How does Eorzea Café in Japan work?

Everyone who knows a little of me – or has worked themselves through this website – knows that I’m a big fan of Final Fantasy XIV. So naturally, for my trip to Japan, I had to visit Eorzea Café. How does Eorzea Café in japan work, I wondered. Since I didn’t find much information on it beforehand, I decided to write up an article about it for anyone interested in visiting it.

Please note that this article is written in october 2023, and of course things may change when time goes on (such as menus, ways to reserve a table, admission fees etc).

What is Eorzea Café?

Eorzea Café is a themed Café in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. There are many themed cafés in those cities. The maid-cafés, some where you can pat cats or even hedgehogs. Some that have more general themes as the Milkyway Café that serves all kinds of star themed sweets and ice creams. And some are based on popular media, such as the Pokémon Café. Eorzea Café is the latter – it’s based on the videogame Final Fantasy 14, the second MMO RPG installment of the Final Fantasy series. That means that it is decorated to fit the game and serves drinks and food based on classes, characters and creatures of the game.

Entrance to the Eorzea Cafe in OsakaWhere can I find the Eorzea Cafés in Japan?

There are two permanent ones – one in Osaka, one in Tokyo. The one in Osaka is in the famous street of Dotonbori. You can also find about a million takoyaki restaurants there. Tokyos is located in Akihabara, near Akihabara station. It’s not directly at the main shopping street, but only a stone throw away.

There were two temporary ones in Kyoto and Nagoya in summer 2023. Probably for the 10th anniversary of the relaunch A Realm Reborn – but as far as I know they only existed until end of August.

It’s common in Japan to have restaurants and establishments on higher floors than the ground floor. This is also the case with both, Tokyos and Osakas cafés. So don’t expect to see a nice storefront hinting that you reached the correct place. However, the cafés are a collaboration with Pasela Resorts. This is a company that provides rooms for parties, karaoke and entertainment. You can easily identify the place by finding the huge Pasela logo. If you then take a closer look, you will find which venues are in the building. By the way, both buildings also have a Monster Hunter Café.
Osakas Eorzea Café is set on the 5th floor of the building, Tokyos on the second floor (take the stairs, the elevator goes up to the 3rd floor).

Reserving a table

While the Café in Osaka was pretty empty when I visited and would probably not have needed a reservation, the one in Tokyo was filled to the last seat. I visited off-season, during a weekday at daytime. Everything will probably be more popular in the evening or weekends. And of course during the holidays. Better safe than sorry – book a table in advance. For Osaka I actually did this in the evening before.

You can book both cafés via Tablecheck:
https://www.tablecheck.com/de/shops/eorzeacafe-osaka/reserve
https://www.tablecheck.com/de/shops/eorzea-cafe/reserve

or via google places.

Both Cafés take an admission fee, Osaka 700 yen/person, Tokyo 1100 Yen/person. If some of your party don’t show up, you will still have to pay for their seat.

Are both Cafés the same?

Coasters displaying job artworks, as well as fridge magnets in eorzea cafe No! They are actually pretty different! If you’re a hardcore fan and plan to visit both cities, you might want to go to both!

However, let’s go over the similarities first. Both admission fees include some freebies for you. Also, you will get a freebie with every order you place. A thick cardboard coaster with artworks, bosses or creatures. So if you take two drinks and 3 meals, you get 5 coasters.

The job-based drinks are available in both Cafés. You can for example drink a Black Mage (something something blueberry soda) in both cafés. Some things of the menu overlap. For example right now both have a Zenos drink (they’re aware many people are thirsty for him – I’ll see myself out) and winged reprobation fries. But not all dishes and drinks are the same.

coasters displaying random artworks like patch art, monsters or expansion artworks in eorzea cafeBoth venues also sell merchandise, though Tokyo definitely has the wider range and more stock. There are no exclusive items and all items can also be found in the square enix web shop.

The staff speak English somewhat, but not very well. However, they have those little translation devices if everything fails.

If you want, you can get a stamp card in the design of your grand company upon your visit and use it in both cafés. It also doesn’t expire. You can “use it when you come back in 5 years”, as the nice staff lady told me. It doesn’t hurt to get one, even if only as a nice keepsake.

Also, you can take your placemat, and have it laminated. If you want to do this, be careful not to spill food on it!

Eorzea Café in Osaka

Osakas admission fee is 700 yen/person (might vary with holidays etc). Included in this fee are a Jobcoaster of your choice and a random fridge magnet.

The interior of the café is open, not prop heavy and U’ldah themed. Even though it looks less themepark-y than the Tokyo version, for me it felt like it was done with more love – there were handwritten notes everywhere, a wall where you could leave them a message, guestbooks, hand drawn creatures and so on. I really loved the atmosphere. And of course, I wanted to steal the spriggan.

Ordering in Osaka

The order process in Osaka is done via QR Code. You scan a QR Code and are redirected to a webapp with the menu. The menu on the webapp is available in Japanese and English. To order, you click on the dish and put it into a shopping basket, that you then order. This part is unfortunately Japanese only (or we didn’t find the English version), so we needed to google lens (your best friend!) the buttons of the app.

You have 90 minutes in the café, your last order is after an hour. Within the hour you can order as much as you like (and can afford).

Foods and drinks

Osaka had a lot more drinks than Tokyo when we visited: the job-themed drinks and every Scion was also featured in a drink. Those were often more elaborate than the job-themed drinks and contained ice cream or cream (of course Y’shtola was tea though). Most of the food was Osaka exclusive, such as G’rahas Burger and Puddingways pudding, but there were less meals to choose from.

Eorzea Café in Tokyo

Tokyos admission fee is 1100 yen/person (might vary with holidays etc). Included in this fee are a Jobcoaster of your choice and a free drink (no fridge magnets!).

The venue is rather small, and the interior is more prop-heavy and theme-park-y than Osaka. It is Gridania themed. I felt everything here was a little more done in the name of efficiency, probably because there are more people visiting Tokyo than Osaka.

Ordering in Tokyo

The order process is similar but not the same as Osaka. First, you choose your drinks that are included in your admission fee. You choose that on a paper that is handed to you by the staff. You will also get a tablet to order and a printed out English menu, as the tablet only has the Japanese menu. But this time you can turn the checkout process to English! The procedure is the same, you click on the dish or drink you want and put it into your shopping basket and when you’re done you can send it to the staff.

Again, your last order is after an hour, and you have 90 minutes in the café. You don’t need to order everything at once. Just use the tablet again if you want more.

Foods and drinks

While Osaka was more drink-heavy, Tokyo had the greater variety of food, and more fun looking food. However, I found the taste was better in Osaka, though obviously I couldn’t eat the whole menu. I must admit I chose my food more by the looks than the contents. All in all, I’d say they really know their stuff with desserts and sweets.

When you’re done, you take your tablet to the cashier and pay. If you want to buy merch, that is a separate process, so take your time after you paid for the café to shop.

The gold saucer raffle

But wait, there’s more: every hour or so (I’m honestly not sure if it’s the same in both, I felt Osaka was every hour and Tokyo was every 90 minutes when the guests changed), there is a gold saucer raffle. Tables are randomly chosen for three prices. The third I have no idea what it is, because the raffle is entirely in Japanese – which is actually pretty funny when 90% of the café are from abroad and everyone has a question mark above their head. A laminated special gold saucer placemat is the second price.

Honey toast with icecream in the shapes of a moogle and a sabotender in eorzea cafe japan - the first price in the gold saucer raffleFor the winner, they get a HUGE honeytoast with icecream. In Osaka our neighbouring table was eating it when we entered the venue – after they had already eaten. This thing probably has 3k calories, so I’m actually happy we didn’t win it when we were done. In Tokyo the peeps who won it didn’t eat anything else. But it looks really delicious.

So…….is it worth it?

Should you visit the Eorzea Café in Japan? If you’re an FF14 fan – yes! I’m very happy, even if it was coincidently, to have visited both. The food may not have been the best in the world, but it’s a great and unique experience if you love the game as I do. I hope I helped you a little bit with this article!

Special thanks to my fc mates for contributing some of their pictures from the visit a few days later!

Ho to apply Vinyl Decals

This article will give you instructions on how to apply vinyl decals to your stationary or other things, both in english and german.

Apply transfer Foil/Transferfolie aufbringen

EN The first step is to cut the transfer foil in the right shape for your motive. Then remove the yellow base foil that leaves you onlye with the clear part. Apply this to the decal. Press well, ideally with something like a plastic card (there are tools for this, but you can use a credit- or ID card for instance).

DE Als erstes schneidet ihr eure Transfer Folie in die richtige Größe für das Motiv. Entfernt das gelbe Trägerpapier, sodass nur die klare Klebefolie zurück bleibt. Klebt diese auf das Decal, und drückt sie gut an. Am besten mit einer Plastikkarte (es gibt Werkzeuge dafür, aber eine Kredikarte oder eine Ausweis funktionieren auch).

Transfer to your object/Decal auf euer Objekt aufbringen

EN You can no lift the transfer foil and the decal will stick to it. Put it where you want to permanently stick it, and use your plastic card again to secure it onto your object.
You can then remove the transfer foil and the decal is in place.

DE Ihr könnt nun die Transferfolie abziehen und das Decal wird daran haften bleiben. Nun klebt ihr beides auf die Fläche, auf die ihr das Motiv aufbringen möchtet. Benutzt wieder eure Plastikkarte oder Werkzeug, damit es sicher haftet.
Jetzt könnt ihr die Transferfolie abziehen, das Decal bleibt haften.

How to stay motivated as an Art Beginner

Todays post is a bit more of a “storytime” post. I have already turned this into a youtube video, but since some of my friends like to read instead of watch videos, I’ve decided to turn this into an article here on my blog as well.

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Storytime: How did I stay motivated to improve my art?

There was this person who asked the community on a social media platform how they learned how to draw, what helped them to get into the topic, and what motivated them to keep going when your first results don’t look nice or “good”.

There were a lot of tips and advice under this, and obviously also the ones with “learn colour theory” or “draw simple objects first to learn how to view things, like an apple”.
I must admit, I get unreasonably upset by people putting this kind of advice on hobbyists, who are just starting out to…basically do anything artistic. It doesn’t have to be drawing, I remember reading this kind of advice underneath an article about sculpting for beginners as well. It basically said to sculpt a variety of objects so you would learn how to deal with different shapes and surfaces.

Now as a disclaimer, this is obviously coloured by my own experiences, and there are people who will find this method to work well for them. Also, if you want to pursue a career in any artistic field, especially one that deals with any kind of commissioned work, you will have to learn a wide variety of techniques that you don’t necessarily like or find very fun to do. For this it is absolutely necessary that you come in contact with, and study, a lot of things to get better to be able to fullfil your commissioner’s request.

However, I do think that for most people the approach to work on studies of one thing is a bad approach, a motivation killer, and not necessarily something that helps them improve.

My drawing journey

I’m going to take you with me on my art journey here, because I have done it all, and I had teachers of all kinds.

I have drawn all my life, since I can remember. The people around me told me I’m “talented” since kindergarten, and I guess praise is something that keeps children going in what they do. And I can also remember, that during my childhood, up to the age of about twenty, I used to have some phases where I was super hyper fixated on drawing one particular thing at a time.

In third grade, I was obsessed with shoes, and feet in shoes, especially high heels. Don’t ask me why, it brought me joy.

When I was 13, I was a girly girl, and I loved drawing horses, and people riding horses. Oh boy, I did study horses so hard, I copied them from science books, I copied pictures from my horse magazines I read (praise to forever 15-year-old Wendy Thorsteeg here), and I even went out to live draw horses.

Around the age of 16 all I did was draw eyes, occasionally with a full face or eyebrows.

I just LOVED drawing these things, so I did the studies on my own. I had motivation to do so because I was interested in these things.

At the same time, during 7th-10th grade, I had a teacher in my art class in school, who would introduce us to certain techniques in constructing perspectives, shapes and faces. I didn’t necessarily have fun with all of these, but I did well in all these tasks, my pictures looked better than most of the class. And while people jump to the conclusion fast that you’re just “talented” when you pick up a certain skill fast, that is not the point here at all. Despite me probably having an initial talent that kept me going when I was small, the main point is that over my obsessions, I learned a lot about drawing without noticing it. I learned how shapes work, that elements in a picture shorten or lengthen with perspective, that bigger, complex objects and bodies are a combination of smaller objects and so on.
And this teacher just put a name on these things and showed me how to make the things that I had already learned a little easier. And that was the advantage that I had over my classmates. I just saw things they didn’t, because I had practiced seeing them – and that did not only apply to the things I had obsessed over, but it also applied to the things I learned new.

Studies need a purpose

Picture of a pink playstation controller painted in acrylicsHere is the thing though: would have kept going and practicing, would I have learned to measure distances by watching objects, how perspective changes objects, if someone hat sat down with me in third grade and said: “Girl, put away that shoe, it’s hilarious. You need to learn how folds of cloth work now”?

No, I wouldn’t. Because I wasn’t interested the slightest in folds at that point. Later, when I had learned how to draw bodies, and I had this picture of the greek goddess character in my mind, I suddenly became interested in those folds. I looked up pictures, I put fabric over my own legs to see how it would wrinkle up. Because the folds suddenly had a purpose.

Later, I visited a design school with a big emphasis on art. We had to draw scientifically correct pictures of small animals, like bees or butterflies or beetles. We did exactly those studies that people recommend to beginners. I was always really mediocre in these, until the point came, where I could decide what I wanted to draw. There were some rules like “It has to be an artificial object” for example. I did paint my beloved pink PlayStation 2 controller in acrylics, and to this day I get asked if that drawing is a photo, because it was so much fun to do, that it came out great, and suddenly those studies made sense.

So what about beginners that aren’t children?

Comparison of my first sculpting project and the same made a year later. Two Lalafells with wearing the white moonfire faire top, white harem pants, the white moogle mask and the Yokai Event Scholar book.Now, my drawing “career” is long, so I want to come back to the social media post from the beginning, because that person clearly asked for a beginner who isn’t a kid, and then I tried to compare my sculpting process to see what kept me going there. What motivated me in first place. Because I only started sculpting in my mid-thirties, minus some cosplay sculpting and mandatory STUDIES in university.

And my motivation in first place to start sculpting was to sculpt a figure of my beloved mmo character. I saw a figure of the race my character has on deviant art and was super inspired by it. I wanted to have a figure of my character! I had sculpted accessories for cosplay earlier, but I always hated it. And then, suddenly, I sculpted what I loved, and suddenly I loved sculpting! To be fair, I also discovered the material I like, but that is another topic for another day.

Love for what you do is important

My love or obsession for certain things was always a motivation for me to do art. To keep going. To learn new things, because at some point you don’t only want to draw that horse, you want to draw it with a rider, and then you want to draw horse and rider in an environment, so you must learn how the environment works etc.

One thing will lead to the next, at your own pace. You will have much more patience, than if you have work yourself through that hand study “because you need to know how hands work”. One day you want to draw that cute lesbian couple from your favourite video game and they’re holding hands, and believe me, you’re going to look up how to draw hands.

I strongly believe that that fun and love for whatever you’re drawing, sculpting, cosplaying, MAKING is a good motivation to keep going and to improve, and that to improve the art of something that you love and like makes you do all those dull studies on your own, without forcing yourself to.

And that, at some point, when the initial art in whatever medium is flowing better for you, you will become inspired and motivated by others to try out new things you haven’t investigated, because you saw another artist do something that looks great and intriguing. I saw so many things other sculptors do that are so interesting! Highly textured figures, chibi anime figures, miniatures, it’s all something I sculpted and will sculpt when the time was or is right, not because someone tells me that it “would be good to learn this now to broaden your horizon”.

Discover what keeps you going

You choose what keeps you going, there is no “wrong” thing to approach motivation if it works. I know some people who are mostly taking elements they see and put them together in what they like. That is nothing to be ashamed about. If it helps you to understand how the medium works, if it keeps you going because at that moment it’s easy, and you only have patience for this, that’s fine.

There are people who only do fanart, or who try to copy another artist’s style first. If that helps you to understand how things work, then do it. Eventually you normally develop your own style, and things start looking like “you” made them.

Please note here though that tracing, and very blunt collages of other’s work is a bit of a delicate topic if you want to publish your pictures, and also a topic for another time. Just please – don’t outright steal anyone’s art. If you want to publish something in a very specific style, ask for the artists consent and conditions to do so.

Skill growth is individual and not linear

A last point is for sure that, if you expect your skill to grow a certain amount in a certain time, this can be a huge motivation killer. Growth is not a linear thing, just like toddlers do not grow and learn at the same speed. Sometimes you learn a lot at once, sometimes it takes ages until it clicks, and sometimes it doesn’t seem to click at all. I, for example don’t really like to draw digitally, and trying to draw digitally so far has always taken motivation off me. Maybe I didn’t find the right way to learn it yet, maybe I just really prefer my watercolours. The good thing about being a hobbyist is that you don’t have any pressure to learn something in a specific time or at all. If you don’t want to deal with this one topic, you don’t have to.

A Conclusion – maybe

Motivation and learning are something very individual, and I don’t want to say there aren’t people who learn by working off courses or studies, and some may even prefer it. We can find your way by trying out things. There is nothing that is forbidden. I often feel that art schools and courses try to tell you an exact way you should go, that just isn’t right for a lot of people.

Like I said in the beginning, if you want to pursue art as your career, you will have to look into broadening your horizon depending on your jobs or pitches you need to do. But as a hobbyist, you have all time and freedom in the world to just do what you love and what motivates you. Even if you draw shoes for the rest of your life.

This was my, very personal, opinion on the topic how to learn and stay motivated as an art beginner. I hope it helps someone to stay or get motivated to do what they want to do.

How to make Fairy wings (with fabric)

You like fairies? Great, me too. I also like fairy wings and costumes… So let’s see how to make fairy wings! You can use it for any fantasy fairy, but also for those classical Tinkerbell wings.

Please note that these pictures are really old (and I’m aware the shape is….weird?) I’m aiming to make new and better pictures in the future. You can still get a good understanding of those though.

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Materials to make fairy wings of fabric

Cosplayer Grusli posing as the Pirate Fairy from Tinkerbell with fabric fairy wings

I’m using materials that are neither costly, nor hard to come by. You can find them in any home-improvement or craft store. For the frame I mostly use gardening wire. This wire is covered in a plastic/rubber coating. I found this easier to glue on than metal wire. If you wan, you can also use steel wire. I personally wouldn’t use aluminium, because it’s very soft and bends very easily. This might sound nice for the working process, but you don’t want your wire to bend once you touch another person at a convention!

You also need some translucent fabric. Organza is easy to work with, as it is translucent, but also a bit stiff. It won’t show much of the glue on it later either! If you’re confident you can also try chiffon or even a light silk. Or a stretchy mesh fabric or tulle. For starters though, I recommend organza.

Pliers and a wire cutter are very helpful too. If you don’t own any, you might want to invest in them. They’re helpful in a lot of crafting scenarios.

Last but not least: Paint and GLITTER for the decorations! All the rhinestones and glitter powder and paints! We’re Fairies, right? We need that glitter. I’m using acrylic paints for the most painting parts. But you can also use spray paints or airbrush for gradients, or fabric paints.

(Picture shows Cosplayer Grusli wearing her Pirate Fairy Costume with wings made with this technique. Picture shot by me)

Material overview

  • Wire (coated gardening wire or steel wire)
  • All purpose glue, or super glue if you want to be sure it’s waterproof
  • Translucent fabric (organza recommended for the first project)
  • Pliers and a wire cutter
  • Decorative materials, paint, glitter, rhinestones
This picture shows the materials to make fairy wings. You can find a detailed description below

Making the frame

If you want, you can sketch out the shape of your wing on a piece of paper. Or you just bend it directly the way you want. It’s important that the frame lies as flat as possible on the ground. You will most likely buy your wire rolled up. Take your time to straighten it properly, so it is flat. This will help immensely with the process of putting the fabric to it.

Then bend your frame in your desired shape. If the wings are huge, you might need extra support inside them. So I recommend you part your design in smaller parts that aren’t heavy or very long.

Your wings have to be connected in some way. You can either do that like I do here, by weaving the wire ends into each other at the endings. Or you can bend the wire so that the endings are sticking out at the bottom, like in the graphic. I recommend use the second method. I’m going to explain more detailed why in “Connecting the wings”.

Once you’re done, you can paint your frame with the color of your fabric. This way it doesn’t look weird later. I use acrylic color to do so. If you are using steel wire, you might need to prime the wire first, so that the paint doesn’t rub off later. Of course you can also use Spray paint or airbrush to paint your frame.

The wire of the wing bent in shape and connected in the back.
The finished frame
The frame for the wing is painted white
You can paint the frame in a color of your liking
Graphic of the wing shape if you want an U-Connection (see description)
Alternative Shape for a U-Connection

Covering the frame with fabric

Iron your fabric so that it lays nice and flat. The less creases it has, the better. Be careful with the temperature of your iron. Organza is basically plastic, so it melts easily. You can cut your fabric so the size roughly fits your frame, which makes it easier to handle.

Glue it!

In the next step, I cover the wire with glue. Very small frames can be done with one step. However, most of the time you will have to repeat the next step until everything is covered.

Once the glue is on the frame, I gently stroke over it with my finger. The glue spreads nicely and dries just a little bit. This way it’s less liquid and runny.

Important! Do not do this with super glue or two component glue. Superglue WILL glue your fingers to the frame. Use a tool instead, like a piece of cardboard or foam. You can only do this with white/childrens glue without solvents.

Glue is applied to the wing out of a bottle
The glue is spread by stroking it with a finger

Place your fabric on the frame

Gently place your fabric as flat as possible over the frame. Be sure it lies flat and doesn’t have creases. Also be sure not to move it too much, because you will smear the glue all over the fabric. If you have big wings, have someone help you.

Now stroke over the glued parts again, so the fabric starts to stick to the frame. Organza is, as I said, easy here, you won’t see where it sticks. On other fabrics the glue may leave stains. I suggest coving those parts with glitter later.

From here glue the fabric step by step to the frame. Once you’re done, let it dry completely.

Place the fabric crease free over the frame
Stroke over the fabric to make it stick to the glue

Working the edges of the fairy wings

Cut out the shape as described in the text

Once the glue is dried, cut out the shape of the wing around the frame, with a distance of about 1cm. We will need those little edges like seamallowance in sewing.

A sharp edge with shorter "seamallowance"

On sharply bent edges, I cut the “seamallowance” a bit shorter.

Scissors in a right angle to the fairy wing frame, cutting into the seamallowance

Then we cut into the seamallowance. Small cuts, in a right angle/horizontally to the frame. I do that about every centimeter.

Hand pushing up the seamallowance over the frame of the wing

Now we glue them around the frame. I put glue on the frame just like before:

Put some some glue on and stroke it with your finger (careful again, not with superglue).

Then fold the seamallowance over the frame into the glue. Step by step, until everything is folded inwards.

Finished fram with all seamallowance turned in

This is how the finished frame with all the seam allowance folded in looks.

Glue being put on the tip of a small edge out of a bottle

At the edges I apply some extra glue, because they are a sensitive spot. Then, let your wings dry again. You want them really dry. Maybe leave them over night.

Finishing up and decorating the fairy wings

The next day, you can cut away the overlapping fabric inside. Cut as close as you can to the wire.

With this, the basic wing is now finished! And the actual fun part comes, decorating your wings. If you have a drawing of your wings, you can use it to map out what patterns you want on them. Or you can put your wing on paper and trace them. Then you can use this to get a sketch for your decorations. Or just freestyle it!

Scissors cutting away the access fabric on the inside of the frame
Finished base wing flat on the ground

Connecting both wings and wearing them

Now that you know how to make fairy wings, you need to connect them. The connections I have in the pictures is semi-smart. I connected them with tape, but if there is a lot of drag on both sides, because you move a lot, they can rip. Also, for this you will need to add straps. The wings can then be worn like a backback (see below).

Wings that are taped together in the back

If you left a long wire like I recommended in the start, you can now bend this wire in a u-shape. Put both u-shapes on top of each other and tape them together. You can now either put straps to them, or you can just stuff them in a corset.

Graphic of the long access wire bent as a U-Shape, both sides placed on top of each other

If your connection is visible in the back because you use straps, decorate the connection to your liking. You can use flowers, feathers, fabric, whatever you want!

Wings decorated with a lot of decoration materials like feathers and a fabric bow

There you go! Now you know how to make fairy wings!

Backview of the wings on a dressform
Sideview of the wings on a dressform

You’re interested in variety crafting? You can check out the blog to find articles and tutorials there! Stay tuned for more in the future!

Curious what cosplay and costuming I have done? Here’s my cosplay overview!

For now you can still find more of my cosplaytutorials on my old portfolio. I’m planning on moving them over, refining them and taking more pictures.

Which clay should I choose as a beginner?

If you want to start sculpting, you will face the problem of which clay to use for your sculpt. And you probably asked yourself: Which polymer clay should I choose as a beginner to sculpting? The varieties of clay can be a bit overwhelming, let’s take a closer look at them and talk about some pros and cons.

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Throughout the article you will see photographs and mentions of brands. I’m not sponsored, these are my personal recommendations or brands that I currently use.

First, I sculpt figures with Polymer Clay. This kind of clay will harden up in an oven when baked (often at around 130° Celsius). Polymer clay has the advantage that you can theoretically work on it for an infinite time, since it won’t dry by air. Theoretically because old clay will get crumbly (several years old clay) with time.

Some clays get a different texture if they are put aside for a long time. They need to be “conditioned” (kneaded) to return them to their soft state. This is can be a problem if the figure is half sculpted and needs refining.

Air drying clay is usually a bit cheaper than polymer clay. But if you’re working on a project for several weeks, it’s a difficult task to keep it moist for sculpting. It can dry up or get too wet and starts to deform, or worse, starts to mold.

You will face the same problem with ceramic clay. Ceramic clay can also dry by air. Also: you will have to bake/burn it with much higher temperatures (around 2000°Celsius). So you can’t do that at home, but need to find a service to do so for you.

There is a big variety of Polymer Clay, and I haven’t tried them all – I will refer to those I have worked with.

For real now, which polymer clay should I choose as a beginner to sculpting?

The answer is as difficult as it is easy: everyone will have preferences. From my experience that can be different from person to person. I have watched a lot “sculpting for beginners” videos before I started sculpting. People tell “not to use clay XYZ”, when to the next video tells you “to use clay XYZ”.

Fret not: I’m not leaving you in the dark of my personal opinion.

I think, from my experience, that a firmer clay is easier to use for beginners. Most people who have searched for polymer clay will have stumbled over the brand name “Super Sculpey”. This is an established clay by the brand “Sculpey”. Sculpey themselves has a variety of sub brands, but “Super Sculpey” is their “Pro” clay.

Super Sculpey comes in a few kinds, and among them “Firm”. Super Sculpey Firm is my personal go-to clay for basic figures.

Another clay around this firmness is Fimo. Fimo is mostly known for its colorful variants and isn’t really considered a “professional clay” (at least in Germany, where I live). But they do have a “pro” product line, which is essentially selling black, white and gray clay in larger badges.

I’m not a big fan of Fimo, because I prefer Super Sculpeys texture, but as I said in the start, this is preference. Also, in Germany, Fimo is easier to come by as Super Sculpey, as it is usually in stock in every craft store.

The equivalent of sculpey to Fimo is Sculpey Premo. This is a reasonably firm clay as well, and in my eyes suited well for beginners.

Packaging of Super Sculpey Firm (left) and Sculpey Premo (right)

Here in Germany, it’s rare to find Super Sculpey firm in a store. I’m ordering mine at modellierbu.de. You can find a vide variety of clay brands in their shop.

Why should I use firmer clay as a beginner?

Now that I’ve put some brand names down, let me tell you why I think that firmer clay is better for beginners:

  1. It doesn’t stick to your fingers too much. To sculpt a base figure, it’s easier if it’s not smooshy and sticking everywhere.
  2. It’s not that easily deformable. You do initially need more pressure to piece it together. But once in shape it won’t deform by just looking at it. This can be helpful if you accidentally touch a part you shouldn’t.
  3. In the process of sculpting, you’re less likely to make big scratches or accidentally deform small parts. That easily happens with softer clay.

But what about the other brands?

As I said there are a lot of other brands or sub brands of clay (let alone Sculpey has a big product variety). I only worked with a small portion of them – here’s my experiences. I’m going to add to them as time goes on and I try different brands.

Super Sculpey beige

Super sculpey beige is a softer variant of Super sculpey. Compared to the gray version it’s a lot more smooshy and soft. This gave me a bit of trouble keeping already sculpted parts in shape and not to destroy them by touching them. If you’re not experienced, you might have to bake the figure more times in between the sculpting process. That makes sculpting individual parts easier.

Packaging of Super Sculpey beige

Cosclay

Cosclay is a relatively new clay that has some interesting attributes: if baked correctly, it stays flexible. That means you can bend it without breaking which makes shipping figures a lot easier.

There are four sub brands that are similar clay, three of them feature different colors and different density (soft, medium firm, doll). Their touch is very soft and in my opinion great for details. It is, however, hard to work with on a whole sculpture if you’re a beginner. I use it for stick-out-details that run in danger of breaking, or to sculpt small details.

The one that stands out to me is Cosclay Extra-firm. It has around the firmness of sculpey firm, a very nice and not oily touch, and close to now memory when blending, so you can easily blend parts seamlessly. This is a new version of their first kickstarter clay, that has definitely improved.

Top: Kickstarter Version of Cosclay

Bottom: Retail Version of Cosclay

Packaging of Kickstarter Cosclay
Packaging of Retail Cosclay Medium Firm

Cernit

Cernit is a rather overlooked clay in the face of Cosclay nowadays – the “base” clay, “Cernit One” is similar to it in attributes. It is a bit softer than Cosclay Kickstarter. On the other hand, it’s a bit firmer than Super Sculpey Firm. It feels similar in touch, and it stays flexible after baking. When I tested in on a sheet of about 1 mm strength, I could almost fold it, with just a few stretchmarks.

There is a translucent version of Cernit that is easily to dye with alcohol based ink. It gets milky white after baking and stays very flexible as well. However, when it’s conditioned, it can take on a texture that feels almost like bubble gum. Or kneadable erasers. So it is hard to sculpt with it.

I’m sorry the packaging is so wrecked! I’m going to take a new picture when I order new Cernit.

Top: Cernit One

Bottom: Cernit Translucent

Packaging of Cernit one
Packaging of Cernit Translucent

Bees putty

Bees putty is a clay that is made to behave like beeswax. That makes it stick better to already baked clay and armatures (wire skeleton cores of sculpts). It is a bit sticky. I use it to help my Sculpey stick to armatures and for small pieces with armature like Hands. Bees Putty is also less rigid than sculpey and breaks less easily. One thing to keep in mind is that it gets a waxy surface and needs to be treated with solvent (like Acetone) before painting.

Packaging of BeesPutty

Fimo

Fimo is easy to come by in my country, thus it’s the first polymer clay that people in general work with. Shops sell “Fimo Soft” most of the time, which is not comparable in softness with, for example, medium firm Cosclay. It is still rather firm. The “normal” Fimo is firmer and needs a lot of conditioning, similar to Cernit. In my experience the texture is different from Super Sculpey firm, it has less grain. That doesn’t mean Super Sculpey Firm has a lot of grain, Fimo just feels more “slippery” to me.

Packaging of Fimo Soft

Papa’s clay

Papa’s clay is yet another clay I have tried, and it feels similar to Super Sculpey Firm. The firmness and touch is very similar, though it took me longer time to condition it. It was originally way more crumbly, but that can be because it was an older badge. Unfortunately it didn’t have a date on it. Otherwise, I’d say it’s exchangeable with Super Sculpey firm.

Packaging of Papas Clay

Mix them up and use multiple clays for each purpose!

The world of clay is big, and it’s interesting to venture out there and try all the clays! I think that using a firmer clay like Super Sculpey Firm as a base for your figure is great. But other clays can be nice additions for certain fields of use.

I use a mix of Super Sculpey, Bees Putty, Cosclay and Cernit, depending on what I do:

  • Sculpey for the base figure
  • Bees Putty for the parts where the clay goes directly on slippery armature pieces (e.g. Hands)
  • Cernit for bigger parts that need to stay flexible
  • Cosclay for small details where a very soft clay is of use, and to fill in gaps

I hope I could give you some ideas about the question: Which polymer clay should I choose as a beginner to sculpting ! Once you got into the topic, there will be products that interest you more than others. Go and try them!

You are looking for more guides?
Here is my Tools and Material guide.

Don’t know what project to tackle first?
Here’s my advice on a good starter project!

What is a good first sculpting project?

Here’s my totally biased opinion on what is a good first sculpting project for beginners.

Table of Contents

When you’re reading this, you probably saw some really cool sculptures on the internet. A fantasy monster, a cute chibi, an elaborate anime figure… If you are anything like me, you want to start on all of these at once! But what is a good first project to start sculpting? Is it good to just throw yourself into that big fantasy dragon?

Start out with writing down a list of ideas or collecting references if you are going for fan art.

Try to gauge your skills, experience and interests

Looking at what to start out with, you may want to look at those things:

  • Do I know how to tackle the project?
  • Is there a good reference of my project?
  • Do I already have some experience with sculpting? And how does that experience look like?
  • How big do I want my sculpture to be?
  • What surface will my project have?
  • How patient am I?

Let’s tackle those one by one.

Do I know how to tackle the project?

Did you already look up and research about sculpting? Did you read or watch videos? Do you have a vague idea to tackle your project? Do you know how to keep proportions, make an armature, have an idea where to pre-bake? Visualize your ideas and see if you have an idea to tackle them. You should at least know how to start out and give your sculpture a solid base. If you don’t have any idea how to achieve that, put the project aside for now.

Do I have a good reference?

It is a lot easier to start a project if you have a proportional image reference. It will help you to keep your the proportions of your sculpture while you are working. No matter if it is self drawn or a screenshot from some media. Do you have the skill to visualize your project? For example draw it in a side and front view? If not, you might want to put it aside if you have more experience. Experience will make it easier to sculpt from your thoughts instead of a reference.
Video games can make great references here. These days, a lot of games feature “photo-mode” in some form. In photo-mode you can compose and take screenshots, which helps a lot with reference and proportions.

What is a good first sculpting project? Reference picture from the front (taken with gpose in final fantasy 14)

Videogames can often easily give you reference pictures from all sides

Reference picture from the side(taken with gpose in final fantasy 14)

Pictures taken with gpose in Final Fantasy 14

Reference picture from the back (taken with gpose in final fantasy 14)

Do I have experience in Sculpting?

Any experience is experience, but clay can behave very differently from each other. However, if you already worked a lot with ceramic clay, you will find sculpting easier than if you don’t have any experience at all. The theme or topic of the project does matter, though. Do you want to make a human, and you already sculpted human body parts? Great! Did you only sculpt flower pots so far? That is a very different experience. See if something of your experience matches one of your potential projects. Maybe there’s something similar?

How big do you want your sculpture to be?

There are many sizes of sculptures you can go for! Most people are aiming for the typical put-them-on-your-shelf sized sculptures, but maybe you are interested in miniatures? Or you want to make something huge? Stop a moment and think of the size you want to go for. A bigger size is always easier if you want to go for many details. But it can be a hassle to bake your sculpture, if you want to make it with polymer clay. That means: huge sculptures are better made from ceramic clay. Otherwise, you will have to take them apart. Make sure you can bake the ceramic clay in one though, check with your baking/burning service. Miniatures will require you to do very small details and are a lot harder to make than bigger sculptures. Without sculpting experience this can get frustrating.
A good first sculpting project is better a bit bigger: A 20cm figure of Xianglin from Genshin Impact compared to a miniature sculpture of about 1,5cm height

Shelf size projects are usually more suited for beginners

A miniature compared to the size of a shelf sized figure

Miniatures require very small details and are rather difficult to make (Cast of a handsculpted miniature by Mallius – InstagramTwitch)

What surface does your project have?

Also look into the theme of your projects: for example structured Items are often initially a bit easier to sculpt. They don’t require that much smoothing, and it’s not apparent if something is a bit uneven. Whereas artificial sci-fi surfaces and shapes are a lot harder to make. If you are going for fan art, and you have a very detailed reference: it is harder to keep the proportions right than a less detailed reference. That is because you have to think of more details on a surface and how big they are or how much space they take.
Sculpture with a structured surface (Chocobo from Final Fantasy 14): usually a bit easier first sculpting project than a smooth figure

Structured surfaces that do not have repeating patterns are easier to sculpt

Sculpture with a smooth surface (poppy from animal crossing new horizons): harder to achieve for a first sculpting project

Smooth surfaces show flaws and are harder to sculpt

Are you patient?

This may seem like a dumb question at first. But if you know that you aren’t a very patient person, starting out on something rather detailed can be frustrating. Considering you probably don’t have much experience things will go slowly in the start. Slower than with experience. If you’re an impatient person (like me), don’t put the strain of many details on you.

Now, what is a good first project to start sculpting? An overview of easy and hard things to sculpt

To learn what is a good first project to start sculpting let’s take a look at easy and hard things to sculpt.
Obviously this is my personal experience that again and some things might be easier for me than for you and the other way round. I’m also talking about shelf-size here. Everything is more complex when it’s small and gets easier when it’s big. At least to a certain point. Maintaining proportions can be tricky if the sculpture gets huge.

Easy things to sculpt

  • Blobb-like creatures
  • Structures that do not have to be super defined (fur, feathers)
  • Not too detailed small animals (Mice, Hamsters and such)
  • Things that have a decent amount of volume
  • Figures that are standing steady on two or four feet
  • Limbs that are not interacting with each other (Arms or hands)
  • Chibi/anime Faces
  • Folds and creases (in clothing)
  • Stone

Difficult things to sculpt

  • Realistic humans in shelf size
  • Human hands
  • Thin things, thin, flowy fabric
  • Dynamic poses
  • Armatures that aren’t connected much to the base
  • Small details
  • Hair (especially floaty hair)
  • Interacting limbs and figures
  • Things with very small armature (miniatures)
  • Artificial, very geometric shapes and surfaces

Now all these are guides and, again, you might have a certain knack for something I don’t. Just try to think about the points above when tackling your first project. The most important part is that you are having fun trying. Even if the project might be a bit too difficult, as long as you’re not getting frustrated, it’s great! You can always come back to it a year or two later to see how much you have improved. This can be incredibly satisfying.

Love for your project is important

I am personally not a big fan of sculpting things you don’t like, just “to get better”. I saw someone suggest you sculpt different things like animals, cars, architecture… Yes, this is helpful when you want to pursue a career in this or an artistic field. However, if you just sculpt for fun or want to try yourself, and you’re super into Pokémon, sculpt Pokémon. It is probably more frustrating to work yourself through things you don’t like, than making 3 Pokémon until you get where you want to be.

Comparison of my first sculpting project and the same made a year later. Two Lalafells with wearing the white moonfire faire top, white harem pants, the white moogle mask and the Yokai Event Scholar book.

My first sculpture revisited after a year of sculpting. The idea of having my own character of FFXIV turned into a figure got me into sculpting in the first place.

So, did you decide for your first project? You can read about my clay recommendations for beginners here.

Not sure where to start with tools and materials? Hier is my Overview to sculpting.

Overview to sculpting figures with Polymer Clay

In this article I will to give a brief overview of what is important as a beginner to start sculpting figures with polymer clay.

Throughout the article you will see photographs and mentions of brands. I’m not sponsored, these are my personal recommendations or brands that I currently use.

Table of Contents

Materials

In this beginners guide to sculpting with polymer clay, I want to show you some materials and tools that will help you when you want to start making a sculpture. Please note: you don’t need all of what I’m mentioning here to start out and to try yourself, since the cost might be intimidating. The most important thing is that you start sculpting. Everything else can come later, or in steps.

Polymer Clay

This overview to sculpting figures with polymer clay specifically talks about Polymer Clay, but why do most sculpters use Polymer Clay, or a non-curing clay (like for example Monster Clay)? When air drying clay is often much easier to obtain and also cheaper?

Of course, nothing is stopping you from starting to sculpt with air drying clay if you already have some. But there is a reason why most sculptors are not going with it: time. Often a project will take multiple days to complete, sometimes weeks or up to a year. It is hard to keep air drying clay workable over an extended period. You can wrap it into moist cloth, but will run into the problem to keep it the right amount of moist. Or it will still harden up or get too wet, which can cause it to collapse or mold.

That being said, I would personally advise you to take that money in your hand and get some polymer clay.Which clay you want to use is up to you and your preferences. You might try out several clays until you find the one that you personally prefer. I will try to make a video about the clays I use in the future. My recommendation would be super sculpey firm or sculpey premo for starters.This clay is easy to bake in the oven at 130 °C, it’s usually, even if firm, well kneadable/conditionable by hand. The firmness is nice in a way that you don’t destroy details instantly if you accidentally touch them. Also, it is in most cases well controllable with tools. Sculpey premo also does have little “memory” when working on it, so blending parts is easy.

Different kinds of airdrying clay (apoxie sculpt, keramilight)

Air drying clay

Different kinds of polymer clay (cosclay kickstarter, cernit one, super sculpey firm, beesputty firm)

Polymer Clay

Wire

Your life will become considerably easier if you start out making an armature for your sculpture. An armature is a wire skeleton that you can pose into its final shape and build the figure around. It will also support limbs and “stick-out” parts in your sculpture and prevent them from collapsing.

There are, again, multiple different wires. I personally prefer about 1 mm diameter steel wire. It’s still bendable by hand, but quite sturdy and doesn’t easily deform, unlike aluminum wire, that transforms easily.

Again, this will come down to your preference and your tools. You don’t want to use a single wire as an armature, but you want to twist at least two wires around each other. It will not only help for stability, but also help clay to stick to it in places where it’s not padded.
This is most easily achieved with a drill (fold the wire in half, stick it in the drill, grab the other end with pliers and drill), that means if you don’t have one at hand, aluminum is easier for you to use. In any case, a wire cutter and pliers will help you a lot to cut and hold your wire while twisting it.

Different wires (aluminium and steel wire)

Different Wires I’m using

Different wires twisted with a drill for armatures

Wires twisted for Armature

Aluminum Foil

More voluminous parts in sculptures are padded with aluminum foil. This has several advantages: first, you don’t need as much clay. Clay is expensive, so padding it will make a sculpture use up less.

Secondly, it will make the sculpture a bit lighter and less massive.

Thirdly it helps the sculpture to bake “from inside out”. The Foil will heat up fast in the oven and bake the clay from the inside. There is less chance of unbaked clay. If the sculpture is only made of clay, it is harder for the inside to get exposed to the right amount of heat.

You can use your kitchen aluminum foil for this.

Kitchen aluminium foil

Use ordinary kitchen aluminium foil

Tools

Shaping Tools

Shaping tools will help you to refine your sculpture and sculpt little details. Don’t worry too much about them when starting out. You can literally use everything around you as a shaping tool: toothpicks, backs of spoons, dough rollers, chopsticks… There is no need for a huge collection of professional tools to start out.

If you find liking in sculpting and want to pursue the hobby further, it might be easier to invest in some wax-carving tools. They aren’t very expensive and come in a good variety in premade packs. You will find yourself using some more than others, so just try out which ones you like.

I also like to use my silicon brush. This came in a pack with some more silicone brushes that have ballpoint tools on the opposite side of the tool. These come in handy, for example when making holes for eyeballs. I have seen a fair large number of sculpters use these, you might consider getting a silicone brush in the long run.

Tools around the house (chopsticks, needles, old pencils)

You can find all kinds of tools around the house!

Waxcarving tools made of metal

My wax carving  tools (of which I use effectively mostly two)

Silicone brushes and Ballpoint tools

Silicone Brush and Ballpoint tool

Alcohol and Brushes

This might sound a bit weird, but I’m not talking about drinking beer anytime you sculpt. 90% + Alcohol is used with polymer clay like water with ceramic clay. It dissolves the surface of the clay and helps to smoothen it out, remove small scratches and fingerprints. Alcohol behaves a little differently on different clays, so you need to experiment with the clay you’re using and how it reacts.

Brushes or Q-Tips can help you even out the surface or scratching away some uneven parts, depending on clay and brush.

You can start out your first sculpt without this easily though. See if you like it, and then get some alcohol for the next one.

High percentage alcohol for smoothing

Alcohol works with polymer clay like water with air-drying- or ceramic clay

Q-Tips and brushes for smoothing

I’m using brushes and Q-Tips to smooth the surfaces

Base

It is often easier if you have something to hold your armature and sculpt. You will see people stick their armature into a base. I use a small block of wood for this that has holes drilled into it. This way I can put the sculpture in there when I can’t hold it in my hand. Or want to rest it somewhere to get things or sculpt details. Later I replace that base with one that fits thematically to the sculpture.

Wooden base for work in Progress

My “work in progress” base

Sculpture with fitting base

Sculpture with fitting base

Post Processing

Acetone

This is super optional. Acetone is like alcohol on cured clay – it dissolves the surface and helps you smooth out left over fingerprints and remove dust lints on the surface.

Sanding paper

Sanding polymer clay is more of a pain than airdrying clay, but you can use sanding paper to even out the surfaces. Sponges for sanding work great, as they can be cut into smaller pieces to reach smaller parts.

Paint

If you plan on painting your Sculpture, you will also need paint. Acrylic paint works well on most Polymer Clays. They’re a bit porous and take the paint without any sort of primer. From my experience Paint for miniatures works great. Any acrylic paint you have left will suffice to try around with it.
If you want, you can also put varnish on the finished result for a more glossy, or a more matte look. I personally use varnish as a primer to shade my sculptures with pastel chalks.

Acetone to remove fingerprints

Acetone helps to remove fingerprints

Sanding sponges of different grades

Sanding sponges are great for small details

Miniature paints

Miniature paints are great for polymer clay

Got all your stuff? Great! Have a look at my other guides! Here you can find tipps on how to choose your first sculpting project. If you don’t know which clay to choose, I have you covered! Here’s an articles on different clays. Happy Sculpting!