What is modelling in the round?
Modelling is an additive way of making sculpture: you add and shape a soft material such as clay, wax or plasticine.
A sculpture in the round is free-standing. You can walk all around it. A relief is attached to a flat background and is seen mainly from the front.
Thinking in the round
- Look at the work from front, back, sides and top while you work. Turn it on a turntable (banding wheel).
- Check the silhouette (outline) from each side.
- Keep the form balanced: a wide base and a low centre of weight stop it falling.
- Plan the empty spaces (between legs, under arms) as part of the design.
Pinching, coiling and rolling
Pinching
Roll a smooth ball the size of an orange. Push your thumb into the centre, leaving a base about 1 cm thick. Pinch the wall between thumb and fingers while you turn the ball, moving upward in a spiral, until the wall is even.
Coiling
Roll ropes (coils) of even thickness, about as thick as a pencil to a finger. Place them on a base one above the other. Score (scratch) and add slip (clay mixed with water to a cream) where coils meet, then blend and smooth the inside. Placing coils further out or in makes the form swell or narrow.
Rolling
Use a rolling pin and two guide strips of the same thickness to roll an even slab. Slabs can be cut, curved into cylinders, or joined into boxes. Rolling also makes balls and ropes for details.
Joining: score and slip
Scratch both surfaces, brush on slip, press together and blend the seam. Unjoined clay separates when it dries.
Simplified figures, animals, plants and geometric forms
Most natural forms can be built from a few basic geometric forms: sphere, ovoid (egg), cube, cylinder and cone.
- Animal: an egg-shaped body, a sphere head, cylinder legs, cone ears and a tapered coil tail.
- Human figure: cylinder or egg body, sphere head, coils for arms and legs; keep the pose compact so thin parts do not snap.
- Plant: cylinder or coil stem, slab leaves pressed with real leaves for texture, small balls for buds.
- Geometric study: arrange a cube, cone and sphere so they look good from every side.
Simplify: leave out tiny details and keep the big shapes and gesture. Add texture with tools, combs or fabric at the end.
Hollow clay for baking (firing)
Clay must be fired in a kiln to become hard and permanent (terracotta). Thick solid clay holds water and trapped air; when heated, steam cannot escape, so the piece can crack or burst.
Steps
- Model the form solid, or build it hollow from the start with pinch and coil methods.
- When leather-hard (firm but still damp), cut it open with a wire.
- Scoop out the inside with a loop tool to an even wall of about 0.6–1.5 cm.
- Score, slip and rejoin the parts; smooth the seam.
- Make a small air hole with a needle into every closed hollow.
- Dry slowly under loose plastic, then let it become bone-dry.
- Fire in a kiln (low-fire terracotta is roughly 900–1000 °C).
Tools, safety and finishing
- Tools: wooden modelling tools, loop tools, needle tool, wire cutter, rolling pin, sponge, turntable.
- Keep clay workable: wrap unused clay in plastic; mist with water if it dries.
- Safety: wipe dust with a wet cloth instead of sweeping (dry clay dust is harmful to breathe); wash hands; only trained adults load and run kilns.
- Finishing: burnish with a smooth stone, add coloured slip, or glaze before a second firing.
Try it: the 3D and at home
In the last 3D step, pick each method and slide the wall thickness. Find the green range. At home: make a pinch pot and a small animal from clay or salt dough. Poke a toothpick through the wall to check thickness, and look at your animal from all four sides.
Key formulas and definitions
- In the round: free-standing, seen from all sides. Relief: attached to a background.
- Pinching: thumb in, pinch and turn.
- Coiling: ropes stacked, scored, slipped and smoothed.
- Rolling: even slabs, balls and ropes.
- Join = score + slip + press + blend.
- For firing: even wall about 0.6–1.5 cm, air hole, slow drying.
Worked examples
1. A student's clay elephant cracked in the kiln. Its body was a solid lump 6 cm thick. What went wrong and how to fix it next time?
The thick solid body trapped water and air, which turned to steam and cracked it. Next time cut it open when leather-hard, hollow it to about 1 cm walls, rejoin with slip, make an air hole and dry slowly.
2. A coil pot's coils separated while drying. Why?
The coils were only stacked, not joined. They needed scoring, slip and blending of the seams on at least the inside.
3. A clay ball of diameter 8 cm is made into a hollow sphere with a 1 cm wall. What is the inner diameter?
Inner diameter = 8 − 2 × 1 = 6 cm (the wall is on both sides).
Common mistakes
- Only working from the front, so the back looks flat and unfinished.
- Joining pieces without score and slip; they fall off when dry.
- Leaving thick solid parts or closed hollows without an air hole before firing.
- Drying too fast in sun or near a heater, so thin parts dry first and crack.