NARA Sculpting Clay | Terracotta | 908g - Non Drying Clay for Figures

This is the clay you sculpt with rather than the clay you finish with. NARA medium sculpting clay is a smooth oil based modelling clay that never dries out, so a figure can sit on the bench for weeks while you keep refining it. Medium firmness means it holds an edge and a fine detail without slumping, and this block is 908g in terracotta.

Specifications

Ideal For

• Sculptors working up a figure before casting
• Model makers building prototypes and maquettes
• Animation and stop motion character work
• Students learning form and proportion

Perfect for

• Figures, busts and character sculpts
• Prototype and product mock ups
• Masters to take a silicone mould from
• Miniature and diorama scenery
• Teaching and practice work that gets reused

Compatibility

Works with: metal and wooden sculpting tools, wire and foil armatures, silicone mould making around the finished model, and other shades of the same clay for blending.

Pairs well with: clay modelling tools, a wire armature and a turntable.

Not suitable for: firing, baking or air drying into a finished piece, and for anything that has to be handled or kept, since it stays soft indefinitely.

How to Use

1. Warm a piece in your hands for a minute so it softens and moves easily.
2. Build the rough mass over a wire or foil armature for anything taller than a hand span.
3. Work the large forms first and leave the fine detail until the shape reads correctly from every side.
4. Smooth with a tool rather than a finger where you want a clean surface, then cast or mould from it if you need a permanent copy.

Before You Buy

• This clay does not dry, bake or fire. A piece made from it stays soft, so take a mould or a cast if you want to keep the result.
• Warm hands and a warm room soften it. In a cold room give it a minute of kneading first.
• It is oil based, so it leaves a film on hands and tools. Wipe tools down rather than washing them in a sink.
• Colour is a working colour, not a finish. Terracotta and grey read shadow differently under a lamp, which is the only real reason to pick one over the other.
• The same clay comes in a 454g block, so buy the larger one if you are building anything over about a foot.

You will Need

• clay modelling tools
• acrylic paints

You may also like

• air dry clay
• polymer clay
• foam clay

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this clay dry or need baking?
No. It stays soft indefinitely, which is the point of it. Sculpt, refine, and when the form is right take a silicone mould and cast the piece in resin or plaster.

How is this different from air dry or polymer clay?
Air dry clay hardens on its own and polymer clay hardens in an oven. Both end the job. This one never ends it, so it suits sculpting, prototyping and teaching rather than finished pieces.

Which firmness is this?
Medium. It is soft enough to move by hand once warmed and firm enough to hold a cut edge and a fine detail without slumping.