Dating back as far as the dawn of modern civilisation, clay has been the material of choice for most of the ceramics and artworks that our ancestors created. Even today, clay remains a very popular medium thanks to both its abundance and flexibility, making it a great choice for those that are trying out ceramics for the first time. But clay isn’t the only material around, and there are plenty of different ones to choose from depending on the project in question.
Here we will look at some of the various materials used in the creation of sculptures, including the pros and cons of each and why they have become so common.
Stone
Stone tends to be one of the most difficult materials to work with due to its hardness, and it takes great skill and a lot of patience to successfully carve something out of stone. Working on stone can take a few months of training in the least, and anyone attempting it for the first time will have to accept the fact that even the smallest mistakes can be permanent. Despite this, stone is the perfect material for creating something that will withstand the test of time, as well as being extremely durable. The famed statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting down is perhaps one of the most well-known sculptures that make use of stone.
Metal
Metal sculpting has been popular for centuries, but it’s only been in the last few decades that we have really taken our metal creations to entirely new levels. Bronze tends to be the metal of choice for most artists, as it’s the easiest to work with while also being relatively cheap. The process of making a bronze statue involves creating a mould that the molten bronze is then cast in to. What makes this process so challenging is the fact that the statue mould has to be inverse of the final product, meaning that the artist has to make sure every detail is perfect, but in reverse. The hard work is worth it, however, as it means producing a sculpture that’s both durable and beautiful and usually bought by newly wealthy people who have won horse racing bets online.
Other types of metal sculpting are popular, such as simple gold and silver jewellery, while both steel and iron have become popular medium as metal working equipment has become more inexpensive in recent years. Overall, metal is a solid choice for anyone that wants to take sculpting more seriously.
Glass
After metal comes glass, and this can be a medium that’s even more finicky to work with. Glass can only be moulded into a more permanent shape through the introduction of high temperatures, after which the glass is melted and then shaped into whatever the artist can possibly imagine. Glass blowing is the art of heating and shaping the glass, and it’s a skill that can take an entire lifetime to master. The end results can’t be denied, however, and glass makes for some stunning sculptures.