No. 001, Hand, Side View, 2005

This is my very first attempt to sculpt anything since the many years since I was child. I wanted to see if I could represent any human body part in a realistic way. To make the fingers I started by rolling Super Sculpey ("ceramic-like sculpting compound" made by Polyform), between my hands and then scuplted them after attaching them to the palm. As parts started to look right, I would work on other parts. It was amazing how the hand seem take shape all on its own. I put lines in the palm to roughly match my own. My friend Laura Kuck took a look and pointed out that the thumb was attached way too high, so I pulled it off and attached it lower; that helped a lot. After a couple hours, it was looking enough like a real hand that I stopped, fearing I would ruin what I had already done. The pinkie is still a little thick, but overall I am pleased with the result of my first attempt. It turned out much better than I had expected and the size seems almost identical to the hand of my nine-month old granddaughter Ellie.