Holly's Creations in Clay: Long Hair Technique

This is by far my favorite technique with polymer clay!

I got inspiration from my alltime favorite clay artist, Evgeny Hontor.

He is such anamazing artist, I could spend hours looking at his work.

He works with velvet clay, an air-drying variety that isn't widely available in the US.

It's a simple technique of shaping individual pieces and applying them one by one. It's very time-consuming, but it creates a very interesting and fluid effect.

My dragon sculpture pales in comparison, but I used this hair effect for that piece as well.

Here is how I went about it for my poodle sculpture...

The basic sculpture was Premo polymer clay layered over a foil armature and baked.

I then added the tail hair and fur texture, leaving the ears for last. (If you would like to see how I created the poodle fur texture, go here: POODLE FUR TUTORIAL.)

Baked, cooled and ready to start...

As always, I recommend Premo.

You will also need some liquid Sculpey to help the raw clay adhere to the hard surface (any liquid polymer clay will do).

The only other tools you will need are a ball stylus and a needle tool.

Prep your work surface by brushing on some liquid Sculpey. Take a small piece of well-conditioned clay and roll out a thin snake, shaping one end to a point.

Use the needle tool to cut the piece the length you want it...

...and starting at the end, apply it to the surface, using the ball stylus to attach.

If you wish to give the piece a bit of wave or curl, gently touch the end to your work table to shape it.

You can also use your stylus to press upwards on the pieces to help shape and arrange after they are in place.

Continuing from the bottom to the top, repeat the process until you are satisfied with the way it looks.

It may help to bake your piece intermittently to preserve your work, especially if you are clumsy and tend your knock your sculptures over (points to self).