Bethany Krull – Sculpting Porcelain Beetles

In this workshop, I will share my technique for creating porcelain beetles that have thin and delicate legs that are also strong and resilient through the use of epoxy clay over a wire armature.

I will be showing you:

✔ My solid forming techniques

✔ How to sculpt with simple tools – using rubber ribs, rubber-tipped modeling tools, and loop tools.

✔ How to hollow out and reassemble forms to stop them from cracking and exploding

✔ Extra focus on tips and tricks to minimize cracking in porcelain.

✔ How to create thin and delicate yet resilient legs that will not break

✔ My secret slow fire kiln program which is perfect for porcelain sculptures.

✔ I will also share my clear glaze recipe.

Materials Needed to Participate

• Porcelain – I use Laguna frost which matures at Cone 6 but any porcelain will work. I intend on speaking extensively on tips and tricks for sculpting in porcelain (feel free to forgo porcelain all together and use any clay which you are comfortable with)
• Apoxie Sculpt (white) 1 pound
• 16 or 18 gauge aluminum or steel wire
• Needle nose pliers which will cut wire
• Mudd Tools yellow rubber rib with a straight edge and right angle
• Mudd Tools red rubber rib
• Medium Sized wire loop tools (ribbon trim tools will also work)

By using the techniques in this workshop, you could be making porcelain sculptures like these:

When you buy this online workshop you get:

✔ Watch my Workshop
✔ Lifetime Access to the videos
✔ Equipment List as a PDF download.
Here I have listed all the things you need to get started right away, and the links to buy them online, in one easy printable PDF document.

My sculpture speaks to the complicated and often contradictory relationships humans maintain with other animals. We have taken great measures to keep the wild, unpredictable and problematic aspects of nature at bay, and yet we also cannot resist the need to be connected to that which we came from.

In today’s increasingly nature deprived society our most intimate connection with the natural world tends to be with plants and animals that we ourselves have drastically altered through the process of domestication. Wild animals have been turned into pets, genetically sculpted into sweeter, cuter, less dangerous versions of themselves, permanently altered by man’s effort to fulfill their need for relentless love, amusement and companionship.

Our homes have become barriers that keep the wild out, yet they are filled with caged animals, potted plants and countless other controlled and contrived representations of the natural world. My work aims to illustrate the evidence of both our dominance over and our affection for nature, as well as the cohabitation of our unease and desires regarding it.

Website: https://bethanykrull.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethanykrullsculpture