Mixing Sculpting Materials: What You Need to Know
If you don’t have much experience, you might be tempted to mix materials. Before you do, read this article—it might save you some serious headaches.
4 November 2025
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This is a common question I get during my workshops: Is it better to work with water-based or oil-based clay? The truth is that the answer depends on several factors, as well as your personal comfort with each material.
As someone with a wealth of experience working with various materials throughout my career, I find that water-based clay is often the ideal choice for many projects. Its softness, ease of use, and versatility make it highly adaptable for different techniques. The organic, random textures it can offer are almost unique to this material, enriching sculptures in ways that few other mediums can.
On the other hand, plasticine—when of high quality—can offer similar fresh results, especially in industrial applications. If you’re working in the industry, this is of particular interest to you, as plasticine allows for greater control over surface texture, something that can be more difficult to achieve with water-based clay.
The technical aspects of these materials are significant, so let’s take a closer look.
Water-based clay is what I like to refer to as an “alive” material. What do I mean by this? Simply put, you need to maintain the right moisture levels to keep it workable. If you neglect it, it can dry out, harden, and crack. This constant need for moisture control can be a hassle, but it’s also what gives the material its distinct properties. In contrast, plasticine won’t ever dry out or crack on its own. You can continue working with it for as long as you need, with no risk of it becoming unusable.
Temperature and air moisture are also factors that affect both materials. The temperature is particularly relevant for oil-based clays like plasticine—higher temperatures make the material softer and easier to work with. This means plasticine is generally softer in the summer than in the winter. In places with extreme temperatures, this is something to keep in mind.
For water-based clays, moisture levels can affect the drying process. If it’s too moist, the clay will take longer to dry; if it’s too dry, the clay will harden too quickly and become difficult to work with.
The size of your work is another important factor. In the industry, water-based clay is often chosen for large-scale projects. Why? Because it’s quicker to work with and, importantly, it’s more cost-effective. For example, 10 kg of water-based clay could be the same price as 1 kg of plasticine. If you’re working on a large sculpture, the cost difference can be significant, so this is definitely something to consider.
The type of project you’re working on also plays a role in the material choice. If you’re sculpting something that you plan to fire, water-based clay is the obvious option. However, if you’re using plasticine, you have two main options:
Both options work, but if you need a long-lasting final piece, casting might be the better option.
Personally, I enjoy both materials, but I prefer the workable properties of water-based clay. That’s why I developed my own A1 soft plasticine formula—which mimics the properties of water-based clay—so I don’t have to worry about it drying out once I’m done. This is the A1 plasticine, a formula I developed myself in the studio after years of testing and refining. You can see me using it in the Saturday sessions at my studio in the following videos. Check them out!
Both water-based and oil-based clays have their advantages, and your choice will ultimately depend on factors like the size of your project, your personal preferences, and the specific requirements of your work. If you’re looking for something that doesn’t dry out and can be molded into any texture, plasticine is a great option. However, if you’re working with larger projects, prefer a more organic texture, or need something that can be fired, water-based clay might be the better choice.
For me, having developed my own version of soft plasticine has given me the best of both worlds. It allows me to work with a material that behaves like water-based clay, but without the risk of it drying out.
I hope this article has helped clarify the pros and cons of each material. Whatever you choose, I wish you the best of luck with your creative projects!
If you’re a mold maker or planning to use the material for molding, there’s one important thing to keep in mind—especially if you’re using silicone molds: Sulfur.
Water-based clays are usually sulfur-free, but oil-based clays, including plasticine, may contain sulfur. If your plasticine contains sulfur, it can interfere with the curing of silicone molds. To avoid this problem, you need to ensure that your plasticine is sulfur-free—either by checking the label or performing a simple test. If the plasticine contains sulfur, the silicone won’t cure properly, and you’ll end up with a lot of frustration. Trust me, you don’t want to learn this the hard way—it can take a long time to forget that kind of mistake!
I’ll be covering other topics in future articles, including working with textures and exploring alternative sculpting materials that behave like clay—such as polymers and certain types of concrete.
If you’re interested in learning more about these materials, consider signing up for the newsletter to receive updates on new articles, tutorials, and upcoming events, including both online and in-person workshops.
If you don’t have much experience, you might be tempted to mix materials. Before you do, read this article—it might save you some serious headaches.
I decided to put theory into practice and explore how I could apply these ideas to my own sculptures using ChatGPT — to see just how far this collaboration could take me.
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This book is essential for learning more about the human figure as it is very complete. Includes proportions based on eight heads ( be aware that we are using 7.5 heads), bone structure explanation, balance and range of movement of the joins. The anatomy applied to the figure is not necessarily as accurate as in the Paul Richer book. This book also includes pictures of models for an applied explanation.
This book is excellent for learning anatomy from a medical perspective applied to art. Here we also find his 7.5 cannon explained. The illustrations are accurate, giving the precise location of muscles, layers and mapping of the human body. This book is used in official academies like the Florence academy.
In this book, Michel Lauricella presents both his artistic and systematic methods for drawing the human body–with drawing techniques from the écorché (showing the musculature underneath the skin) to sketches of models in action. In more than 1,000 illustrations, the human body is shown from a new perspective–from bone structure to musculature, from anatomical detail to the body in motion.
This small, portable book presents a unique perspective on the human body for artists to study and implement in their drawing work. In this book, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella simplifies the human body into basic shapes and forms, offering profound insight for artists of all kinds, sparking the imagination and improving one’s observational abilities. Rather than going the traditional route of memorizing a repertoire of poses, Lauricella instead stresses learning this small collection of forms, which can then be combined and shaped into the more complex and varied forms and postures we see in the living body.
This book provides a simplified and practical vision of the human skeleton to help all artists in their drawing studies. Here you will find the most common and useful approaches to the body’s underlying skeleton and bone structure, which will fuel your imagination and enrich your observational skills as you draw the living form. In this small, portable guide, artist and teacher Michel Lauricella focuses on the essentials you need to know.
This book is excellent for the quality of the drawings; very expressive, fresh and accurate. This book is recommended as a reference for the quality of work we can achieve in the art standards mostly applied to drawing. It is also a good source of images of bodies and living anatomy.
