For instance, my dolphin is mostly comprised of about 4 stacks, however, i used 1 piece for the fins. The post is made of several round pieces stacked on top of each other.

-I suggest thinking in terms of what will make the make the most of the body. For instance, the dolphin is much longer than it is wide, so I use less making long portions,rather than several stacks for the girth. This can save quite a bit on materials.

-It may not be necessary, but I created multiple patterns. One that is the basic side profile, then a few more that represented the girth of the dolphin at various points. This allowed me to know how much I should taper the body. This helped me with proportional symmetry, but you can just eyeball it.

-When cutting with the utility blade, don't attempt to cut it in one go. Take several deeper and deeper cuts so you can keep your lines straight. Also, don't worry about following the lines exactly, it may be easier to carve tighter corners and curves during the sculpting phase, rather than attempting to cut them.

-I would save off-cuts of foam, they can be used as repairs and a little extra bulk. I'll demonstrate this later.

-When you have your patterns cut out, use the adhesive of your choice and glue the stacks together. You don't need to cover every square inch in glue, but make sure you get in the center and around your edges. Put a little pressure on the boards and hold them for a few seconds, a few gaps will be fine.

- I recommend creating sub assemblies, don't try to add every piece of the sculpt all at once, as they can get in the way later. For instance, I don't add the fins to the dolphin until the body is ready; nor do I attach the body to the post until they're both ready.

-For a piece like my post, I had set up a very rudimentary jig to hold my hot wire cutter. This allows me to cut repeated "pucks" that I then glued up.

Now that the foam is ready, we can begin carving using our rasp. Begin by rounding off your corners, focus on the larger portions with the least complexity, then work on the smaller complex curves. Blend the two together as you go. Remember, you're creating the bulk shape of the object, not its fine details. Afterwards, focus on any harsh or sudden edges and recesses. For me, this is where the forehead of the dolphin meets the snout. Add sub assemblies as you go, so you can blend and shape them. Once the larger portion of the body was complete, I began adding the fins. I had to cut out a bit of a recess to slide the dorsal fin in. I glued some skewers into the bottom of the fin and stabbed it into the recess, that way it wouldn't come out easily while blending. The tail fins were also added much like this.

Foam can be added as you go for repairs or changes. If you make a mistake, use off cuts to fill in areas. At some point I realized I did not like the proportions of the dolphin, it looked way to much like a banana. So, I began to add more bulk towards the head. I was then able to blend it all together again; this is why it looks like Frankenstein's monster at this moment. But not to worry, clay will cover up our crimes.

-You can be quite aggressive at this stage, but be cautious on thinner pieces, it can rip off chunks on areas that are meant to have fine points. This is when I use my rifflers, but you can use a coarse sandpaper 60-80 grit on these areas.

-It can help to have some kind of stand to rest your piece on. You can also stab a dowel into the bottom of the piece and use that as a handle in some cases. The hole can easily be repaired or covered later.

-You can use a utility knife or hot-wire to cut out any large chunks, but it can be difficult to properly shape the body in this way. However, the waste and dust is greatly reduced.

When you are satisfied with the overall shape of your piece, the surface will be quite rough. You can begin using fine grit sand paper,100-220 grit, to smooth out the surface a bit. This isn't necessary, but I highly recommend doing it. It will give you a clearer idea of the shape and reduces the amount of "fuzzies" that may pop up in the clay later. Don't worry to much about getting a perfect surface though. I've heard that you can also use a heat-gun to remove the fuzzies, but I didn't have one available. At this point, you can also carve a little of the smaller details, just be aware you may end up filling these back in with clay.

Some things to considering doing as well, but may or may not be necessary:

-drywall filler can be used to fill in cracks that were missed or from repair areas. Just be sure to give it enough time to dry.

-Use slightly watered down mod podge and brush the sculpture down. This will help with some of the fore mentioned 'fuzzies,' seal the porosity of the foam, and create a better surface for the clay. Not to mention, if you use a spray paint, the solvent in it can melt any exposed foam. If you use drywall filler, I highly recommend this, as it can sometimes flake off later. Give it a few hours to dry.

This is were your mileage will vary quite a bit; as no two air hardening clays are the same. Some are easier to work with, some will cure harder than others, some act more like plastic when finished. You will have to experiment and see what works best. This will not really be a tutorial on using the clay however, I will give some observations, tips, and suggestions. I ended up using two types of air harden clay for this piece. One that hardens quite a bit, but was difficult to work with (Das); the other was easier to work with but hardened to more of a soft rubber plastic (Nara). Experimentation is key.

-I found that most clay does not like to stick to the foam unless its sealed. However, when you completely ensconce it with clay, it will stick to itself.

-Try to keep the clay "skin" thin. Ideally you are trying to keep it light and cost effective.

-Many of the clays are filled with fine paper mulch, and will act more like really thick paper-mâché. This makes it a bit difficult to actually sculpt wet. You're ultimately just trying to cover the foam in a thin shell, and less sculpting like other clays. However, if you do need small details, sculpt away. Speaking of small details, in my piece I needed incised lines. I waited until it was dry and used a pair of linoleum cutting tools (small gouges) to make them. They needed to be fairly shallow, as I didn't want to cut past the clay and into the foam.

-Try to keep your clay moist, it can harden fairly quick with such a thin coat.

-If possible, try to make it as smooth as possible while the clay is wet. This can save a lot of time for the next step, but don't stress too much if its not silky smooth.

This should be fairly easy, if a bit tedious, but that will depend on what you are willing to accept for your final piece. To start, Its a good idea to sand your maquette (after the clay has hardened). Your piece may end up a bit lumpy, its the unfortunate nature of this type of clay. Depending on how much you need to smooth out your piece, I would start out with 120 grit and move up to a 220 grit. I found that it wasn't necessary to go beyond that because I used a filler primer after. If you find any egregious gaps you can fill them in with clay, or if its small enough, dry-wall filler.

Get to a point that you are satisfied with how smooth it should be. But don't get to lost in the process, it can be easy to remove all the clay in thin areas. Also, if you are following along, we can use a filler-primer that will fill in many of the very small areas and scratches left behind from the 220 grit sanding.

I recommend giving the hole thing another coat of mod podge. This will insure it is sealed before you spray it. This can also help lock in any drywall repair or some of the clay that can flake off.

I recommend an automobile filler-primer first. This will fill in the micro scratches caused by sanding, and will...prime it for paint of course. Follow your spray paints instructions; usually, a few very thin coats. Afterwards, I used a base paint spray, just a color I was fine with showing up in the incisions (this was coincidentally Dolphin Gray). The second picture shows it after the spray paint session.

After your spray painting, you can call it good. I needed to paint mine more, I just used some basic cheap hobby paints. You can see that the incision lines are being used to create a sharp cut between the colors used. However, you do not need the incisions, simply paint it as you wish.

Now as one last word of warning. The piece will be fairly light for its size, it is mostly foam after all. That makes it easy to knock over. They can be vary easy to damage, so I don't recommend using this as a permanent feature. Great as a stage or holiday prop, but not as an actual statue. Mine was used as a sort of concept art to be presented to a city. You could also make a mold of your piece and get it cast if you want something more permanent.

With all that being said, I would love to see what you all create using these methods. Good luck!