Hand building · Figurines and characters
Faces, hands and the proportions that make a character read.
A character is a few simple volumes at a proportion that reads: a big head, a small body, eyes lower on the face than you think. This page is the map for the face, the rule for every attachment, and how to build one that survives drying and firing in one piece.
Four steps with a tick list at each: proportion and the hollow body, the face map, attaching parts and simplifying hands, and standing it up to dry. Six fixes, and six videos from sculptors who do not work here.
This is the short version: the head count, the face map, the join and the drying, each with a tick list. The character notes, the animal notes and the questions are in the comprehensive version.
Read it, then watch it
Why this is written down and filmed, both.
A character is proportion plus attachment. Proportion is a set of numbers, heads tall and where the eyes go, and numbers are what a page is for; you will check them against your figure with a needle tool in one hand. Attachment is a feel, the coil blended around the base of an ear so it cannot come off, and a feel has to be watched. So the numbers and the tick lists live here, and the six videos are for the hands.
Use both, in this order
Read the proportion band and mark the head. Watch a face and a join. Build with the tick list open, over two or three visits, in a bag between them.
The whole idea
Three heads tall, eyes on the midline, every part scored on.
A character is a few simple volumes at a proportion that reads: a big head, a small body, eyes low on the face. Build the body hollow from two pinch pots, keep thin parts under half an inch, score and slip and coil every attachment at the same softness, and cover the thin parts while it dries. Colour with underglaze, not glaze.
The five-minute version
The whole technique in six moves.
If you already hand-build and you just want the shape of it, this is the shape of it. Everything below is these six moves, slowed down and with the places they fail marked.
Before you roll a head
What you need on the table.
Six things, and the important one is a coil of soft clay the size of a matchstick. It is the reason ears stay on.
A smooth clay, a needle tool and a ball stylus, a small loop, a wooden modelling tool, tiny coils rolled fresh for every join, newspaper, a board, and a bag with a damp paper towel.
Step one
Decide the proportion, then build the body hollow.
The head is the unit. A realistic adult is about seven and a half heads tall. A character is three or four, with a head the size of its torso, and that is what reads as a character rather than a small person. Decide the head count before the first pinch pot, roll a ball for the head, and size everything else against it.
Then the body, which is hollow, because anything thicker than an inch has to be. Two pinch pots joined rim to rim make a ball; a slightly taller pinch pot on a shorter one makes an egg, which is most bodies. Score both rims, slip, press them together, blend the seam with a coil, and put a pinhole somewhere the base will hide. The head is a solid ball if it is under an inch across and a hollowed ball if it is bigger: pinch it, or roll it solid and hollow it at leather hard with a small loop through the neck hole, which the neck then covers. Our sculpting lesson has the whole thickness rule and this page assumes it.
The three-head character
Head one unit, torso one unit, legs one unit. Eyes low and large, a small nose or none, a mouth that is a line. Hands and feet a little too big. Arms that reach the hips. This is the proportion of nearly every figure that reads as friendly, and it is forgiving of a beginner’s hands because there is not much detail to get wrong.
Animals
Same idea, different unit: the body is an egg, the head is a smaller egg, and the character is in the ears, the tail and the eyes. A cat is two eggs, two triangles and a coil. A bird is one pinch pot pulled to a beak. Legs as short as you can get away with, because short legs stand up and long legs do not.
Step two
Mark the face before you cut it. Eyes on the midline.
The eyes are lower than you think. Halfway down the head, not in the top third. Everything above the eye line is forehead and hair, and it is more than feels right. Scratch a light line round the head at the halfway point with a needle before you touch the face, and put the eyes on it.
Then the rest of the map: the nose ends halfway between the eye line and the chin, the mouth sits a third of the way from the nose to the chin, the ears run from the eye line to the bottom of the nose, and the eyes are one eye-width apart. Those five lines are why a face looks like a face, and once they are marked you can push them around on purpose: eyes further apart and lower for a child or a cartoon, closer and higher for something sinister. Character lives in the exaggeration; the map is what makes the exaggeration read as a choice.
Features are pressed and added, not carved. A ball stylus pressed into the socket makes an eye; a tiny ball of clay pressed into it makes an eyeball; a needle hole makes a pupil. A small wedge of clay blended on makes a nose; a stylus dragged sideways makes a mouth; two pressed dimples at its corners make it smile. Work at soft leather hard, when the surface takes a mark without smearing and an added piece still bonds. On a small figure, two dots for eyes and a line for a mouth read better than modelled features ever will.
Step three
Attach every part the same way, and simplify the hands.
Same softness. Score, slip, press, coil. Every arm, ear, leg, tail and hat goes on the same way: both faces scratched with a needle, slipped, pressed, and then a tiny fresh coil of soft clay pushed into the corner where the part meets the body and blended out with a wooden tool. That coil is why ears stay on. A part pressed on without it comes off in the kiln nearly every time.
Same softness is the other half. A soft arm on a firm body shrinks faster than the body and pulls itself off as it dries, usually days later on your shelf. Make the parts and the body from the same lump on the same night, or let a fresh part firm up next to the body until they feel the same before joining. Thin parts under half an inch can stay solid; anything thicker gets pinched hollow or gets a coil pushed through it.
Hands are where beginners lose an evening. Make the hand as a mitten, a flattened teardrop, attach it, and only then cut fingers with a needle: two or three, not five, on anything small, each one rounded with a wooden tool. Or give the character something to hold, a mug, a ball, a fish, and most of the fingers disappear into it. Feet are wedges. Sculptors have hidden hands in sleeves and pockets for five hundred years, and so can you.
Step four
Stand it up, cover the thin parts, dry it for weeks, colour it with underglaze.
A figurine is a tower. A wide base, a low centre of weight and a thick neck stand up; a heavy head on a thin neck over small feet does not, and it falls over while it dries, when nobody is watching. Sitting and crouching poses are the easy ones. A standing figure wants a third point of contact, a tail, a staff, a base it is built onto.
Then drying, which is where thin parts die. Ears, tails, arms and fingers dry in hours; the hollow body takes days; and the thin parts, shrinking first, crack at the join or snap off. Drape a scrap of plastic over the thin parts so they dry as slowly as the body, prop anything that sticks out with scrunched newspaper, and leave the figure on a board it can stay on until it goes to the kiln. It is dry when it is room temperature to the cheek everywhere. Our staff load every kiln, so build it to be picked up by the body, and it will be.
Colour is underglaze, at greenware or bisque, with one thin coat of clear over it or none at all. Glaze pools in eye sockets and runs off noses, and three coats of a gloss turn a face into a suggestion. A dark wash wiped back over the modelling, then underglaze for the eyes and the details, is how most small figures get their character back after the kiln. Our underglaze lesson has the rules and the free certification.
Watch it done
Now watch six people build six characters.
Watch this one, then go roll a head.
None of these sculptors work here or know we exist. Between them they cover a whole figure, a face in water-based clay, a cat with a personality, a hollow bird in four minutes, the double pinch pot animal, and hollowing a figure. Nothing but the still frame loads until you press play.
Thirty-six minutes on a standing figure built from hollow parts, in the order this page teaches. The other five videos are in the comprehensive version.
When it goes wrong
Six ways it goes wrong, and what to do about each.
The three failures that happen on the first figure.
Pick the one that looks like your figure. The first three are the join, the face and the base. The last three are hands, thickness and glaze.
A limb, an ear or a tail came off
The part was softer than the body when it went on, or it was pressed on without scoring and slipping, or it was thin and dried faster than what it was attached to. Thin parts on thick bodies are the most common break in figurine work.
Both parts at the same softness. Score both faces, slip, press, and blend a tiny coil around the base of every attachment. Cover thin parts with a scrap of plastic so they dry as slowly as the body.
At leather hard, score, slip and reattach with a coil blended round the join. At bone dry, a paste of the same clay sometimes holds through the bisque. After firing, it is an epoxy job, and small figures glue well.
The face looks wrong and you cannot say why
Almost always the eyes are too high. Beginners put eyes in the top third of the head; on a real face they sit halfway down. Everything above the eyes is forehead and hair, which is more than feels right.
Mark the head before you cut anything: eyes on the midline, nose halfway from eyes to chin, mouth a third of the way from nose to chin, ears between the eye line and the nose line. Then exaggerate on purpose if it is a character.
At leather hard, a small loop tool can lower the eye sockets and a coil can rebuild the forehead above them. At bone dry it is a study for the next one.
It tips over or fell over while drying
The base is too small, the centre of weight is too high, or a heavy head went on a thin neck. A figurine is a tower, and towers fall.
A wide base, a low centre of weight, and a neck as thick as you can hide. Sitting and crouching poses are easier than standing ones. A standing figure gets a third point of contact: a tail, a prop, a base it is built onto.
Prop it with newspaper while it dries. If the neck has failed, cut the head off, thicken the neck with a coil, reattach. A figure that leans a little reads as alive; one that leans a lot needs a base.
The hands look like mittens or claws
Fingers added one at a time, too thin to survive, or cut from a flat paddle without any thickness at the knuckles. Hands are the hardest part of any figure and the first thing to simplify.
Make the hand as a mitten first, then cut the fingers with a needle and round each one with a wooden tool. Keep fingers thick, fewer than five if the scale is small, and hold something in the hand so most of the fingers are hidden.
A mitten is a fine hand on a small figure; sculptors have hidden hands in pockets and sleeves for centuries. Cut two fingers, not four, and leave it.
The head or body blew up in the bisque
A solid lump bigger than an inch that was not hollowed, or was hollowed with no pinhole, and was still damp in the middle. A figurine head the size of a fist is a solid lump.
Hollow anything bigger than an inch, or build it from two pinch pots. A pinhole somewhere hidden. Dry for weeks. Our sculpting lesson is the whole rule.
Sweep up. The next one is hollow, and it takes its neighbours with it less.
The glaze filled the face and ran off the nose
Three coats of a glossy glaze on a modelled surface pool in the eye sockets and run off every high point, and a face is all sockets and high points.
Underglaze for colour, at greenware or bisque, with one thin coat of clear or no glaze at all. A wash wiped back to find the modelling. Keep glaze thin on anything with a face.
Fired is fired. The next one gets underglaze and a wash.
How it works here
At The Clay Hole, a figurine rides to the kiln on its board.
This page is written for potters everywhere. A few things are specific to our building, so you know before you start.
Three things to know here
Needles, styluses and small loops are studio tools from Yellow Level up; Green Level Members bring their own. The 150+ underglazes need the free brush-on glaze and underglaze certification. Our staff load every kiln, so dry it on a board, build it to be lifted by the body, and keep small figures under the $4.80 minimum by grouping them on one cookie, a quarter inch apart and roughly the same height.
Tools and clay by Level
Needles, ball styluses, small loops, wooden tools and banding wheels are studio tools for Yellow, Purple and Black Level Members; Green Level Members bring their own. Clay from our shelves, eight bodies: ask which is smoothest for fine detail, and reach for B-Mix with Grog, Half & Half or Berlin Gray for anything big.
Colour
The 150+ underglazes on the wall are open to anyone with the free brush-on glaze and underglaze certification. A figure coloured at greenware goes through the bisque with its colour on, and a thin clear or nothing at all finishes it. Purple and Black Level Members can dip small pieces in the Clear as Mud bucket, held by the base.
The kiln
Our staff load and unload every kiln. A figurine arrives on the drop-off table on a board or in a bowl, dry to the cheek, built so it can be lifted by the body. A damp head explodes and takes the mugs next to it. Bisque is cone 05 and free.
What it costs to fire
The glaze firing is five cents a cubic inch, $4.80 minimum. Small pieces that fit on one six-inch cookie with a quarter inch between them, under 100 cubic inches together and roughly the same height, pay as one piece, which is the only time pieces combine. A family of figurines of a size on one cookie is $4.80. A bare figure after the bisque costs nothing.
Questions people actually ask
The ones that come up every week.
What proportions make a character read?
A realistic adult is about seven and a half heads tall. A character is three or four heads tall, with a head the size of its torso, big eyes low on the face, and hands and feet slightly too large. That is what reads as cute across a room. Decide the head count before you start and stick to it; the body follows the head.
Where do the features go on a face?
Eyes halfway down the head, not in the top third. Nose halfway between the eyes and the chin. Mouth a third of the way from the nose to the chin. Ears between the eye line and the bottom of the nose. Eyes one eye-width apart. Mark those lines lightly on the head before you cut anything, then break the rules on purpose if the character wants it.
Solid or hollow?
Anything thicker than an inch is hollow: two pinch pots make a body, a hollowed ball makes a head. Thin parts, legs, tails, ears, arms under half an inch, can be solid. Every hollow gets a pinhole. Our sculpting lesson is the whole rule and this page assumes it.
How do I attach small parts so they stay on?
Score both faces, slip, press, and blend a tiny coil of soft clay around the base of every attachment with a wooden tool. Both parts at the same softness. Then cover the thin parts while the piece dries so they do not race ahead of the body. Nearly every ear that comes off in the kiln was softer than the head when it went on.
How do I make eyes?
Press a ball stylus or the back of a small loop into the socket to make the eyeball, then a tiny pressed ball of clay for the pupil, or a hole from a needle. On a small figure two dots read better than modelled eyes. Underglaze at greenware or bisque does the rest. Do not glaze eyes glossy unless you want them to look wet.
Can I paint it?
Underglaze is paint that fires. Colour at greenware or bisque, one thin coat of clear over it or none, and the modelling survives. Thick glaze fills faces. Our underglaze lesson covers the rules and the certification.
How do I get it to the kiln in one piece?
Dry it on a board it can stay on, so nobody lifts it by a limb. Our staff load every kiln, so build it to be picked up by the body. Ears, tails and arms that stick out are the first thing to break in the dry stage, so support them with newspaper while it dries and keep them close to the body where you can.
Related lessons
Six lessons that sit next to this one.
Three to read next.
A figurine is sculpture at small scale with a face on it. These are the pages under it and around it.
That is the whole technique
Three heads. Eyes on the midline. Coil round every join. Cover the ears.
Your first character will have eyes too high and one ear that came off, and you will know exactly why both happened. That is normal, and the second one will have a line scratched round its head and a coil blended round each ear. Nothing in this building gets photographed more than a small figure with a face that reads, and the whole method is a map and a coil.
If you want the character and animal notes, the hands in full, the colour notes and the answers to the questions everybody asks, switch to the comprehensive version at the top. Otherwise, go roll a ball for a head.
Written for potters everywhere. Where our studio does things differently, the page says so.
Which version would you like to print?
Both print clean, with the videos turned into labelled boxes you can search for later.