R. Ruggles

I sculpt and paint whimsical and delightful creatures. Follow along as I bring them to life. Subscribe to my newsletter to purchase original artwork and keep in touch.

  • T-Nuts

    T-nuts are slowly becoming my favorite type of fastener. I already used these on the rear of my sculpture. The t-nuts allow me to create…

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  • February 2024

    Summary Coming Soon

  • How to paint a giant purple panda head.

    January 2024: Finishing up the giant purple panda sculpture, including a little yellow bird that will perch on the panda’s nose. Also, I started a…

  • Handling Problem

    I built a jig to hold my sculpture in every direction to hold my work without having to touch it. I realize I need a…

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  • Clay WIngs

    Adding the free-form air over the EVA foam wings worked; I had to do this in two steps to avoid handling wet clay. I also…

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  • Adding Clay

    This was the first sculpture in which I used Smooth-on’s Free Form Air Epoxy Clay, and while I found the result to be strong and…

  • Rhinoplasty

    The poster board left the beak area a little square, so I reshaped the point of the beak to a pleasing cone shape with epoxy…

  • Eyes & Wings

    I drew a circle for the eyes on paper, then transferred the shape to the armature and cut the eye holes with a knife. This…

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  • Tightbond

    I brushed a layer of Tightbond III over the entire posterboard skin to give it strength and seal the paper from the clay’s moisture. I…

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  • Early Bird Armature

    I am building an armature for a new wall-hanging sculpture called Early Bird. Starting with a cardboard profile hot glued to two circles that will…

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  • Petal Baby

  • Tripple Thick Glaze

  • Blue Bird

  • New Mark

  • January 2024

    Summary Coming Soon

  • Gluing Eyes

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