“From a very young age, I loved art in all forms. I would draw, paint and create, whenever I had the opportunity to do so,” says Jennifer Sloan who is known for her incredibly cute dinosaurs and dragons that she loves to sculpt.
“As I got older and started my own family, I still incorporated art into my everyday life. My oldest daughter loved Play-doh as a toddler. She and I would play and create for hours. When it was time to clean it up, she would always cry when we had to squish our creations and put them away,” starts Jennifer explaining her first sculpting moments.
“I wanted to make things for her that she could keep forever.
I did some research and found polymer clay.
Jennifer read everything she could about how to use it: As soon as I got my hands on it, I fell in love with it and never looked back,” she says. She moved from baby sculptures, robots, animals and monsters to dinosaurs and dragons that quickly became her very favorite things to sculpt. “Now I even make some species of my own. I get an idea for a creature and immediately have this need to bring it to life.”
When looking at her sculptures, you can admire the textures, details, natural color palette, or groovy characters that she brings to live. But in the beginning it all starts with an armature: “It’s the skeleton of the piece. It's usually constructed of steel wire, aluminum foil and masking tape. The next step is taking a small amount of clay and smoothing it over the armature to give a nice smooth work surface,” explains Jennifer who normally bakes the thin layer of clay, waits for it to get cool and then is ready to begin creating.
During her polymer clay journey she has worked with several brands of polymer clay but Cosclay is her favorite brand. “For the teeth on my dinosaurs and dragons, I use Super White Apoxie Sculpt and make and cure them ahead of time. This allows me to make them extra pointy,” accounts Jennifer.
There is a lot you can learn from her! Like what materials she uses for the eyes, which tools are great for creating the very realistic texture on her sculptures, and which paints she uses at the end when the sculpture is ready to get the face on.
We are very lucky that Jennifer created a tutorial for her Stegosaurus for the Polymer Week Society, where you can become a member and enjoy never ending content created by artists from all over the world, including a step by step tutorial for this cute character.
“For anyone starting their own polymer clay journey, my advice is, you will fail a million times before you succeed. Never stop learning. Don't be afraid to ask questions or take risks. Don't give up. Most importantly, have fun! You will be amazed at what you can create,” motivates Jennifer all the newbies out there. And we definitely agree!
